Editor's Note: In 1992, Anna Quindlen wrote about the first ever professional woman in the White House.
"There's job talk in Little Rock, about who will be Secretary of the Treasury, chief of staff, Attorney General. And there's job talk across the country, too, among many women. Here's the question: Now that we have a First Woman as educated, intelligent, superachieving and policy-savvy as her husband, what do we do with her?
"'Promise me she won't talk about cookies anymore,' moaned a woman in Philadelphia. 'She did what she had to do to get him elected,' said another in New York. 'Now let's give her a real job.'
"And a circle of professional women in San Jose, Calif., erupted at a question about what Hillary Clinton should not do in the White House: 'I don't want her to keep her mouth shut.' 'Forget the photo ops.' 'I don't want her to make hospital visits -- I want her to make policy so that all sick kids will get good care.'
"'The thing is,' said one finally, 'we feel so strongly about it because she's one of us.'
"One of us. So much of the discussion about Hillary Clinton has not been about her at all. It has been about how we feel about smart women, professional women, new women. It's been about nurturing moms and working moms and what we do for love, including keeping our mouths shut. We want her to make the world safe, not only for education reform and preschool programs, but for opinionated women who want to be taken seriously. To do that, she has to do something."
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