Broder Says The "Country Will Have To Ponder" Whether Bill Would Be Asset To Hillary Presidency -- But It Already Has
September 6, 2007 -- 10:43 AM EST // //

One of the more astonishing things about your pundits is their inability to fathom the idea that the American public simply doesn't view the Clinton Presidency -- and Bill Clinton himself -- in anything remotely resembling the same terms that they do.

Really, it's almost as if they desperately hope that the public will reject the Hillary candidacy chiefly because of him. Her victory would mean Bill had succeeded in returning to White House despite the fact that they so disapproved of him and his naughty behavior when he was there the first time. It's almost as if this would be some kind of defeat for them, or something.

Here, for instance, is David Broder today:

But one thing is absolutely clear. Her marriage is the central fact in her life, and this partnership of Bill and Hillary Clinton is indissoluble. She cannot function without him, and he would not have been president without her. If she becomes president, he will play as central a role in her presidency as she did in his. And that is something the country will have to ponder.

But Mr. Broder, the country already has pondered this question, and it's overwhelmingly concluded that this is either a good thing or that it doesn't matter a whit. The only people "pondering" this question right now are pundits like you.

CNN poll:

If Sen. Clinton wins the Democratic presidential nomination and goes on to win the general election in 2008, 60 percent of Americans believe her husband would have a positive effect on her administration, while 30 percent think it would be negative.

Gallup poll:

Americans predict Clinton would be an asset as a presidential spouse. By a better than two-to-one margin, 70% vs. 28%, Americans believe he would be more helpful than harmful to his wife's presidency.

USA Today poll:

Do you think the past history and current state of the Clintons’ marriage should or should not matter to voters when they consider voting for Hillary Clinton for president?

Yes, should 23%

No, should not 76%

What's really dispiriting about this vacuous pundit-approved narrative is that there's just nothing that will ever make it go away. Back in 1998, when Broder said this of Bill's White House tenure...

"He came in here and he trashed the place," says Washington Post columnist David Broder, "and it's not his place."

...Bill Clinton's approval rating hovered in the sixties, and solid majorities said Bill's transgressions didn't matter as long as he ran the country well.

Almost a decade later, nothing has changed. Any day now, the voters are set to start "pondering" just how bad Bill was and how outraged they are about it.

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