What Would Bill Do?
Saturday, February 24th, 2007 by RLRFrom Indianapolis Star
By Ken Bode
Two of the Clinton family’s most famous spear-carriers have put a cat among the pigeons. They have offered an answer to one of the most intriguing questions about the Hillary candidacy, one that she, or they, will eventually have to answer. If Sen. Clinton were to win the presidency, what happens to Bill?
Could he be satisfied to be America’s “first gentleman,” performing in a supportingrole, on deck for state dinners, in charge of redecorating and supervising the White House staff? With his wife in the Oval Office it would be unseemly for the former president to continue traveling the world making speeches at $200,000 a pop.
Let’s remember how Bill used Hillary. When he was elected in 1992, Mrs. Clinton envisioned something approaching a co-presidency. She wanted an office in the West Wing with a kind of unlimited portfolio, watching over everything and everybody. A mild struggle ensued over office space and Vice President Al Gore ultimately got the one Hillary was eying. Nevertheless, she became a constant White House presence, with her own staff and a domain called “Hillaryland.” Eventually, Bill put her in charge of health-care reform, the biggest domestic policy initiative of his administration, and all did not go well.
Glenn Thrush, a reporter from Newsday, the Long Island daily tabloid, called me this week to say that two of President Bill Clinton’s top advisers from the 1990s have ventured an interesting answer to the question, “What about Bill?”
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