A Peak Inside the Head of Bill and Hillary Clinton
The foregone conclusion from America's clamoring political class is that Hillary Clinton will be crowned the Democrat nominee for president in 2016. Yet there is speculation among Washington's speculating class that health concerns might keep her from running.
Allow me to speculate on that speculation. It is so much easier than getting any facts out of the spin-doctors in D.C.
The Washington Post, head cheerleader for Hillary, even wrote a piece: "How Sick is Hillary Clinton?" We all noticed that she seemed unable to wear her contact lenses, resorting to thick glasses. Her weight gain may not be just to lure Bill Clinton back to her bedroom. Observers think she has been physically going downhill since the fall. When coupled with her age (69 in 2016), her thrombosis and neurological symptoms could be issues.
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This sends a panic wave among the power-dependent Democrat establishment. They have no bench to fall back on if Hillary does not run. For a party that substitutes faux compassion for common sense, Democrats must have a charismatic salesman like Obama or Clinton peddling it.
As has been her MO, Hillary conveniently stalled testifying on her Benghazi involvement. She said she "fell and hit her head." Her State Department staff played that up when her PR people released a picture of her being given a football helmet upon her return to work. That could have been due to a long-standing policy of requiring Clintons to wear protection, but many feel it was staged.
It worked. Hillary successfully avoided the blame for Benghazi that was rightfully hers. Her Ferris Bueller-like excuses forced then-UN Ambassador Susan Rice to appear on five Sunday talk shows to spin the Obama Administration lie that the attack was caused by a YouTube video. It was classic Clintonian obfuscation.
In general, Hillary's tenure as Secretary of State has been carefully promoted as successful, though she had issues with Benghazi, al Qaeda reconstituting itself, and the WikiLeaks / Edward Snowden security breaches. Hillary has historically been more concerned about DNA leaks than intelligence ones.
She always did a great job masking Obama's contempt for Israel. In every meeting with Israelis leaders, she reminded them that three of Bill Clinton's last four girlfriends were Jewish.
Monica Lewinsky has been kept under wraps in England. She has been trying to restore her reputation by volunteering at a hospital, but she was terminated from the hospital volunteer team. To be fair to Monica, she probably just misunderstood what their stroke unit was for.
Given Bill Clinton's history of blaming the women who accused him of making sexual advances, the Democrats will find it hard to play the "Republican War on Women" ruse. They are already saying the Clinton sex scandals don't matter. These are the same liberals who trumpeted gay NBA player Jason Collins' sex life. The left maintains that the sex life of the NBA player who came out of the closet is everybody's business, while Bill Clinton's sex life is no one's business.
The former president remains popular. He raises a lot of money for world charities and is brought in to help Obama when he gets into a bind on economic and tax issues. Clinton's only failure came when Obama asked him to convince the World Soccer Federation to hold the World Cup in Chicago. I think Clinton's heart just wasn't in promoting a sport where the players can't use their hands.
The fence-mending political prowess of Bill Clinton cannot be underestimated. One of his biggest fans is Barbara Bush, whose husband he defeated for president. If we have learned anything from the Monica Lewinsky intern affair, it is that older women know it is better not to expose an affair.
The Clintons are formidable. They represent nostalgia for better times when we had peace, prosperity, balanced budgets, and a socialized health care that didn't pass.
The 2016 presidential race might be Jeb Bush versus Hillary Clinton, both from families who controlled the White House for 20 years. Just think: we fought England - twice - to be free from the rule of a family monarchy.
Because I write op-ed humor, I am pulling for a Clinton return to power. If Hillary wins and Bill becomes the First Spouse, it will be interesting to see what he does with his time in the White House. My guess is that he will spend a lot of it hitting on the portrait of Jackie Kennedy.
