18 April 2018 — 0839 mdt

Bill Clinton’s first big mistake was putting
Hillary in charge of his health care task force

Hillary’s chairing the task force wasn’t a government job. She was a volunteer, accountable only to her husband, the President. All criticism of her performance as task force chair was also criticism of the President’s wife — and Bubba didn’t take kindly to criticism of his wife.

No one, not even her husband, could hold Hillary accountable for her service with the health care task force — especially not her husband, if he valued his marriage.

University of Montana President Seth Bodnar should be mindful of Bill and Hillary Clinton’s mistake as he tries to arrest the university’s decline in enrollment. According to the Missoulian, Bodnar’s wife has helped him on a volunteer basis, allegedly in a manner that could have breached the confidentiality of student records, a claim the university system denies in a statement in the Missoula Current.

Bodnar’s wife should not be given informal policy making or executing powers as that would put her in the same position as Hillary was in when chairing Bill Clinton’s health care task force. Spouses can be helpful, but they must not be put in positions, or allowed to seize positions, in which there is no practical way to hold them accountable.

Bodnar’s wife probably can best serve her husband and the university he heads by working outside the university system to make Missoula, a community in slow decline, a more attractive place to work and live.