
 |
|
May 24, 2013
May 22, 2013
John Thorne:
They launched the 'Arab Spring' but now yearn for the good old days of a strongman
May 20, 2013
Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?
Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star
The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013
Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation
David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church
May 10, 2013
Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be
May 8, 2013
Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas
Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate
Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility
May 6, 2013
May 3, 2013
Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine
April 29, 2013
Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust
Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?
Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA
April 26, 2013
Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty
April 24, 2013
|
| |
Jewish World Review
Dec. 21, 2007
/ 11 Teves 5768
Hillary's spousal albatross
By
David Limbaugh
| 
|
|
|
|
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
Hillary Clinton doesn't have the luxury Al Gore did of choosing to dump Bill Clinton on the presidential campaign trail. She's stuck with him, for better or for worse. And if she becomes president, so is America.
People always questioned Gore's judgment to cut his umbilical cord from Mother Bill, some saying he had to do it to free himself of the taint of the scandals and others saying the move cost him the election because he was unable to capitalize as much on the Clinton economic record.
There's doubtlessly merit to both arguments, and Gore was probably hurt some and helped some by the decision. Ultimately, though, voters surely were and are smart enough to evaluate the candidate on his own merits, regardless of the strength of his ties to his predecessor.
But in Hillary's case, it's obviously more complicated. Bill will not just have been a past president with very close ties to President Hillary, should she win. He won't merely be with her in the White House. He will be in her space.
Think about it. Right now, Hillary is probably conflicted about Bill's role in the campaign. She's obviously aware of a certain segment of the public's adulation for the man mystifying though it is but equally aware of another segment's visceral (and cerebral) revulsion.
But that's the pragmatic aspect. She has to be experiencing personal conflict as well. No matter how much she might deny it or project it onto opponent Barack Obama, this is a lady who has aspired to high office since before the flood.
I'll admit that part of her motivation to be president might be to implement her long-held vision for America: socialism, more or less. But self-fulfillment, achievement and power have to be equal or greater motivators.
As to these latter motivators, consider her dilemma. She desperately seeks self-respect and self-actualization, but fears she can't get it nor could she have ever been in a position to get it apart from the eventuality of Bill hanging around her neck like an albatross.
It would be bad enough if only cynical sexists accused her of glomming on to Bill for power. But there will be no Hillary presidency apart from Bill. He can't stay out of her business. He can't stand it if someone else has center stage, especially his wife, who he will have put in office.
Hillary promotes the myth that she shared a co-presidency with Bill, but her role has been greatly exaggerated. He didn't need her except to handle bimbo eruptions, feign surprise at his infidelity and stand by her man in the face of impeachment by "the vast right wing conspiracy." But I bet he only allowed her in on policy decisions, like health care, to pacify her.
We'll never know the full extent of her involvement, but we can be fairly sure she was in no way a co-president. He was the man.
Some things never change. He is still the man, and if she becomes president, the next Clinton presidency will feature markedly different dynamics from the first. The Constitution will say she's sole president, but Bill's constitution will say otherwise. Unless she is weaker than many assume and totally dependent upon him, she will surely find his irrepressibility and narcissism a powerful and distracting annoyance.
Can you envision the anarchy that could ensue on Pennsylvania Avenue? Other than "24's" fictional President Logan, did any other U.S. president have to enlist the Secret Service to sequester his spouse?
Apart from the "24," scenario I'm being quite serious about this. Bill Clinton is not constitutionally constructed to play second fiddle. Try as he might, he cannot help himself.
Even if he wouldn't vie for direct power which is unlikely, considering he's already lobbying for it with his ill-considered quip that Hillary would appoint him and Bush 41 as world ambassadors it's inconceivable he wouldn't always be trying to grab the headlines. And the media will always be ready to accommodate him.
So in the end, a Hillary presidency, in addition to the other woefully bad things about it, will be an internally chaotic, unstable mess. Unless she can muzzle Bill more on the campaign trail which could hurt her prospects as well voters are bound to consider these things if she wins the nomination and they more soberly contemplate an actual Clinton co-presidency.
She's already declining in the polls, in part due to the perception that she is unelectable in the general. The thought of a truly two-headed presidency, especially with these dual snapping turtles, will only add to that perception to Hillary's further detriment.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
Archives
David Limbaugh, a columnist and attorney practicing in Cape
Girardeau, Mo. Comment by clicking here.
DAVID'S LATEST:
Bankrupt: The Intellectual and Moral Bankruptcy of the Democratic Party
BANKRUPT! That’s what the Democrats are when it comes to new ideas, or to defending America, or to doing anything more than protecting their own narrow political interests. Exaggeration? Hardly. Bestselling author David Limbaugh quotes Democrats to devastating effect as a party that has reduced its mind and heart to the level of intellectual and moral bankruptcy. In this startling new book, Limbaugh shows just how far the Democratic Party has fallen, and why there is little prospect of redemption.
Sales help fund JWR.
|
© 2007, Creators Syndicate
|
|

Arnold Ahlert
Mitch Albom
Jay Ambrose
Michael Barone
Barrywood
Lori Borgman
Stratfor Briefing
Mona Charen
Linda Chavez
Richard Z. Chesnoff
Ann Coulter
Greg Crosby
Larry Elder
Suzanne Fields
Christine Flowers
Frank J. Gaffney
Bernie Goldberg
Jonah Goldberg
Julia Gorin
Jonathan Gurwitz
Paul Greenberg
Argus Hamilton
Victor Davis Hanson
Betsy Hart
Ron Hart
Nat Hentoff
A. Barton Hinkle
Jeff Jacoby
Paul Johnson
Jack Kelly
Ch. Krauthammer
David Limbaugh
Kathryn Lopez
Rich Lowry
Michelle Malkin
Jackie Mason
Ann McFeatters
Dale McFeatters
Dana Milbank
Jeanne Moos
Dick Morris
Jim Mullen
Deroy Murdock
Judge A. Napolitano
Bill O'Reilly
Clarence Page
Kathleen Parker
Star Parker
Dennis Prager
Wesley Pruden
Tom Purcell
Sharon Randall
Robert Robb
Cokie & Steve Roberts
Heather Robinson
Debra J. Saunders
Martin Schram
Greg Schwem
Culture Shlock
David Shribman
Roger Simon
Lenore Skenazy
Michael Smerconish
Thomas Sowell
Ben Stein
Mark Steyn
John Stossel
Cal Thomas
Dan Thomasson
Bob Tyrrell
Diana West
Dave Weinbaum
George Will
Walter Williams
Byron York
ZeitGeist
Mort Zuckerman

Robert Arial
Chuck Asay
Baloo
Lisa Benson
Chip Bok
Dry Bones
John Branch
John Cole
J. D. Crowe
Matt Davies
John Deering
Brian Duffy
Everything's Relative
Mallard Fillmore
Glenn Foden
Jake Fuller
Bob Gorrel
Walt Handelsman
Joe Heller
David Hitch
Jerry Holbert
David Horsey
Lee Judge
Steve Kelley
Jeff Koterba
Dick Locher
Chan Lowe
Jimmy Margulies
Jack Ohman
Michael Ramirez
Rob Rogers
Drew Sheneman
Kevin Siers
Jeff Stahler
Scott Stantis
Danna Summers
Gary Varvel
Kirk Walters
Dan Wasserman

Tech Q&A
Mr. Know-It-All
Ask Doctor K
Richard Lederer
Frugal Living
On Nutrition
Bookmark These
Bruce Williams
|