Hillary’s Problem

I avoided writing about the New York Times article on the state of Clinton's marriage that ran on Monday. Frankly, it didn't seem worth writing about. David Broder, in today's Washington Post thought it was however.  

But the buzz in the room was not about her speech — or her striking appearance in a lemon-yellow pantsuit — but about the lengthy analysis of the state of her marriage to Bill Clinton that was on the front page of that morning's New York Times.

The article, by Patrick Healy, was anything but unsympathetic. It touched only lightly on the former president's friendship with Canadian politician Belinda Stronach. It documented that despite their busy separate schedules, the Clintons had managed to spend two-thirds of their weekends together during the past 18 months.

The closing anecdote concerned a December fundraiser where Clinton praised his wife and bestowed a kiss on her forehead, after which she recalled their 30 years together and said, "I'm so grateful to you, Bill."

But for all the delicacy of the treatment, the very fact that the Times had sent a reporter out to interview 50 people about the state of the Clintons' marriage and placed the story on the top of Page One was a clear signal — if any was needed — that the drama of the Clintons' personal life would be a hot topic if she runs for president.

Frankly, I don't think the state of their marriage should be part of the debate, but I also know it will be too juicy a target for a lot of people (like the NYT and the WaPo) to ignore. I think Hillary will have a lot worse things to have to deal with when she formally announces what everyone already knows she is planning. As was plain even at the event Broder is writing about when someone jumped up and started heckling.

The final moment of her speech had been interrupted by a woman shouting antiwar slogans, and the fourth question gave the senator a chance to respond. She said, as she had before, that "I regret the way the president used" the authority to make war in Iraq that she had joined in giving him, and now felt that, with a permanent Iraqi government almost complete, it is the Iraqis' responsibility to curb sectarian violence, end the insurrection and get about rebuilding the country.

Three times in the question-and-answer session, she referred to her husband as "Bill," praising him for seeing that his library in Little Rock incorporated a lot of energy-saving features.

Other than that, the elephant in the room went unmentioned.

I rather suspect the elephant actually did get mentioned. Hillary will be dealing with the extremists in her own party quite a lot.