Margaret Carlson has chosen to go where no one should. It is risky at best to interfere in the relationship of any married couple, but to insinuate yourself between the Clintons and tell them what to do takes a special mix of moxie and silliness. In her latest post on Bloomberg, Carlson offers America’s power couple unsolicited advice based on faulty “facts,” supposition, and speculation. It was not exactly a slow Hillary-news day given Claire McCaskill’s premature endorsement, so one wonders exactly what spurred Carlson to enter this particular arena uninvited.
Let’s stop here for a moment. Everyone knows that this is not Hillary 2.0. It is Hillary 3.0. She had a website as New York Senator, and during her primary campaign, she had a blog, a Facebook account, a Twitter account, and a MySpace account. As Secretary of State she had almost all of those (no MySpace- and everyone knows why). So this is the new unofficial Hillary on the social nets. That is a minor point, however, compared to the statement that her campaign was defeated. In fact, she won the popular vote. She was not defeated at all. Her own party took delegates away and gave them to Obama, effectively handing him the nomination.
Her re-emergence had just one flaw. She didn’t keep her dog on the porch, a mistake so serious it could be disqualifying. She, of all people, knows how good Bill Clinton can be, and how bad. So why did she choose to revive her brand during the weeklong annual celebration of his Global Initiative, surrounded by his cast and on his turf? Why not wait until her husband was off in Malawi or somewhere to announce that his sustainable agriculture initiative had brought about a 30 percent increase in soybean yields?
Is is possible Carlson is the only one who did not get the memo that Hillary has made it clear that she will be working at the foundation that has been renamed for all three Clintons? Did she miss the announcement of Hillary’s early childhood initiative? When that Twitter account went live, was it not clear that she did it in advance of the CGI America 2013 convening so that she could promote her foundation work?
Then there is this.
The Senate was the intermediate step she needed to make the unprecedented journey from FLOTUS to POTUS. Otherwise, she would look like a widow (Muriel Humphrey) or worse, Eva Peron, filling the shoes of a missing husband by default.
SNIP
Bill Clinton didn’t help her become president in 2008, and he won’t be much help in 2016, except as a warm, supportive presence who, in our imagination, will inhabit the East Wing as a benign elder statesman, giving gentle advice only when prodded.
Ummmm… she has not said she is running. She has said that she is working at the foundation. The Peron reference makes no sense at all since Evita predeceased her husband who remained in office for two years after her death.
And finally this.
If he meddles in his wife’s 2016 campaign the way he did in 2008, he could lose his hard-won halo. If she lets him meddle, she will go down with him.
He will always loom. What didn’t drive them apart made their marriage stronger. But one thing he hasn’t learned is how to stand by his woman without standing in her way, blocking our view.
So thank you, Bill, for all you’ve done. Now for all womankind, and for the sake of the TBD at the end of Hillary’s Twitter profile, could you go where no man has gone before, except perhaps Denis Thatcher, and take one step back and to the side?
She can’t do this with you.
(Margaret Carlson is a Bloomberg View columnist.)
Right now there is no 2016 campaign. There is a couple, finally together again, working in tandem at their foundation. Where else would she have announced her plans? “She can’t do this with you?” “For all womankind?” It appears Margaret has joined the giddy ranks of those who insist that every word from Hillary’s lips, every character in her tweets, and how she parts her hair are loaded with code. Really, Margaret. Sometimes you just have to take the Clintons at their word and not insinuate yourself between them
Still4Hill 
the comment about obama’s campaign almost made me barf. “hope, change and a smile” – yeah, all hillary offered was qualifications, competence, ideas and hard work. who wants that in a president?
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Amen!
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Hear, hear!!!
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It’s a no-win. If Hillary had gone off and started her own foundation, launched a solo cross-country listening tour, or even stayed at home writing her book, these same folks would be speculating on the state of the Clintons’ marriage, wondering why they’re choosing to spend so much time apart. These media pundits are also so out of touch with mainstream America that they don’t realize how much people *like* Bill Clinton, both personally and as a President. I don’t think he overshadows Hillary at all.
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Not only that, he knows she radiates her own light, and he loves to bask in it!
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Exactly – I think she has more than emerged from his shadow – she has eclipsed him. He seems totally into it though.
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I know he does. 🙂
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You tell it, Still. What an untimely, presumptuous load of drivel. Regarding 2008, as you said, Hillary didn’t lose. If she had lost, Bill’s missteps on the campaign trail, when he expressed his anger at the unfairness with which Hillary was treated – anger we all were feeling, and knew was fully justified – would not have cost her the election. If anything related to Bill cost her votes, it was the untrue, vile, despicable accusations that Bill and she were racists. I wonder if Carlson has reported on that aspect of 2008. My guess is that she has not.
Given that during Bill Clinton’s 2 presidential terms this country was in better shape than any other time in recent history, I think we would be damn lucky to have him serving in any governmental position. So, I, for one, unlike Margaret, hope that if Hillary decides to run for president, and if she is elected, Bill will assume as active a role as HILLARY wants him to assume. His advice would certainly be based on a thorough knowledge of the situation. It would be thoughtful, creative, and practical. And, if Hillary didn’t want to take his advice, or give him a prominent role, I don’t think she would need Margaret’s help in managing or dealing with her husband. My guess is that Hillary is more than capable of taking care of that little chore all on her own.
Truth is, I think they both feel that they function better as a team than individually. Nothing wrong with that. It would be a refreshing change to have two people in the WH who respected this country and its constitution, who would work like hell for the good of Americans, who would not undermine our freedoms and rights; and who would not spend us into bankruptcy on trips, clothes, and self-indulgence.
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Amen! Amen! Amen!!!!! They are an exceptional team, and I think there are a lot of people who have so many problems with that.
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So true!
They are both wonderful, and it’s great to see them looking so happy, as in the pic above.
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Amen!!
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Who is Margaret again? I am so sick and tired of people giving Bill and Hillary unsolicited advice.
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LOL!!!!!
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In actual good (about Hillary) suggestions:http://www.thv11.com/news/article/268813/2/Childrens-Library-may-be-named-for-Hillary-Clinton
Opinions can be emailed to board@cals.org
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How sweet. That would be right up her alley.
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Another nugget – http://www.journal-topics.com/news/article_1efae09c-d8de-11e2-ac2a-001a4bcf6878.html (Her HS is giving her and two other alumni an honor.)
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Yes and Amen to what everyone here said! Margaret Carlson is one in what will be a long string of people desperately trying to keep themselves relevant (like, for example, Claire).
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I don’t even know where to start. How dare this hack think that she has the right to emit an opinion on the Clinton’s marriage? Also, how crass is it to tell a woman that she “didn’t keep her dog on the porch”. Where are we, the South circa 1930???
Furthermore, Bill is 66 years old. He can damn well say whatever he wants to say and take responsibility for it. It’s not Hillary’s job to censor her husband.
As for Evita, this history ignoramus, should have said Isabelita. Isabel Peron was vice president when Peron died in 1974. She became the first woman to become president in the world (there had been women prime ministers, but not presidents).
Margaret, shut up!! You’re embarrassing yourself.
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Preach it!!! Yes, she did mean Isabelita, the first woman president anywhere ever! (How anyone could have confused the two is beyond me. Evita is such a powerful icon in my mind that I didn’t even think of Isabelita.)
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Isabelita was a nonentity, other than for being Peron’s third wife. Evita shone with her own light, whether people like her or not. To this day she’s still adored by the poor and hated by the rich. She pushed Peron to pass legislation that still is in force: paid vacation, paid maternity leave, socialized medicine, etc. She also cast on her dying bed the first vote for women. At the time there was pressure to make her run for VP when Peron was up for reelection, but she was already sick with ovarian cancer. She died too young, she was only 33 years old.
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Preach it!!!! She’s my other girl! BIG TIME! http://www.evitaperon.org/
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Here she is casting her first vote. She was dying at the time. So sad.
And she loved kids, as Hillary does. Never had any of her own (probably couldn’t – but – like Hillary, had small doggies) but opened a lovely village for orphans.
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Thanks for the link and the nice pics. Yes, she loved children, but was never able to get pregnant. Sad……..
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The museum and website are run, as you see, by her grand niece. I love that site. I have almost every book written about Evita – including her autobiography. She was treated very badly by American press for the most part, so a lot of Americans at the time did not know about her foundation work. I had a colleague who used to go to BA every summer with some of his students. He would always place a bouquet of roses at her tomb for me, and the Argentines would applaud that Americans could love her so much. Until Hillary came along, I always felt cheated that we didn’t have our Evita.
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And what Bea said too!
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🙂
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What great comments.
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