In the over-hyped week before Obama announced his VP choice, I shocked myself by realizing I was harboring a secret hope that he’d choose Hillary Clinton.
Why this sudden convoluted craving for a Clinton? I didn’t vote for her in the primaries; Obama’s been my choice all along. So, why this rush of hope for Hillary now?
It’s simple.
Because she would have been an outstanding Vice President. Because together, she and Obama would have clinched the White House.
And, because, yes, like millions of other women of all ages, I’d have liked to have seen Hillary’s formidable – and female — mojo at work in the White House.
But I also knew why Obama couldn’t, wouldn’t, pick Hillary – and it’s for the same reasons I didn’t vote for her:
Hillary comes as a package deal with Bill. And Bill’s a deal-breaker.
From the moment Bill Clinton dilly-dallied with Monica Lewinsky in the shadows of the Oval Office, he jeopardized any future political ambitions Hillary might have had for herself.
Not because he cheated – that’s so commonplace these days it hardly bears mentioning. But because he so carelessly debased the dignity of the American presidency with his non-sex sex acts, and then hid behind semantics to deny what he’d done. A lot of us haven’t forgotten his finger-jabbing wordplay and the contempt for the American public it revealed.
More recently, Bill’s verbal missteps and temper tantrums sent backfiring torpedoes through the already turbulent waters of his wife’s bid for the Democratic nomination. Bill revealed himself to be as petty in political conversation as he’d been pedestrian in his choice of paramours. Worse, he seemed utterly incapable of stepping into the shade so his wife could have her day in the sun.
If Bill was unable to contain his lust for the limelight while his wife made her own bid for presidential history, would there have been any end to the scene-stealing he’d have tried for if he’d been forced to stump — as a lowly VP spouse — for Barack Obama?
And if an Obama/Clinton ticket had won? Relegated to the fringes of the seat of power, how long do you think it would have taken before his voracious ego started doing headstands and cartwheels to get noticed?
A notorious ladies man (and I use that term loosely) as First, um, Gentleman (and I use that term even more loosely) — where do you think he’d have looked to get his much-needed fix of ego-stroking? Even if Bill didn’t take the bait, it would have been a constant circus for the air and ether-waves. At every photo-op, every lingering smile, every hand clasped meaningfully … what the blogs didn’t chatter to death, the late-night comics would have skewered.
More than anything right now, our country desperately needs a president and an administration that can be trusted. A president and vice-president who, along with their spouses, can be seen as believable symbols of a newly invigorated, newly united American nation – a nation of integrity.
But with the ball and chain of hubby Bill, there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in Florida of Hillary’s making the cut.
Having Hillary on the ticket with Obama would have satisfied my short-term craving for girl-power in this presidential campaign, but would have short-circuited my long-term longing for a return to dignity in the White House. For a few days, though, I was holding my breath.
And now, while I’m not wild about Joe Biden, I believe Obama made the right call in not selecting Hillary to be his running mate.
Still, it’s a sad situation that a woman as hard-working, well-liked, and as whip-smart as Hillary Rodham Clinton has been relegated to the sidelines of this historic election — at a crucial time when her country needs and deserves her the most.
And you can blame Bill for that.