I usually don’t get into the politics or personal destruction because, to me, what’s between two people and their relationship is between those two people.

However…

The war room within a war room dismissed or discredited much of the gossip floating around, but not all of it. The stories about one woman were more concrete, and after some discreet fact-finding, the group concluded that they were true: that BIll was indeed having an affair — and not a frivolous one-night stand but a sustained romantic relationship. …. For months, thereafter, the war room within a war room braced for the explosion, which her aides knew could come at any moment.

When politicians are running for office they represent the hopes and dreams of millions of people…and they have a duty to not be reckless. In this case, it’s not necessarily the politician but a high profile spouse who’s continuing to do incredibly dumb things. However, if Hillary is turning a blind eye to Bill’s wandering one, well, she’s responsible too. And this one of the biggest reasons I was so against the Clintons getting back into the White House. Because Bill can’t be trusted and is therefore a huge liability.

True, Hillary should be commended for getting this far, but the only way she’s going to gain enough momentum to break through that glass ceiling is if she loses 200+ pounds of Bubbaggage.

Well, Joe Biden did warn us that our adversaries would challenge Barack Obama if he was elected. Looks like North Korea is doing just that. In a statement released today, the government in Pyongyang said the North is prepared for war against the South and would consider retaliating if the U.S. and South Korea go through with planned training exercises.

The North Korean saber rattling corresponds to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit to Seoul today. As of yet, the U.S. has issued no formal response, but I imagine the Obama administration will not be pleased. Look for U.S./North Korea relations to remain as strained as ever.

The Obama Administration may be trying out a kinder, gentler style of foreign policy, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has already put North Korea on notice: test a long-range missile and they can forget about a better relation with the U.S. While in Japan, Clinton responded to North Korea’s assertion the nation has a right to “space exploration” with this comment:

“The possible missile launch that North Korea is talking about would be very unhelpful in moving our relationship forward,” she said, adding that if Pyongyang wants to end its isolation it also has to fulfill unmet denuclearization pledges made during the Bush administration.

“The decision as to whether North Korea will cooperate in the six-party talks, end provocative language and actions is up to them and we are watching very closely,” Clinton said, referring to the six-nation talks aimed at getting North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons.

“If North Korea abides by the obligations it has already entered into and verifiably and completely eliminates its nuclear program, then there will be a reciprocal response certainly from the United States,” she said. “It is truly up to the North Koreans.”

North Korea is one of those foreign relation situations where there is no good answer, just a series of bad answers with varying consequences. Apparently, the Obama Administration is not going to rush to establish a new tactic to handling Pyongyang and will stick to the Bush Administration’s policies for the time being.

I don’t expect Obama to have any more success in reforming North Korea than did his predecessors. I do expect him and his team to be smart enough to follow a policy of containment. Really, the most important aspect of the six party talks is not to get North Korea to agree to change but to get China, South Korea, Japan, Russia and the U.S. to all agree (and to continue to agree) that the rogue nation needs to be contained. The best Obama can probably hope for is ensuring the large powers don’t fracture over the issue. Changing North Korea seems unlikely. Ensuring the nation is more nuisance than threat is the real goal.

When the important matters of our day are all but forgotten, I think the Clintons will still be remembered, if not accurately, then at least as meaningful figures of their time. Inside that couple is a Shakespearean play. Too bad all we have so far is Primary Colors.

As you all know, today marked Hillary Clinton’s official ascension to Secretary of State. That makes the Clintons the only American couple in history in which both husband and wife became one of the world’s most powerful people. That’s no small feat.

What I hope this marks is the end, or at least the beginning of the end, of the era when powerful, capable women served as hidden advisors to their powerful husbands. Obviously, women have served on their own merits in government for awhile now and I don’t mean to minimize their achievements. But there is still the expectation in our culture that powerful men will not have equally powerful wives. Hillary Clinton has fought that expectation and, despite her shortcomings, I admire her for her tenacity in the face of a culture that still sees her more as Bill’s wife than her own person.

Hillary Clinton lost her party’s presidential nomination and could have easily taken that as the ultimate sign that she would never rise above the position of senator. Instead, she did what few said was possible — she made nice with Barack Obama and secured for herself the most powerful position in the cabinet. She’s not the first (or even the second) woman to serve as Secretary of State and she still has to prove herself capable, but, thanks to her, fewer couples will feel compelled to make the either/or choice. Both husband and wife can aspire and achieve great heights. That seems obvious, but it’s a surprisingly new cultural phenomenon.

Prince Andrew Cuomo in a contemplative moment

“A son can bear with equanimity the loss of his father, but the loss of his inheritance may drive him to despair.”   -Niccolo Machiavelli

Within a few days, New York Governor David Paterson will appoint a successor to Hillary Clinton in the United States Senate. I’m going out on a limb to forecast that he will name state Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, not the person on whom all eyes have been trained for more than a month, Dame Caroline Kennedy (that’s a prediction, not necessarily a preference).

Like Dame Caroline, Prince Andrew regards the holding of high office as a matter of ordained privilege. Specifically, he almost certainly wants — and expects — to sit in the Governor’s chair once held by his father. He ran for Governor once and lost; then settled for Attorney General but only as a stepping stone; and is virtually certain to run for Governor again unless he gets a better offer.

And therein lies the problem for David Paterson. Paterson is an accidental Governor who will face a host of problems of the sort that make governors unpopular in the year or so leading up to the 2010 election when he’ll have to win a full term by himself. Ahead of him are deep cuts in state programs, tax increases, and constant battles with the state legislature, New York City and other local governments, and every constituency whose support he’ll desperately need.

The last thing David Paterson wants to face on top of all this is a Democratic primary waged by a smart, ambitious, well-known, well-financed and popular elected official who will have the luxury of being on the sidelines in all those fights over money. He’ll have a big enough challenge beating his Republican opponent, especially if the GOP manages to field a formidable candidate like Rudy Giuliani.

But a primary is just what he’ll get, if Andrew Cuomo is still Attorney General in 2010. By then, Prince Andrew will be, at 53, no longer a young upstart. He’ll have served in a President’s cabinet and in statewide office, and he’ll see himself pushing 60 or 65 when the next chance to move into the Governor’s office comes along. He’ll want his inheritance, so he’ll run.

On the other hand, Paterson could tap his shoulder and make him a Senator! That gets him out of Paterson’s way and, not incidentally, gives the New York Democratic ticket some added appeal to voters in 2010.

In a race against Rudy, running with Cuomo would give Paterson a strong boost. In recent weeks, the compelling logic of this appointment for Paterson was undermined by the unexpected push for Dame Caroline. Pressed by various Kennedy family members, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others, none of whom hold David Paterson’s interests uppermost, the Kennedy boomlet picked up a lot of media-driven momentum for a while, then gradually deflated as the Lady of Camelot showed herself to be such a novice at politics and public affairs that she might lose the Senate seat in 2010, much less help Paterson and the Democratic ticket.

Voters have been paying attention as Kennedy embarrassed herself. Two new polls show New Yorkers prefer Cuomo to Kennedy for the Senate, with Kennedy having lost support since December.

In a new Quinnipiac poll released Wednesday, voters preferred Cuomo over Kennedy by 31% to 24%. This represented a sharp decline for Kennedy from a December 23rd poll — taken before she traveled the state and tried answering some reporters’ questions — when she edged Cuomo 33-29. Given that Kennedy almost totally monopolized media attention for a month, an even more significant result from this poll may be that 62% of voters who had choice picked someone other than Dame Caroline. Even more damaging is Quinnipiac’s finding that voters say, 48% to 37%, that Kennedy is not qualified to be a U.S. Senator.

A new Marist poll out Thursday paints a worse picture for Dame Caroline, with Cuomo beating her by an even larger margin, 40% to 25% among all New York voters and 39 to 31% among Democrats. That’s also a big decline for Dame Caroline from Marist’s survey a month ago, when the two were deadlocked 25-25. Marist also finds that many more New Yorkers believe Cuomo will do a good or excellent job as Senator. Kennedy has also lagged Cuomo in other recent polls.

Cuomo has played his cards carefully, avoiding any public acknowledgement of the fact that he was even seeking the Senate seat out of deference to Paterson. In contrast, Kennedy’s high-profile mini-campaign, in addition to revealing her deficiencies, was reported to have angered Paterson who understandably resented the effort to steamroll him on what may be the single most important political decision he makes before his 2010 candidacy.

Of course, the appointment is made by one person, Governor Paterson, who may not be moved by surveys of notoriously fickle voter opinion. But in light of the other, substantial reasons why a Cuomo pick would be better for Paterson, if I had any money (I am still waiting for my bailout!), I’d bet it on Prince Andrew.

(Visit me at The Purple Center)