An article on page 3A of Tuesday’s Birmingham News (“Clintons still together, though rarely public”) deserves attention. Patrick Healy’s piece focuses on the decidedly strange marital relationship between former President Bill Clinton and his Senator-wife, Hillary. In short, the Clintons are tweaking the public facade of their marriage as Hillary prepares to run for president.
The middle paragraph strikes me as particularly odd. Healy writes:
The effect has been to raise Sen. Clinton’s profile on the public radar while somewhat toning down her husband’s. He has told friends that his No. 1 priority is not to cause her any trouble. They appear in public spotlight methodically and carefully: The goal is to position her run for president not as a partner or a proxy, but as her own person.
I thought the No. 1 priority of every husband was to “love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word” (Ephesians 5:26). I guess not causing “her any trouble” is what you do when your priorities are out of whack. Strange, isn’t it?