Obama Reassures Country, Appoints Bill Clinton President

I guess Barry is now free to carry shopping bags for Michelle, and shoot hoops without being interrupted by pesky staff.

Bill Clinton showed up at the White House yesterday for a 90-minute private talk with the former president, and then did the Presidential Press Conference thing while Obama decamped for the White House Christmas Holiday Winter party. Perhaps Obama and the Democrats have hit upon a new division of labor in which Clinton will take care of the policy and political aspects of the presidency, while Obama will handle the photo op and telepromptered events.

This is all very amusing, but it shows that Obama is still not ready for prime time, and that Bill Clinton remains the greatest pure politician of his generation. Clinton talks policy and politics, while Obama exits, stage left. Moreover, it continues Obama's strange assault on his own base. Clinton may have driven Republicans and conservatives nuts by repeatedly outmaneuvering them, but he provokes spittle-flecked rage from True Believers on the left.

It will be interesting to see how Obama handles the passage of his tax and spending compromise with the Republicans. We predict ineffective incoherence. Mr. Clinton, on the other hand, would announce, "The bill I today signed into law provides nearly $1 trillion in additional stimulus to our faltering economy . . . ."