The inevitable Clintonian psychodrama whirling around whether Hillary will be Barack Obama's first Secretary of State, especially her Hamlet-like deliberations, has centered around how willing she may be to give up the independent power base she enjoys in the Senate. This is another way of saying she's still playing with the idea of running against him in 2012, which would be her last shot.
The other focus has been on her lovemuffin, better half, main squeeze: Bill. He's up to his eyeballs in possible conflicts of interest arising from his close friendships with over 50 current and past heads of state and the hundreds of millions that have poured into his Foundation from sources both legit and shady.
Obama and Hillary may see their way past all of this and she may, in fact, take the big chair in Foggy Bottom.
But there's another possibility for Clintonian mischief no one seems to be discussing.
When Bill was the 42nd president, he was driven up the wall by the 39th president and National Treasure, Jimmy "My Name is Earl" Carter. Carter, envious of Clinton's natural political gifts and popularity, and smarting from Clinton’s sezure of the mantle of "the Southern Democratic Governor who became President," routinely did things to drive Clinton crazy. Most offensive to Clinton: when Carter would travel the world, freelancing foreign policy. Carter would go to places like Haiti and talk directly to the leadership, saying things that were not cleared by the Clinton administration, and in many cases, directly contradicting Clinton's standing policy.
Clinton blew a gasket every time Carter went abroad or placed phone calls to foreign leaders - particularly to our adversaries, to whom he'd often give a signal of rapprochement that Clinton had no intention of sending.
The Carter freelancing sent Clinton over the edge.
Ah, but what goes around, comes around. It may be time to "pay it forward."
Clinton feels the same kind of anger, frustration, and envy toward Obama that Carter felt toward Clinton. Being replaced by a younger, more charismatic model isn't easy, especially when the younger version does your politics and style better than you did. The old guy thinks the new whippersnapper must be brought down a peg or two. And that's when the games begin.
With Hillary at State serving a president her husband loathes, the potential for Bill sabotaging Obama is enormous. Like Carter, he's got the global contacts. Like Carter, he's now nothing more than a global influence peddler. Like Carter, he's got the bitter resentment over the new guy. But unlike Carter, he's also got a wife whom he consciously or unconsciously tried to torpedo from taking his special gig. (Shades of what he did and will continue to do to Obama for actually taking his special gig?)
Bill Clinton has never behaved himself, especially when his legacy and image are on the line. Those two things loom large now that a hipper Democrat is about to take the office which Bill Clinton still believes should be his personal fiefdom.
As much as Carter drove him bananas with his foreign policy freelancing, Clinton learned a thing or two about how to undermine a successor you can't stand. He’s smarter, slicker and still a media magnet, so when he backstabs Obama, Clinton may dominate rather than just frustrate.
Hillary may go to State, but Bill will go rogue.
Cartoon by Brett Noel.
