When William McKinley was inaugurated, a state legislator from New York who had long experience with the force of nature that was Governor (and, at that moment, Vice President-elect) Theodore Roosevelt, snarked that he wasn’t there to see McKinley sworn in, but rather to “see Teddy take the veil.” Republicans thought that by shunting Roosevelt into the ceremonial position of VP, they could effectively rid themselves of this pain-in-the-ass who wasn’t happy unless he was the bride at every wedding and the corpse at every funeral.
Like TR, Bill Clinton can’t see a marching band without jumping in front of it and claiming he’s the drum major:
Appearing on stage with Obama, Clinton said the Democratic presidential nominee “took a little heat” for not saying very much when the financial crisis first erupted in mid-September.
“He talked to his advisers. He talked to my economic advisers,” Clinton said, listing experts such as investor Warren Buffett and former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker whom Obama consulted.
Obama also spoke to Clinton himself and Hillary Clinton, the former first lady and Obama’s former rival for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“You know why? Because he knew it was complicated. And before he said anything he wanted to understand,” Clinton said.
This isn’t about you anymore, Bill – hard as that might be to imagine.
But this gives us one more chance to thank the FSM that Obama is the candidate, with Joe Biden and not Hillary Clinton as his VP. While I didn’t support Hillary Clinton, I think she would have made a fine president on her own. But what chance would anyone have for his/her own agenda when Bill’s right there to remind the world, at every opportunity, that he’s the Best President Ever?