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 ill the Clinton
marriage survive until 2004? Doubtful.
If Sen. Hillary Clinton's dreams of becoming the Democratic
presidential nominee, let alone getting elected, are to be realized
in 2004, she will have to rid herself of what is surely becoming her
biggest liability — Bill Clinton. And the only way she can shake
off this albatross is get a divorce or some kind of legal separation.
It is becoming increasingly evident that the very idea of having
Bill Clinton as First Husband for a new term in 2004 would be nauseatingly
repellent to the American people. En though guilt by association
may not win arguments with civil libertarians, it is not uncommon
to judge candidates by their personal relations.
Here we are just a month since Clinton became an ex-president and
already he's being investigated for pardoning a bunch of assorted
crooks. There are hints of bribery coming from all directions, criticism
about overpayment for office space, and alleged illegal fund-raising
for the Clinton Library. And then there's Hillary's brother peddling
pardons. Too bad she can't divorce her brother.
Even the New York Times, which has long defended and endorsed
Clinton and absolved him of his sins, has begun to express its doubts.
Its editorial page recently stressed "the
| “True,
Sen. Clinton has a right to an independent career but,
fair or not, it will do her no good to be confronted by
some execrable scandal involving the former president.” |
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growing
urgency for [Sen. Clinton], at the start of her Senate career, to
separate herself from the unrestrained fund-raising practices identified
with her husband." And the time is nigh when she will have to separate
herself from much more than her husband's fund-raising practices.
As a senator she will in coming months be confronted with her husband's
kooky behavior. True, Sen. Clinton has a right to an independent
career but, fair or not, it will do her no good to be confronted
by some execrable scandal involving the former president and then
to plead at a press conference or over Larry King: "Am I
my husband's keeper?" Unfortunately for her, as senator and aspirant
to the presidency, she is charged with being her husband's keeper.
Senator Clinton, 53, demonstrated last fall that she was a skilled
campaigner. She overcame the accusation of not being a New Yorker,
and, with the strong backing of women, blacks, and Jews, she won
election to the Senate and won handily. Mrs. Clinton is today the
leading New York Democrat. Is she to compromise and perhaps squander
these triumphs because of a negligent and reckless husband?
Over their collective political lifetime, the Clintons have demonstrated
an extraordinary teflon talent. That attribute was theirs while
they occupied the White House. But now she's out on her own. Is
she going to have defend her husband every time a new Clinton debacle
is splashed on page one of some supermarket tabloid?
Even if Bill Clinton were to promise to reform and to stay out of
the news, nobody would believe him. On a day when Sen. Clinton would
be delivering a major speech, there would inevitably be some new
bimbo eruption — with the usual denials and counter-denials,
suits and counter-suits, lies, confessions, and apologies
.
If Sen. Clinton is prepared to live with her marriage intact, she
might prevail upon President Bush as an act of generosity to appoint
her husband to some faraway post, say, governor of the Virgin Islands.
This way, while Clinton is in New York or Washington on official
business, he will legitimately remain under constant surveillance.
A major consideration about a divorce or legal separation is always
the children. In a few days, Feb. 27, Chelsea Clinton will have
reached the age of majority. A broken home would probably not have
the same meaning for her as it might have had years back when she
was an teenager. And as for a divorcee as a presidential candidate?
Ronald Reagan was a divorced man, and it served him no personal
or electoral harm. So, too, was Adlai Stevenson, the twice-defeated
Democratic candidate against Dwight Eisenhower. So there's hope
for America, and for Mrs. Clinton.
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