After health scare, fears arise about works toll on Clinton

Hillary Clinton

JOSHUA LOTT/REUTERS U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (left) leaves New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York with husband, Bill (top right) and daughter, Chelsea (right), on Thursday. Hillary Clinton was under treatment for a blood clot that stemmed from a concussion she suffered in mid-December. (Jan. 2, 2013)

WASHINGTONWhen U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton fractured her elbow after slipping in a State Department garage in June 2009, she returned to work in a few days. Her arm in a sling, she juggled speeches and a trip to India and Thailand with physical therapy, rebuilding a joint held together with wire and pins.

That was vivid evidence of Clintons indomitable stamina and work ethic as a first lady, senator, presidential candidate and, for the past four years, the most widely travelled secretary of state in U.S. history.

But after a fall at home in December that caused a concussion, and a subsequent diagnosis of a blood clot in her head, it has taken much longer for Clinton to bounce back. She was released from a hospital in New York on Wednesday. On Thursday, she told colleagues that she hoped to be in the office next week.

Her health scare, though, has reinforced the concerns of friends and colleagues that the years of punishing work and travel have taken a heavy toll. Even among her peers at the highest levels of government, Clinton, 65, is renowned for her gruelling schedule.

In the past four years, she was on the road for 401 days and spent the equivalent of 87 full days on a plane, according to the State Departments website.

In one 48-hour marathon in 2009 she travelled from talks with Palestinian leaders in Abu Dhabi to a midnight meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, then b! oarded a plane for Morocco, staying up all night to work on other issues, before going straight to a meeting of Arab leaders the next morning.

So many people who know her have urged me to tell her not to work so hard, said Melanne Verveer, who was Clintons chief of staff when she was first lady and is now the State Departments ambassador at large for womens issues. Well, thats not easy to do when youre Hillary Clinton. She doesnt spare herself.

Some even wonder whether this setback will or should temper the feverish speculation that she will make another run for the White House in 2016.

I am amazed at the number of women who come up to me and tell me she must run for president, said Ellen Chesler, a New York author and friend of Clintons. But perhaps this episode will alter things a bit.