No Precedent for ‘1st First Gentleman’

1st First Gentleman, whether he is or not. An ex-president is always called 

"President So-and-so", so if Hilary Clinton is elected President, there will be two President Clintons in the White House. They will be referred to as President Bill Clinton and President Hilary Clinton according to custom, so it is not likely that Bill will be called the "First Gentleman" at all.

Unlike legislative or judicial titles, executive titles do not persist after leaving office (a result of our disdain for monarchy, one assumes). The press often refers to Bill Clinton as "former president" or "ex-president" but this are improper. His formal title is Mr. Clinton. "First Lady" is the title of the hostess of the White House, not the President's wife. From Jan 3, 2000 to Jan 20, 2000 Chelsea Clinton was our youngest First Lady (since her mother, Hilary, abdicated the office when she became Senator). She may resume the role - a politically favorable move, I would think.

The question – what will we call the husband of the nation's first female president? – may seem minor, but it has more possible answers than you'd think. 

Bill, 68, told Oprah Winfrey in 2007 that his Scottish friends had their own suggestion: "My Scottish friends say I should be called 'first laddie' because it's the closest thing to 'first lady.' I'm not so worried about what I'm called as what I'm called upon to do." 

What kind of first lady will Bill Clinton be if Hillary becomes president?1st first gentleman

The bake-off was an attempt to appeal to stay at home moms following her 

controversial response to California governor Jerry Brown’s criticism that she owed her professional success to her husband, Bill. “I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had tea,” she told a reporter in a soundbite that was reported around the world. “But what I decided to do was fulfill my profession.” Many women responded with outrage, and perhaps that’s why, shortly thereafter, Clinton participated in the traditional Family Circle first lady bake-off. And won.

Clinton’s cookies are good: my best friend’s mom used to make them for her school lunches. No doubt Hillary could have won any number of bake-offs with her recipe, but politics have paid off far more for her: in less than a year, she may be the first female president of the United States. But if that happens, she won’t be the only one breaking a gender barrier: her husband Bill will step into a role no man has ever held before. So what kind of first lady will Bill Clinton be? (Besides, of course, a manly one).

Different women leveraged the position in different ways: some argue that Lady Bird Johnson was the first to modernize the job when she campaigned on behalf of her husband Lyndon B Johnson in the mid 60s, but others wielded significant political clout before her. Eleanor Roosevelt’s work as a writer, activist, public speaker and social reformer is perhaps most famous. But other notably hard-working first ladies include Florence Harding, wife of Warren G, a passionate suffragette who edited all of her husband’s important speeches and pushed hard to influence his appointments.

But when Hillary Clinton moved into the White House in 1993, she was not granted the same flexibility. As the chair of the Task Force on National Health Care reform, she was slammed in the press for stepping beyond the reaches of her role, in spite of her clear qualifications to work on policy: the implication was that she was being unladylike. To many Americans, the revelations about her husband’s extramarital sexual proclivities confirmed their belief that Hillary was failing to fulfill the remit of the first lady: to be a pleasant and decorative hostess who represents a “traditional” and anachronistic family: a man in charge, a faithful and helpful woman by his side (even though a number of other presidents and first ladies have also had notable affairs). Indeed, Clinton blamed the affair in part on herself for failing as a wife.

Saturday, 21 May 2016

Hillary Clinton Has a Few Thoughts About Bill's Potential Role as 1st First Gentleman

Bill Clinton as the “1st First Gentleman” will be very polarized, partly because 

they were in the past. Feeling thermometer scores are a way to assess public opinion, and they work on a 0 – 100 scale: 0 degrees is really cold, 50 degrees is neutral, and 100 degrees is warm. 46 percent of the public felt either very warm or very cold towards him in 1996. It would also partly have to do with him being an unusual presidential spouse. He would play a much more political role than most first ladies have done. Also, I suspect that feelings toward him would probably be very linked to Hillary Clinton: People who feel positive towards her are going to feel positive towards him, and vice versa.

Hillary Clinton, the presidential candidate who could very well become the first woman to claim the Oval Office after this year's election, has already outlined her husband's potential gig as the country's first First Gentleman. 

During last night's Democratic debate in South Carolina, Hillary was asked what kind of role former POTUS Bill might take when it comes to advising her on economic affairs. Will he have a "kitchen table role" or a "real policy role?"

Most former first ladies were not the subject of much research in this area because they did not generate much controversy. They were more traditional and so didn’t really have the same polarization. Barbara Bush is an example of a traditional first lady, and feelings towards her were very positive. Most first ladies before Hillary were not involved in policy, and usually took on projects that would have widespread approval – like reducing drug addiction or promoting good health, for example. This enabled them to travel the country in a non-partisan way and do things that both Democrats and Republicans would find laudable. Hillary Clinton deviated from that significantly. But she, and perhaps Eleanor Roosevelt, were an exception. Subsequent first ladies went back to a more traditional role, including Michelle Obama.

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Donald Trump, Correctly, Labels Bill Clinton A Rapist

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump escalated his 

attacks on former President Bill Clinton, accusing him of rape in a Fox News interview Wednesday.

In an interview on Fox News’s “Hannity,” Sean Hannity compared allegations of Trump harassing women that appeared in The New York Times with accusations made against the former president.

“For example, I looked at The New York Times. Are they going to interview Juanita Broaddrick? Are they going to interview Paula Jones? Are they going to interview Kathleen Willey?" Hannity said, listing women who have made allegations of sexual misconduct against Clinton.

“In one case, it's about exposure,” he continued. “In another case, it's about groping and fondling and touching against a woman's will.”

“And rape,” Trump responded.

“And rape,” Hannity said.

"And big settlements, massive settlements," Trump continued. "And lots of other things.

In an interview with Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity, Trump was answering questions about an unflattering story published this past weekend by The New York Times involving his relationships with women when he turned his attention to Bill Clinton.
"By the way, you know, it's not like the worst things, OK," Trump said. "You look at what Clinton's gone through with all of the problems and all of the things that he's done."
Hannity went on to question whether the newspaper would interview women including Juanita Broaddrick, Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey. All three have accused Bill Clinton of sexual misconduct.

The real estate mogul has lashed out at the Clintons in the past over the former president’s infidelities, going so far as to call his wife, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton, an “enabler.”

But until now, he had stopped short of accusing Bill Clinton of rape.

In 1999, Broaddrick, a former nursing home employee, accused Clinton of raping her decades earlier when he was a gubernatorial candidate in Arkansas.

Clinton denied the allegations through his attorney and refused to comment on them.

Trump is 'not qualified' to be president, says Clinton – as it happened

Hillary Clinton, for the first time since launching her campaign, declared 

herself the inevitable nominee of the Democratic party, having held off a surprisingly strong challenge from her progressive rival, Bernie Sanders. While Clinton has maintained a comfortable lead in both delegates and votes, her opponent has refused to bow out of the primary race even as his path to the nomination narrowed. Today, Clinton said her pledged delegate lead is “insurmountable” and concluded that Sanders is no longer a barrier on her path to the nomination.

She cited his proposal to temporarily bar Muslims from entering American borders, his comments about diminishing the United States’ involvement in NATO and his remarks that he would negotiate directly with the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un, as evidence of how “unmoored” Mr. Trump is on foreign policy.

This month, when MSNBC asked a similar question, Mrs. Clinton said that Mr. Trump had “given no indication that he understood the gravity of the responsibilities that go with being commander in chief.” But she stopped short of emphatically declaring that he was unqualified.

Mrs. Clinton’s statements come as she encounters a lingering threat for the Democratic nomination from Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, whose supporters have become increasingly antagonistic toward her candidacy. Despite recent primary wins by Mr. Sanders, his path to the party’s nomination appears mathematically impossible, a fact Mrs. Clinton sought to make abundantly clear.

“I will be the nominee of our party, Chris,” she told Mr. Cuomo. “There is no way I won’t be.”

On Thursday afternoon, Michael Briggs, a spokesman for Mr. Sanders, said in a statement that his candidate’s recent victories in Indiana, West Virginia and Oregon showed that voters there “respectfully disagreed with Secretary Clinton.” He added, “We expect voters in the remaining eight contests also will disagree,” and said that some polls showing Mr. Sanders faring better than Mrs. Clinton against Mr. Trump made it “clear that millions of Americans have growing doubts about the Clinton campaign.”

Throughout the interview, Mrs. Clinton appeared ready to put the primaries behind her and move on to Mr. Trump. Asked if she would consider naming Mr. Sanders her vice-presidential nominee, in an effort to unify the party and bring in his liberal and young supporters, she demurred.

Donald Trump steps up attack on Bill Clinton with link to old rape allegations

Donald J. Trump escalated his attacks on former President Bill Clinton’s past 

in an interview on Wednesday with Sean Hannity on Fox News, bringing up an old allegation of rape.

Discussing a recent New York Times article regarding Mr. Trump’s history with women, Mr. Hannity led Mr. Trump down a line of questioning, naming women who had accused Mr. Clinton of sexual misconduct.

“For example, I looked at The New York Times,” Mr. Hannity said. “Are they going to interview Juanita Broaddrick? Are they going to interview Paula Jones? Are they going to interview Kathleen Willey?”

He continued: “In one case, it’s about exposure. In another case, it’s about groping and fondling and touching against a woman’s will.”

Mr Trump appeared to be referencing the claims of Juanita Broaddrick, who alleged in 1999 that Mr Clinton had raped her two decades earlier.

Mrs Broaddrick was also interviewed on Tuesday, and said that the allegations against Mr Clinton were not receiving sufficient attention. She also implicated Hillary Clinton, Mr Trump's probable general election opponent.

"I feel like she has been the enabler behind him, in allowing him to continue on the same path that he did back in the 70's and 80's and 90's," she told Breitbart, the right-wing website. "He has absolutely no morals when it comes to women."

Nick Merrill, the traveling press secretary for the Clinton campaign, likened Mr. Trump’s latest allegations to “doing what he does best, attacking when he feels wounded and dragging the American people through the mud for his own gain.”

Mr. Merrill added: “If that’s the kind of campaign he wants to run, that’s his choice. Hillary Clinton is running a campaign to be president for all of America. It’s not surprising that after a week of still refusing to release his taxes and likening Oakland and Ferguson to the dangers in Iraq, of course he wants to change the subject. So while he licks his wounds, we’ll continue to focus on improving the lives of the American people.”

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Bill Clinton responds to Trump attacks,1st first gentleman

Bill Clinton signaled his strategy for dealing with Donald's Trump's attacks on 

his personal conduct Tuesday: ignore, and move on.

On a campaign swing through Puerto Rico Tuesday, the former president was asked by a reporter whether he had any response to Trump's latest attack on Twitter -- alluding to his past infidelities and charging that he was the "worst abuser" of women in U.S. political history.

Even for Trump, the anything-goes showman whose insults left rivals reeling in the GOP primaries, the attacks have a searing personal dimension, pushing boundaries and forcing his presumed Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, to relive the humiliation of her husband’s adultery.

Given Trump’s own extramarital dalliances along his tabloid-chronicled path from his first wife to his second and third, the tactic could backfire. But it serves strategic goals for the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

Donald J. Trump ✔ ‎@realDonaldTrump
Amazing that Crooked Hillary can do a hit ad on me concerning women when her husband was the WORST abuser of woman in U.S. political history

After Trump tweeted about the Clinton scandals of the 1990s earlier this month, Hillary Clinton was asked during a campaign appearance in Virginia whether she would attempt to correct the record on his provocations.
"I am going to let him run his campaign however he chooses," she said. "I have nothing to say about him and how he is running his campaign."
Her campaign stuck to that approach Tuesday, issuing no formal response to Trump's trolling on Twitter.

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If Hillary Clinton Becomes President, Who Will Be the First Lady?

Though Bill Clinton's waggish reply - "First Laddie!"   "1st First Gentleman!"- is

more a confirmation of his political professionalism (make a joke, reach out to wavering voters of Scottish ancestry) than useful, it is a question he will have to consider if Hillary makes it to the White House.
First ladies of yore took their time: not until 1877, nearly 90 years after George Washington became the first US president, did they settle on First Lady, having called themselves "Lady", "Mrs President", "Mrs Presidentress", even "Queen". But these days it would be a dereliction of duty if a tabloid journalist did not come up with a name for him in the first 24 hours - so Bill would be well advised to get in first.

There have been several non-wives who served as "first ladies." Presidents Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and John Tyler all had wives who died either before they were elected or while they were in office. In these cases, a close female relative, like a daughter or a niece, took on the position. James Buchanan was the only president to enter and leave the White House as a bachelor. He adopted his orphan niece, Harriet Lane, and appointed her to handle the First Lady's business.

The most generally suggested term is 1st First Gentleman. As that's also what the husbands of the female governors of Michigan and Alaska call themselves, perhaps they could gracefully step aside. Other countries have ducked the issue - in Ireland, Mary McAleese's husband is generally called Dr Martin McAleese, the president's husband; Angela Merkel's spouse, a quantum chemist, is so unwilling to have anything to do with her job that he was once nicknamed "the Phantom of the Opera" by the German press. But both the Philippines and India have First Gentlemen, so maybe Bill could join them, and make a club of three. Just so long as he's not called First Partner. Or, heaven forfend, First Spouse.