Clintons and Friends Reunited for Sad End in S.C.
CHARLESTON, SC -- Last night a bit after 9 p.m., Hillary and Bill Clinton were reunited. This took place in a convention center in North Charleston, and the ballroom was showing plenty of floor. The Clintons brought along all their pals, like Charlie Rangel and David Dinkins and David Patterson and Sheila Jackson-Lee (Texas, 18th District) and former South Carolina state Representative Lucille Whipper, and also a few white friends! She brought them on the stage, President Clinton provided a brief introduction, and then Hillary was given the space, all to herself, for a speech.
Senator Clinton recalled a car trip to Charleston many years ago, where they tossed young Chelsea in the trunk (or perhaps even the back seat) and drove on up--but in which old car? "Which one was it honey?" Clinton asked her husband. No matter. "It's moments like that that really make life worth livin'," she said. Country bumpkin!
No one in the press row was transcribing her speech (which was one of her better, definitely, smooth and not shrill and in good voice). In her talk, she castigated a symbolic rich guy who works in "some hedge fund" for making much more money than regular people. Good thing her hedge-fund employed daughter wasn't there! The Clinton bus reporters looked sad--they'd all put on ten pounds this week for this?--and some shook their heads when the speech was over. This party was deathly; the speech ended abruptly; it seemed a terrible way to go out.
Do we want another DUAL (ILLEGAL/DYSFUNCTIONAL) PRESIDENCY -- aka Clintons in the 90s, Bush/Cheney -- and now, Clintons again? Good Op-Ed today in NYT.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/opinion/26wills.html?ref=opinion
[No other vice president in our history has taken on so many presidential prerogatives, with so few checks. He is an example of the very thing James Wilson was trying to prevent by having one locus of authority in the executive. The attempt to escape single responsibility was perfectly exemplified when his counsel argued that Mr. Cheney was not subject to executive rules because he was also part of the legislature.
We have seen in this campaign how former President Clinton rushes to the defense of presidential candidate Clinton. Will that pattern of protection be continued into the new presidency, with not only his defending her but also her defending whatever he might do in his energetic way while she’s in office? It seems likely. And at a time when we should be trying to return to the single-executive system the Constitution prescribes, it does not seem to be a good idea to put another co-president in the White House.]