Unpleasant Scenario: Two Clinton Presidents!

I have repeated my fears of having the former president once again ensconced in the White House. I cannot imagine his being able to live within the constraints of the role of a "First Lad". Over these past few weeks, the former president has demonstrated behavior that may reflect a future reality.

I cannot imagine that the former president will be quiet about anything that is going on. A second aspect of this perception is that the impact his statements will have on those in the Executive Branch. Having heard the opinions of the former president, who could promote policies at variance with his?

Gary Wills has succinctly placed my fears within historical context. The framers of the Constitution wrestled with the problem of minimizing executive powers while maintaining the need for accountability.

You can imagine the problems of attributing accountability to Hillary when Bill was the actual culprit!

I wish that my fears would go away. Other commentators, however, keep me focused. Bruce Feirstein and Ronald Brownstein discuss the implications of how the Clintons are behaving in the current primary races. Colbert King draws some ominous inferences about the prospects of a Billary Administration. Frank Rich also portrays a rather ugly picture of what could happen if the two Clintons were candidates for the president. In short, my fears of their joint occupancy of the White House are shared by many others. I hope that the Democratic voters will see this clearly during the primary season and vote for Obama. If not, it would not surprise me that the anti-Clinton vote will doom prospects of a Democratic election. And lo and behold! the once scenario of the inevitable win for the Democrats could sink into oblivion.

I may have to live with them. It does look as though the Clintons will overwhelm Obama.

P.S. Rather than start another item, I am going to add columns that support the need to consider the downsides of another Clinton in the White House.


NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF directs his question to the wisdom of supporting a dynasty. He is not directly questioning the phenomenon of two Clinton presidents in the White House at the same time. Rather is looks back to our early history and the wisdom they had about the need to introduce new leaders rather regularly. while it may not be unconstitutional, it is clearly an issue worthy of much consideration about its wisdom.