One of the more tiresome cliches of political coverage is the “secret weapon.” Twenty years ago, Hillary Clinton was promoted as her husband’s “secret weapon.” Now it’s the reverse. Peter Nicholas of The Wall Street Journal wrote a story aping the Clinton spin, headlined “Hillary Clinton’s ‘Secret Weapon’ Could Escalate Campaign Rhetoric.”
Bill has been described by reporters as a secret weapon and a not-so-secret weapon, as if no one knows what he brings. Eight years ago, Hillary's mom was the "secret weapon." Surely, daughter Chelsea has also been the secret weapon. Nicholas seems to think Slick Willie is a weapon first and foremost against Trump....and less so against Sanders. He began:
A new and more combative phase of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign opens next month when she sends her husband out to stump for her in important early states.
Waiting for him will be businessman Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner....
Speaking to supporters recently, Mrs. Clinton described her husband as a “secret weapon.”
Trump is showing no fear of how the media skip over Clinton’s terrible record of sexual harassment and adultery:
In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Mrs. Clinton said Mr. Trump has “demonstrated a penchant for sexism.” That drew a response from Mr. Trump on Twitter: “Hillary, when you complain about ‘a penchant for sexism,’ who are you referring to. I have great respect for women.’ ” In capital letters he then wrote, “BE CAREFUL!”
Asked what Mr. Trump meant, his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, said: “Mr. Trump speaks for Mr. Trump and his tweets speak for themselves. And he’s very clear about what those tweets say.”
Another Trump spokeswoman, Katrina Pierson, suggested in an interview with CNN that the Trump campaign intends to make Mr. Clinton’s behavior an issue should Mrs. Clinton pursue this point. Mr. Clinton, during his presidency, paid $850,000 to settle a sexual harassment case brought by Paula Jones stemming from an encounter when he was governor of Arkansas. His affair with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky led to his impeachment by the U.S. House in 1998. He was acquitted by the Senate the following year.
Dear Mr. Nicholas: Perhaps a more politically apropos sentence would be “He was acquitted by the Senate Democrats the following year.”
Then came the Journal ring-kissing.
Mr. Clinton is a revered figure in Democratic circles and was a key surrogate for Mr. Obama in his 2012 re-election bid. A survey conducted in part by The Wall Street Journal last year said he was by a margin of more than 2 to 1 the most admired president of the past quarter century. [That's only competing with Obama and two George Bushes, not Reagan.]
Marc Lasry, a friend of Mr. Clinton’s and head of New York hedge fund firm Avenue Capital Group, said: “President Clinton campaigning for Hillary is a huge asset. People love seeing him and he’s able to explain things to people in a way that’s unique.”
...“He’s a luminescent figure. That’s always an issue,” said David Axelrod, a senior adviser in both of Mr. Obama’s presidential campaigns. He added, “It’s important for people to see her out there on her own.”
According to the Democrats in this story, the only danger is that Bill is too “luminescent” – like he has a halo?
Taylor Millard at Hot Air guesses Bill Clinton’s involvement “is probably going to be a double-edged sword that hurts more than helps.” They noted in 2008, The New York Times reported the staffs of husband and wife squabbled:
Aides to Mrs. Clinton took umbrage at Mr. Clinton’s freelancing and deemed his office uncooperative — at one point, they complained, his people would not allow one of her people to ride on his plane to campaign stops. His aides, on the other hand, stewed over what they saw as her people’s disregard for the advice of one of this generation’s great political minds and bristled at surrendering control of his schedule.
The squabbling got so bad that it spilled into public view. “This makes me sick,” Robert B. Barnett, Mrs. Clinton’s lawyer and debate coach, wrote in an e-mail message to top campaign advisers, according to someone who read it. “My message is simple: Stop it, please.”
