Bill Clinton, the former U.S. President talked with his family yesterday, his office said, resting comfortably in an intensive care unit a day after a quadruple bypass operation. "He is awake and alert" at the Columbia-Presbyterian Center of New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, said a statement issued by his office late yesterday afternoon. A breathing tube that had been inserted into Mr. Clinton's windpipe and connected to a breathing machine as part of the operation was removed late Monday night, his doctors said. He had been unable to speak as long as the tube was in place. On the day after cardiac bypass surgery, patients are usually allowed to drink liquids and eat soft foods, though many are not then hungry. The office of the former president did not say whether he was yet doing so, but The Associated Press, attributing its information to "a hospital source,'' said he was taking liquids.
