Clinton Office Deal Sealed
Former President Bill Clinton struck a deal with the city of New York on Friday to lease office space in Harlem, Rep. Charles Rangel's office said.
The news came after Mayor Rudolph Giuliani had turned down at least two offers for his administration to give up the lease it signed in December on the 14th floor office overlooking Central Park.
On Tuesday, Mr. Clinton, the man Toni Morrison once referred to as "our first black president" had strolled through the nation's best-known African-American neighborhood, taking time to shake hands, give hugs and sign autographs for the adoring throngs.
He immediately declared the Harlem office "perfect." But then came news that the city already held the lease; negotiations ensued.
In addition to giving him a base among some of his strongest supporters, an office in the building with a marble lobby and panoramic views will likely cost Mr. Clinton about $500,000 less in annual rent than offices he had considered on 57th street.
The move is a public relations boon for Harlem, which had fallen on tough times but in recent years has experienced an economic resurgence replete with refurbished turn-of-the-century brownstones, new restaurants and nightclubs, national chains such as Starbuck's and tourists who come by the busload.
"I feel at home. Because of the empowerment zone, because of what the people are doing here, because they've made me feel so welcome here today, and because this is what my presidency was about," Mr. Clinton said during Tuesday's visit. "It's a lot of what I want to do in my post-presidential years — bringing economic opportunity to people and places who don't have it here at home and around the world, and bringing people of different races and religions and backgrounds together."
His administration created the federal empowerment zone in Harlem that helped spur the commercial renaissance it now enjoys.
In an October 1998 essay in The New Yorker magazine, Morrison said black Americans tended to be sympathetic to Mr. Clinton because his impoverished childhood and personal struggles seemed to mirror many of their own experiences.
"Years ago, in the middle of the Whitewater investigation, one heard the first murmurs: white skin notwithstanding, this is our first black president," she wrote. "Blacker than any actual person who could ever be elected in our children's lifetime."
Historians and political consultants have called the move a natural.
"Look at the number of people who are black that were in the administration," said Hank Sheinkopf, who worked on Mr. Clinton's 1996 re-election campaign. "Even his lead Secret Service agent was black. His secretary (Betty Curry) was black. ... Among his best friends is a fellow named Vernon Jordan ... He talks about issues that matter to black Americans."
Alan Brinkley, a historian at Columbia University, called Mr. Clinton one of the very few white eected officials who could move to Harlem and not have it seem like pandering.
"It seems real," he said. "White liberal southerners, especially those from relatively modest backgrounds, tend to understand race better than those in the North. Look at the presidents who have the best rapport with blacks down through the years, you have Clinton, Carter and Johnson. All southerners."