The following podcast contains explicit language.

Lisa Chase and all her friends loved Bill Clinton from the beginning.

After a lot of years in the political wilderness, if you were a liberal Democrat in Manhattan in 1993, Bill Clinton was what you dreamed of.

You know, that kind of voluble intelligence that he had was, that was an aphrodisiac for, I think,

lots of people, women and men.

Chase spent the second half of the 1990s working as an editor at the New York Observer,

a small weekly newspaper known for covering Manhattan society in columns like Sex and the

City, which became an HBO series.

Chase was a liberal in her 30s. And as a woman, she always thought of Bill Clinton as being

on her side. A lot of feminists did, because broadly speaking, his policies reflected the agenda

of the women's movement. That's not to say all left-leaning women saw Clinton as their ally.

He had alienated many supporters, particularly women of color,

with his approach to welfare reform and other issues. Even so, Clinton got credit for being pro-choice.

During his first week in office, he marked the 20th anniversary of Roe v. Wade by lifting restrictions

on abortion that have been put in place by his Republican predecessors.

Today, I am acting to separate our national health and medical policy from the divisive conflict over abortion.

Later, many feminist organizations cheered Clinton for signing legislation like the Violence Against Women Act,

also for appointing Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court.

In her pioneering work in behalf of the women of this country,

she has compiled a truly historic record of achievement.

And for installing more women in senior positions than any administration in history.

He was enthusiastic about working with women, you know.

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