NEW YORK, 13 (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton says there should be a quick but ``careful weighing'' of what is in the best interest of Elian Gonzalez, including consideration of the boy's apparently close relationship with his father.
Appearing on the ``Late Show'' with David Letterman Wednesday night, Mrs. Clinton called the controversy surrounding the 6-year-old Cuban boy's status a ``sad situation.''
``I think that everybody ought to just take a deep breath and do what's in the best interests of this little boy,'' Mrs. Clinton said. ``I feel so strongly that we need to get a decision made, make it, and put it behind us and get on with his life.''
Mrs. Clinton said that the boy's relationship with his father, who still lives in Cuba, ought to be considered, as should the death of his mother while trying to flee to the United States from Cuba last month.
``I think there should be the kind of careful weighing of what is in his best interests, and from what people say he did have a close relationship with his father,'' Mrs. Clinton said. ``His mother's sacrifice should obviously be honored and evaluated,'' she added.
Mrs. Clinton's likely opponent in the New York Senate race, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, sent a letter last month to the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Miami asking that the boy be granted political asylum ``thereby allowing him to remain in America permanently.''
He also said last month, ``I can't imagine that the United States government can't figure its way ... to protect his right to be free.''
AP-NY-01-13-00 1158EST
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press |