Obama abdicates to Bill Clinton, lunacy
By JOHN PODHORETZ
Last Updated: 5:08 AM, December 12, 2010
Posted: 12:28 AM, December 12, 2010
The surreal week in Washington was brought to a fitting climax on Friday when Barack Obama handed the presidency over to Bill Clinton for 20 minutes. “I’m going to take off,” he said.
“You’re in good hands,” the president informed the press corps, patting his predecessor on the back. And take off the president did.
It wasn’t an official, unofficial or illicit transfer of power in any way, of course. But it somehow felt like it.
What happened here has, to my knowledge, never happened. When the president finishes speaking, whenever the president finishes speaking, the event ends. Period.
Not any longer.
President Obama can change the rules of etiquette governing his White House if he wants. The problem for him is that those rules of etiquette exist for a reason. They are intended to enforce the standing of the presidency itself. By breaching them, Obama did harm to his own standing, and at a time when he can ill afford to lose any more of his authority.
What’s more, by doing so, he overshadowed the purpose of his joint appearance with Bill Clinton by letting Bubba hold court. And hold court Clinton did, in a revelatory monologue masquerading as a press availability...