Quote of the Day

"I think she'd make a much better First Lady than Bill Clinton."

—Fred Thompson, on his wife, Jeri.

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The Daily Digest

In Washington, white shirts and dark suites are de rigueur, but rarely do you see the three-piece ensemble—especially in mid-August. The exception is Bob Novak, who a few days ago revealed his reasoning: "It looked better on television to see a vest than a big old belly."

Bruce Bartlett welcomes William Kristol and Kathryn Lopez to the conservatives-in-praise-of-Hillary club.

Meet the First Ladies Club: Jeri Thompson (courtesy of the Post), Judith Giuliani (Vanity Fair), Elizabeth Edwards (the Post), and Michelle Obama (the Times).

"A unique chapter in White House history came to a conclusion last week," writes Fred Barnes. "Call it the Wehner era, as in Peter Wehner, the director of the office of strategic initiatives. The title is misleading. Wehner ran a one-man think tank inside the White House (with a few young research assistants) that brought scholars and thinkers to talk to President Bush and that e-mailed ideas and information to several hundred journalists and writers and intellectuals and policy entrepreneurs. His missives became known as Wehnergrams [link added], but there will be no more of them. Friday, August 3, was his last day at the White House."

But Wehner is no shrinking violet. Now using the byline of senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center (like Rick Santorum), he has already penned a defense of his former boss, chief White House speechwriter Michael Gerson, whom Gerson's colleague, Matthew Scully, pillories in this month's Atlantic.

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The Romney Lovebirds, Continued

Jonathan Martin picks up on a theme I noticed in May (part one here; part two here):

As close watchers of the GOP race know, he [Mitt] gushes over Ann Romney at public events, calling her "sweetheart" and even explaining how "they're still going steady." But watching Romney interact with her out of the direct public eye reveals an even greater depth of devotion. He unfailingly opened doors for her, graciously introduced her and whenever he had a moment along the parade route would turn around and tease her for riding in the air-conditioned "Mitt Mobile." "Real hard for Ann this time," he joked.

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The Romney Lovebirds, Continued

Last month I observed that the Romneys are the picture-perfect couple: beautiful and blissful. Yesterday's big Boston Globe article offers a hint to their secret, from a speech Mitt's father delivered at his son's high-school graduation ceremony:

Girlfriends, the [Michigan] governor told the 76 graduating boys, "will have more to do with shaping your life than probably anybody else. . . . If the girl you're interested in doesn't inspire you to greater effort than you would undertake without knowing her, then you'd better look around and get another."

Human-interest footnote:

On one of their earliest dates, Mitt leaned in for a kiss, but Ann had other ideas.

"What do Mormons believe?" she asked him.

Mitt was floored, and frightened. He'd grown up knowing his mysterious faith made him something of an outsider. Now here he was on a date with one of the prettiest girls on campus, someone he knew came from mainline Protestant stock, and she was asking for a tutorial on the Mormon Church?

"I was not in the mood to talk about religion," he would say later. "I was much more interested in physical expressions of love."

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The Romney Lovebirds

One of the most revealing moments of the 2004 Bush-Kerry debates came at the end of the third one, when moderator Bob Schieffer asked, "We’re all married to strong women. Each of us have two daughters that make us very proud. I’d like to ask each of you, what is the most important thing you’ve learned from these strong women?"

Bush answered first, with the perfect blend of warmth and sincerity that conveyed love for his better half. He cited a few anecdotes, including the way they met, and concluded, “I guess you would say it was love at first sight.”

Kerry, on the other hand, began with a tribute to his recently deceased mother, inserted a line about being humbled and “blessed” by his daughters and wife, and then concluded by lauding not his family but the guy he was running against.

If you’re wondering why Bush carried the soccer mom vote, look no further.

I was reminded of this exchange in watching a recent clip of a Larry King interview with Mitt Romney and his wife. It's only two minutes, but when Romney’s not praising his partner—“She’s . . . my best counselor. . . . There’s no personnel-type issue that I don’t ask Ann’s advice [about]. . . . She’s very good at assessing qualities of character and heart”—he’s gazing at her, torso tilted, as enraptured as he was the day he proposed. He beams with pride, both of her and to be in her presence. This is a man who adores his wife.



It’s worth noting that the two times I’ve seen the Romneys in person (both in DC), they were holding hands. Similarly, in contrast to the other candidates, most (all?) of Romney’s TV spots end with a picture of them both.

Indeed, of the 2008 Republican presidential front-runners (once, current and future)—George Allen, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich and Fred Thompson—Romney (the Mormon, no less) is the only one who’s only had one wife. They were high-school sweethearts and have been married for almost 40 years.

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Are the Beliefs of a Political Spouse Relevant?

Thirteen years ago, Anne Romney gave a $150 personal donation to Planned Parenthood. Upon the disclosure, her husband, who is now running for president on a staunchly pro-life platform, disclaimed, "Her positions are not terribly relevant to my campaign."

But are they? Should you consider the views of a spouse when voting for his or her partner?

Undoubtedly, Bill Clinton is integral to Hillary's campaign. He is, hands down, the best Democratic mind and campaigner today. Of course, the Clintons are an exception, given that one of them occupied the Oval Office for eight years.

What does the Republican front-runner think? Asked if his wife would sit in on cabinet meetings, Rudy Giuliani told Barbara Walters, "If she wanted to. If they were relevant to something that she was interested in. I mean, that would be something that I'd be very, very comfortable with."

To put the point poetically, recall the scene from Angels in America, where Al Pacino is bragging about his clout. Pacino tells his doctor, I pick up the phone, make a few calls, and you know who's on the other end? "The president?" "Even better," Pacino smirks. "His wife."

Indeed, no one knows the president better than his wife. She's the first one with him in the morning and the last one with him at night. Do this with someone long enough, and pillow talk is inevitable (even for Tony Soprano). "You know, honey," Laura Bush admonished George W., "I think it's time you let Don go" (I'm paraphrasing).

But W. rejected the advice (to fire his now-former former secretary of defense), and it's worth noting that while the president's wife, his mother and one of his closest advisers, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, are all pro-choice, he remains a committed pro-lifer (among other things, he has reinstated the global gag rule and appointed two, anti-choice judges to the Supreme Court).

As further evidence of spousal independence, consider such strange-bedfellow marriages as Mary Matalin and James Carville (she was a senior adviser to Dick Cheney, he to Bill Clinton) and Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger (she's a lifelong, hereditary Democrat, he's the Republican governor of California).

Therefore, Romney is right: the views of a significant other aren't terribly relevant. While it may be comforting to think that a wife is whispering NARAL talking points into her husband's ear, the hope for a consequent change in policy is probably more hope than actuality. Spousal disagreement surely softens an otherwise inflexible position (hence the phrase "my better half"), and makes the other person aware of the counterarguments, but it's unlikely to change one's mind.

Related: Last month, I examined whether politicians should know the price of a gallon of milk.

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