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July 3, 2008

Rabbi Dr. Abraham J. Twerski: A spiritual budget (TOUCHING!)

Jeff Jacoby: Israel still paying for its defeat

JWisdom:: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part IV by Rabbi David Aaron

July 2, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Appeasers Make Poor Patriots

The Kosher Gourmet By Kathleen Purvis: Slaw, y'all: For BBQs or Sabbath dinner, these southern recipes are something else!

JWisdom:: Rabbi Mordechai Becher: Jewish Rx for A Simpler Life

July 1, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q. I think it's important to leave a legacy to my children. How much should I save towards this end?

Paul Greenberg:A President who is history deficient?

JWisdom:: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Poland's Unique Antisemitism

June 30, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: Remembering the architect of Torah Judaism for the modern world

Abe Novick: Hulk: Still a Jew?

JWisdom: : Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality, Part 2: The Abandoned Child

June 26, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: Quantum leap to evil

Caroline B. Glick: Victimized families must not be allowed to dictate policy

June 25, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Today in Biblical History: King Jeroboam of Israel prevents pilgrimage to Jerusalem

Jonathan Tobin: Real Friends and Real Enemies

JWisdom: Raping of reason By Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 25, 2008

Steven Emerson: Kristof: Never Mind the Terrorists

Stratfor Intelligence Briefing: Mediterranean Flyover: Telegraphing an Israeli Punch?

JWisdom: Rabbi David Aaron: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part III

June 24, 2008

Caroline B. Glick: What were they thinking!?

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Guilty knowledge

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Warping Innocence

June 23, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Diploma dilemma

Jeff Jacoby: A world without children

JWisdom: Rabbi Dovid Gross: Putting the Spirit Back into Spirituality --- Introduction

June 20, 2008

Rabbi A. Henach Leibowitz: Man: The Crowning Glory of Creation

Caroline B. Glick: Israel's darkest week

JWisdom: We aren't worthy? by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 19, 2008

Rabbi Elazar Meisels: The saints who don't come marchin' in

Chris Christoff: Muslim woman demands an apology from Obama after camera snub

June 18, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Still Dancing Around Jerusalem

The Kosher Gourmet by Steve Petusevsky: Chilled fruit and vegetable soups

JWisdom: Souls Need A Check Up? by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 17, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Baby Einstein

Caroline B. Glick: Bush's rhetoric, Bush's policies

JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part II by Rabbi David Aaron

June 16, 2008

Varda Branfman: Bob Dylan, won't you please come home?

Diana West: Academic dares to question the 'religion of peace'

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Positive Backfire

June 13, 2008

Rabbi Berel Wein: Trading manna for whine

Caroline B. Glick: Peace with friends

JWisdom: From the mouths of … by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 12, 2008

Michael Feldberg: Meet Paul Revere's pal, the Orthodox Jew who played a key role in laying Boston's cultural and business infrastructure

The Kosher Gourmet by Kathy Manweiler: No need to be tempted by Wendy's mandarin chicken salad

JWisdom: Re-Jew-venating prayer, Part I by Rabbi David Aaron

June 11, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: What would Hillel say?

Jonathan Tobin: UNRWA and NGOs: The Real U.N. 'Insult'

JWisdom: Sara Yoheved Rigler: Greatness Made Simple: How a momentary decision shifted life's course and destination

June 6, 2008

Rabbi Pinchas Stolper: Revelation: The basis of faith

Binyamin L. Jolkovsky: Mere hours after becoming Israel's new 'best friend' Obama backtracks on status of Jerusalem

Caroline B. Glick: UN choosing to protect rogue nuclear programs

JWisdom: Sameness in difference by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

June 5, 2008

David Lightman: Now Obama wants to be Israel's newest 'best friend'

Obama's remarks to AIPAC policy conference

The Kosher Gourmet By Ethel G. Hofman: Shavous cuisine: Ruby Fruit Soup, Lokshen Kugel with Cheese, Key Lime Curd, Calsone Casserole Frittata with Wild Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes and Olives, Baked Tilapia with Pepper Cheese Cream and Brown Sugar Shortbread

JWisdom: Why a Jewish Jerusalem makes so many nervous by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 4, 2008

Jonathan Rosenblum: A different sort of 'religious broadcaster'

Jonathan Tobin: Misgivings on the Road to Damascus

JWisdom: 44 Years Without An Argument? by Sara Yoheved Rigler

June 3, 2008

Daniel Pipes: Obama vs. McCain on the Middle East

Everything's Relative: There is a crisis growing in Orthodox synagogues worldwide, reveals Jordan "Gorf" Gorfinkel

JWisdom: White Facades; Black Secrets by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

June 2, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: Lie to outsmart discriminator?

He writes the songs that make our souls sing:Gavriel Aryeh Sanders interviews Jewish music legend Ben Zion Shenker; includes stirring, uplifting song

JWisdom: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Of laws and lives

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review Dec. 21, 2007 / 11 Teves 5768

Hillary's spousal albatross

By David Limbaugh


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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.

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David Limbaugh, a columnist and attorney practicing in Cape Girardeau, Mo. Comment by clicking here.


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