Hillaried

I have not been posting on this blog very much because I have been spending most of my writing time on a paper and on my daily Lenten devotions. That doesn't mean, however, that I have been failing to watch or think about the news.

Take the issue of Michelle Obama's statement about feeling proud of her country, a comment that has inspired the verbal wrath of such notables as Cindy McCain. Bill O'Reilly even deliberated about convening a lynch mob. I want to suggest that the best person for Michelle Obama to talk to at this moment is actually her husband's (former) principal rival Hillary Rodham Clinton. No one knows better than Hillary what it's like to be the spouse of an intensely popular, powerful, charismatic man. Hillary knows quite a lot about what it is like to have your every word parsed and dissected so that as many people as possible are inclined to take offense. Hillary could share copious notes with Michelle about how those same words are then used to impugn the credibility or patriotism of said charismatic spouse. The truth is that we like our First Ladies and First Lady wannabes vapid and seemingly without opinion. Everybody loves Laura Bush because almost nobody ever has to listen to her. If you start talking, prepare to be considered the shadow side of your luminous man.

If Michelle is understandably uncomfortable with Hillary as a mentor, she could also talk to many pastors' spouses. They could tell tales about how people target the spouse (or the children) when the pastor seems untouchable or unassailable. The thing that we must never forget is that while the spouse is the casualty, she or he is not the actual target. It's a game of is you can't beat them one way, then you go after them another. I think maybe the only thing worse than being a political candidate is being a political candidate's spouse. Shoot, for that you could even interview Bill "The Hitman" Clinton.