So Hillary Clinton, once she wins the White House, means to put hubby Bill “in charge of revitalizing the economy.” What does that leave for the actual elected president to do — bake cookies?
She made the vow in Fort Mitchell, Ky., over the weekend — just weeks after saying, “I’ve told my husband he’s got to come out of retirement and be in charge of” boosting manufacturing jobs.
First off, this is bizarre for a woman who’s aiming to smash the ultimate glass ceiling. It’s hard to think of anything less feminist to say than, Don’t worry: My husband will handle the finances.
OK, she was campaigning in coal country, to people who remember her recent promise to put more miners out of work. Out of desperation, she made a double appeal to sexism and what she figures are fond memories of the 1990s economy.
Thing is, Hillary Clinton has already renounced just about every one of Bill’s economic policies. He backed free trade; she’s against President Obama’s Asian-free-trade pact. He unleashed Wall Street with repeal of Glass-Steagal; she’s promising to get even tougher. He lowered taxes on investment; her party wants them higher.
As for blue-collar jobs, she opposes the Keystone Pipeline and is raising big money from the green lobby that wants to kill the whole US fossil-fuels industry, from coal to fracking to offshore drilling. You can’t get new factory jobs if there’s no energy for new factories.
On top of that, consider what Bill Clinton has been doing the last 16 years: cashing in his star power, charm — and influence with her. His speaking fees take — already in the millions while she served in the Senate — doubled when she became secretary of state.
Today’s Bill Clinton is at best a fixer, a guy who helps make connections — not a jobs creator.
More crony capitalism won’t put millions of Americans back to work. But that’s all the Clintons have to offer.



