Posted on 05/24/2006 12:39:54 AM PDT by MadIvan
WHEN he ran for president, Bill Clinton's campaign stressed the advantage his wife's experience and feminist credentials would bring to the job of First Lady. But now that Hillary Clinton is preparing a presidential campaign, his time in the Oval Office is as much a handicap as an advantage.
Yesterday the New York Times devoted a 2,000-word story on its front page to the state of the Clintons' marriage. Noting, without comment, that the couple have been together for just 14 nights a month in the last two years, the paper speculated on whether or not the baggage from Mr Clinton's eight tumultuous years as president might one day sink his wife's presidential ambitions.
"There's no question that it's a complicated candidacy for a lot of voters because of the history of that relationship and what they've been through," said Leon Panetta, Mr Clinton's chief of staff from 1994 to 1997.
The couple's respective spokesmen told the paper: "She is an active senator who, like most members of Congress, has to be in Washington for part of most weeks. He is a former president running a multi-million-dollar global foundation.
"But their home is in New York, and they do everything they can to be together there or at their house in DC as often as possible - often going to great lengths to do so. When their work schedules require that they be apart, they talk all the time."
Nonetheless, the couple rarely appear in public together. In part, it is believed, this reflects a desire upon the part of the former president not to overshadow his wife.
When necessity demands they both speak from the same platform, as at the funeral of civil rights campaigner Coretta Scott King, the former president's eloquence and instinct for what an audience wants to hear eclipses his wife's more pedestrian public-speaking style. According to a Fox News poll this week, Mr Clinton enjoys a 58 per cent approval rating amongst the public while his wife's rating is a less impressive 50 per cent.
Equally, the potential for scandal is ever-present given Mr Clinton's history and proclivities. According to one friend of the Clintons: "She needs to be in her own separate orbit, so if something explodes in his world, she will have at least some space and distance to manage it."
The most recent and arguably the most enduring rumour swirling around the president concerns his relationship with Belinda Stronach, 38, a glamorous Canadian politician whom Mr Clinton first met during a golf event in 2001.
Though Canadian and New York papers have speculated on the precise nature of their relationship, Ms Stronach insists they are just good friends.
Another problem for Mrs Clinton's ambitions is the sense that her presidency would confirm the dynastic trend in American politics over 20 years, starting with George Bush senior, followed by Bill Clinton and George W Bush.
That worry - plus the fear that although Mrs Clinton remains a favourite to win the Democratic presidential nomination she would struggle to win the presidential election - leaves many Washington Democrats secretly hoping a viable alternative candidate to Mrs Clinton can be found.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Wow in that picture, Bill looks so much older.
Just "good friends"! How many of these will surface before the election. I cringe to think about after if God forbid the worst happens.
Before you all dismiss Rudy, McCain and other as unacceptable, think about giving Slick Willie another 8 years in the Oval Office.
Does his wife know that?
There's that, and they both want to date other women...
Translation:
She is an active Senator who is out there raising money, culling favors, and collecting chips, faster then a cheap whore in Reno casino.
He is a former President trying to grub for every last dollar while he still can.
The only thing the GOP has going for it is that the Democrats are stupid & insane. Oh yea, Al Gore will save them. Add Cynthia McKinney to his ticket and you got a sure winner there.
Most of them. The Clinton way is to get this info out so they can call it old news...and distract you from what they're really hiding.
Hmmphhh ... More'n the hitlery's hopes went into that sink ... they should both just .. go away !
From your lips to God's ear.
Sadly, you'd better get used to the idea of Clinton, then. No conservative would vote for those others on their worst day.
I would!
Any Conservative with half a brain would see that four years of Rudy, McCain or other GOP candidate , while it might not be optimal, would not be a catastrophe for the US. Hillary and her HINO, OTH, in the Oval Office would be dangerous, reckless, and is, IMO, unthinkable.,
PING. Amen.
Which is why the media is promoting the two of them and courting them like sweethearts.
Hillary will win unless a conservative candidate runs. That's the hard facts.
Hide yer money now...
lol, that's evil...but funny!
Well, that's a word that's gonna stick. Prophetic, I trust. Heh! Yo, Hill! Don't forget to push the 'WALK' button!
I respectively disagree. In the privacy of the voting booth, a conservative will bite the tongue and vote for Guiliani/McCaine, et al. Never for a Klintoon or Gore.
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