I feel safe in saying that enough time has passed since the Presidential Election last November that the shock and dismay (well, to half the nation at least) of the outcome has finally lost its edge. For better or for worse, we're now moving forward -- and sure enough, there's already serious scuttlebutt and rumors about who the Democrats will field in 2008.
The question was posed to a few people even back before the last election was over, but it was mostly about those Republicans that might take the field after George Bush's day was done. It might have seemed to the casual television viewer that Senator John McCain of Arizona --- out stumping for "W" -- couldn't go five feet without running into someone asking him the question in an interview. "Are you going to run in 2008?" I'd have suggested to McCain that he just have someone write "no" on his forehead to save time, but that would've probably detracted from his always-polite answers, which were responses wrapped in modesty either alarmingly genuine or so unbelievably polished that you'd think the guy bathed in Murphy's Oil Soap.
But the Democrats, obviously seeing a need to get people to focus on Kerry, managed to avoid this kind of speculation for the most part. Now that the initial hot-button bitterness about the Kerry defeat is over, though, you can start to hear the question being raised again. Gradually it's been spreading through the news outlets as well, as the collective "What the hell happened?" of the liberals has moved toward "What the hell are we going to do now?" I've heard it probably twice in the last week, and the answer both times was "Hillary Clinton."
I might personally question this answer -- while I can't argue that Hillary isn't one of the most prominent liberal figures in the last 20 years, what I can argue is that a lot of people really don't care for her, and that's going to make it even harder to get her hurdled over the more obvious gender barrier of being the first female President of the United States. Then I realized that it is Hillary, and only Hillary, who can provide our nation with what it needs to heal from our ongoing efforts in war and economic recovery. It has nothing to do with her personality or her politics. It has everything to do with the circumstance that President Hillary Clinton would bring to the table.
William Jefferson Clinton, First Gentleman.
Might have to rethink the title though -- I went with "First Gentleman" above because it's the proper equivalent to "First Lady." In reality, a more workable title might be something like "First Fellow" (Fella!), although we do have a problem in the fact that even though Hillary would now be President, Bill is still technically supposed to be referred to as "Mr. President" for the rest of his life. It's one of the perks, as is having a fanfare played whenever he's formally introduced. Of course, he now at least has the option of selecting "Rock and Roll Part 2" over "Hail to the Chief."
I don't think it matters at all what your personal politics are, the First Gentleman is a concept that you can get behind. What better way to help bring back some cheer to our national environment than to have Bill Clinton back in the White House? Even if it's in a non-authoritative capacity -- it'd be just like having your fun uncle come to live with you for four to eight years! He can come rolling back into town with all of his charm and his questionable methods of having "fun," and this time everything that he'd do wouldn't be scandalous - it'd be just Bill being Bill, hanging out in the East Wing. Nobody knocks the guy because, while some of his ideas for killing time aren't exactly innocent, they're at least mostly harmless. Besides, most of us would love the opportunity to be in his place.
So what exactly would be the role of our nation's first-ever First Gentleman? It seems to have long been the role of the First Lady to crusade for important issues that tend to fly under the radar - things like education, literacy, saying "no" to drugs… so what does our guy take on as his charge? I say that Bill gets to champion the cause of being neighborly. Gone are the days of neighbors routinely visiting each other's houses, having dinner, playing cards… it's seemingly hard enough to keep the nuclear American family together nowadays, let alone interacting with those that live outside our households. Bill Clinton, First Gentleman, can make it his goal to make America better by bringing us back together.
He can lead by example, having some of the folks from Congress over for beer after work - maybe not standing along the fence on Pennsylvania Avenue like a real life Hank Hill, but at the very least he can haul a few couches out on the Truman Balcony and break down the day with some of those wacky guys from the Justice Department. If Hillary's away on business, he can call that party animal Greenspan and his buddies to come on over to the Residence for a little high stakes poker. And of course, being neighborly goes beyond just hanging out… it's also about helping out. Our First Gentleman wouldn't hesitate to go over to the Washington Monument with the lawn mower if things were looking a little overgrown or spend an afternoon at the Smithsonian fixing that sticky door and nailing down those loose stairs.
Perhaps what might be the cornerstone of his entire cause: Bill would make sure that he's taking care of your kids. As a "thank you" to everyone signing up for military service, the First Gentleman would gladly round up all the new recruits on the night before shipping off to boot camp, and take them all out for a night on the town. And being an active part in the neighborhood means being active in the schools, so every spring the President-turned-neighbor-advocate would set time aside to travel from town to town, chaperoning high school proms.
We might have to elect Hillary simply to be able to put all this into action. Bill Clinton would show us how to be great neighbors again, because it's the American way. Bill Clinton could BE the best neighbor America ever had, and in turn we'd be better neighbors to each other. A divided country could come together once more.
It's a cold but clear January morning, the kind that makes you feel good about it being winter on the East Coast. The front lobby of the White House is a flurry of activity, but amid the chaos, a figure works his way inward from the doors. With a suitcase in one hand and his saxophone case in the other, he nods to the agents and staffers as he passes them. Coming to the middle of the building, he stops to appreciate the moment. As he stands there watching the activity, he flashes a wide grin. Eyes twinkling, he calls out to nobody in particular… "Hey everybody! Guess who's back?"
