The Clinton Not Running
Throughout the scripted pomp and circumstance that surrounded the first lady's announcement, few surprises were in the offing.
Hillary Rodham Clinton spent a half hour hammering away at the issues that defined the Clinton-Gore administration - and which will guide her candidacy. Education, health care, and the environment will be the Hillary 2000 drumbeat from now until November 7.
The first lady was flanked by family and a few heavyweights of New York Democratic politics as she spoke. On her right stood the Empire State's two U.S. senators: Chuck Schumer and Daniel Patrick Moynihan, the intellectual giant whom Mrs. Clinton hopes to succeed in Washington. Two members of Congress stood with the senators: Charles Rangel of Harlem, an early Hillary-for-Senate booster, and Nita Lowey of Westchester County, who considered her own Senate run before the first lady got the buzz for the job.
And on Mrs. Clinton's left stood members of her family. Daughter Chelsea was there. So was Hillary's mother, Dorothy Rodham. And at the back of the family pack, not saying a word throughout the entire kickoff event, was Bill Clinton, the President of the United States.
The president's silent presence on stage was a notable highlight of the first lady's carefully choreographed announcement.
Standing and sitting along with the crowd, the ruddy-faced Mr. Clinton took a back seat to his wife in a highly public way -- unlike any American president before him in the nation's history.
For the man who has given seven State of the Union addresses, sent soldiers into combat, dragged the nation through the impeachment saga, and presided over a decade of economic prosperity, the role he played Sunday was dramatically different: one of quiet, supporting husband.
The quiet support signaled how the president will conduct himself in the first lady's Senate campaign: he will be seen, but not heard. That simple strategy marks a solution of sorts for Mrs. Clinton, now Candidate Clinton. She will run on -- and wants to build on -- his record, without reminding voters of his flaws.
Should Hillary Clinton prevail in her campaign against New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani to become the Empire State's junior senator, the role the president played during her announcement Sunday is one that he will likely assume more often.
Presumably, we will not have to wait another 225 years before another first lady opts to run for elected office. But one thing is clear: On Sunday, the first couple broke the mold in a way never seen before in history.