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Which Clinton Running the Show?
As Bill Clinton crisscrosses America defending his
wife's candidacy, he's fueling speculation about who'd be in charge
should Hillary be elected.
Sen. Clinton — the incredible shrinking candidate —
seems at times almost a bystander at her husband's campaign, merely
playing a somewhat more active role than she did in '92.
In our modern era of dynastic politics, the elder members of the
dynasties have a duty to step aside to let their less experienced
heirs shine. Former President George H.W. Bush, for example, has
stayed well out of the limelight to let his son have center stage.
Yet Bill Clinton is playing an ever-larger role in his wife's
campaign.
At first, his appearances were novel and politically helpful.
But then they came to underscore her weakness.
It was as if Dennis Thatcher had stood up for Maggie as she faced
down the Argentine junta in the Falklands war. Now, Bill's oversized
presence on the national stage raises an even more profound question:
Is he using his wife's candidacy to seek a third term in office,
prohibited him by the 22nd Amendment?
Increasingly, he seems like former Gov. George Wallace, who put
his wife Lurleen into the Alabama State House after he was forced
from office by term limits. (Or, in a more recent example, like
Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, who stepped aside only to
have his wife, Christina Fernandez Kirchner, take power.)
In '90, Hillary Clinton faced a similar problem when she flirted
with the idea of running for governor of Arkansas. Bill, determined
to seek the presidency in '92, was weighing whether to run for
another term as governor or to step down and seek the presidency
as a private citizen.
Key to his decision was whether Hillary could take his place,
both to keep the seat warm for him should he lose the presidential
race and to stop any unwanted revelations from surfacing while
he was off campaigning.
But the polls I took at the Clintons' behest found that voters
saw Hillary merely as an extension of Bill, not as an independent
political figure. Arkansans saw her possible candidacy for governor
as an attempt to be a placeholder for her husband.
When I likened the public reaction to Hillary's candidacy to that
of Alabama voters to Lurleen's years before, Hillary and Bill
exploded in shock and indignation (more his than hers) at the
metaphor; they even asked me to do a second poll to confirm the
results.
Hillary thereupon began a 20-year effort to differentiate herself
from Bill and craft an independent identity.
Now that project is at risk. Bill's intervention has become so
overt, voluble, high-profile and independent that it calls into
question the entire premise that Hillary is running for president
as anything other than a figurehead.
The idea that you get "two for the price of one" was
a misnomer in the '92 campaign when Bill first broached it. He
was always the president. Yes, Hillary was his chief adviser in
'93 and '94 (and again between '98 and '00). But in '95, '96 and
'97, she acted merely as first lady, touring the world and promoting
her book.
Until Bill began his active campaigning for Hillary, she benefited
from the merger of their identities. Lacking much experience on
her own (except for the healthcare debacle), she could expropriate
his record to provide a basis for her candidacy. She could run
promising an extension of his presidency, but in a new time with
a new candidate at the top.
But now the merger is working against her. Voters are wondering
for which Clinton they will be voting when they pull the lever.
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