WP, Eugene Robinson: A Problem Like Bill

[DeepModem Mom]

A Problem Like Bill
By Eugene Robinson
Friday, December 21, 2007; A35

Hillary Clinton tells audiences that having lived in the White House for eight eventful years, she's eager to take charge as president on "day one." Apparently, though, so is Bill....

The learning-curve issue for her -- and it has no precedent in American history -- would be figuring out how to deal with a husband who was very good at being president but shows little talent or motivation for being a president's spouse. Sexism might have something to do with the fact that Hillary Clinton has to answer questions about her husband that the other candidates never get asked about their wives. But Bill Clinton has always had a way of making himself the story, and he's at it again.

When the Clintons made a campaign stop at an Iowa grocery store Tuesday, Hillary's face said it all. She realized that Bill had departed from the script and wandered off to another part of the store, and cameras caught her scanning the aisles with a look of sheer terror. Bill was supposed to be at Hillary's side; instead, he was way over yonder, giving an interview to "Entertainment Tonight." What was supposed to be a controlled photo op had suddenly turned into a happening.

Spontaneity gives ulcers to campaign staffers, but the supermarket stop got much more coverage than it would have if Bill had followed the script. He ended up drawing more attention to himself than the candidate -- which is in keeping with his formal campaign speeches. On the stump, he draws big crowds and comes off as charming, eloquent and persuasive. But reporters who have tallied his words say that he talks more about himself than about his wife -- at a ratio of about 9 to 1.

The real problem comes when Bill goes off message. Campaigning in South Carolina on Monday, he said that Hillary's No. 1 priority as president would be to send a group of notables -- including himself and former president George Bush the Elder -- on an around-the-world mission to repair America's image....That episode shows what Hillary Clinton might face in the White House. After his eight years as president, and nearly seven as a millionaire statesman/philanthropist/philosopher, is Bill Clinton capable of following any script? He's used to saying whatever he wants to say, whenever he wants to say it. And he's a talented improviser, always overflowing with ideas -- some of them brilliant, some half-baked -- that he can't wait to share with his listeners.

Does anyone think that William Jefferson Clinton would confine himself to the bland, inoffensive pronouncements we've come to expect from presidential spouses?...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/20/AR2007122001864.html?nav%3Dhcmodule&sub=AR


Bill Clinton speaking at a New Jersey fundraiser for Hillary Clinton this week.
(Rich Schultz/AP)

[FlyingSquirrel]

1. Poor Hillary... the one thing she can't control in her otherwise

controlled campaign is the one thing that may in fact matter more to the public than anything else.

Edit: I know, I used the word Hillary this time. But only 'cause there was a question as to which Clinton I might be talking about.

:D