United States is looking at a Restoration

“He was the heart, she was the head” confided a former Reagan-era cabinet member in a private conversation about the Clinton presidency. Yet otherwise Americans to any foreigner insist that Hillary Clinton will be new to the job. That she is running in fact as a first timer instead of running for re-election,.

Americans refuse to accept they are facing a Restoration.

The topic is taboo in the United States media all the way from the ultra-liberal East and West coast newspapers and television networks through to their right-leaning counterparts in the hinterland.

There are though several reasons for this code of utter silence writes our European correspondent:-  *Americans are secretly ashamed at the re-appearance of exactly the same kind of monarchical political dynasties that their constitution was specifically designed to eliminate. They were reminded of this trend at the outset of this presidential series when Jeb Bush enlisted with a view to following in his own footsteps to the Oval Office those of his brother, and before that, those of his father.  * Americans in fact cannot bring themselves to admit that a female, even in the role of a wife, was at least half the brain power in the Oval Office.*That even if the late Nancy Reagan was such a contender her influence was the accepted US apple pie role---that of supporting her husband in his work.

Hillary claims that there is a glass ceiling in regard to the Oval Office and given that for most of its existence half the United States population has been female the data supports her. It does indicate a mental block so reinforced that Americans cannot bring themselves even to think about the female politicians who have already led such nations as Britain, India, and Israel just to quote some examples.

Here is a pointer meanwhile to Hillary's participation in the last Clinton era..

In the run up to the first Clinton era Bill was against the North American Free Trade Agreement. Once installed as president, he actively and successfully sponsored NAFTA.

In the run up now to a second Clinton era Hillary has set herself against the Trans Pacific Partnership trade deal.

Few doubt that if successful in her current campaign to restore a Clinton White House she will find good reasons to be positive about the deal once again.

A natural trade liberaliser, Mrs Clinton’s hand is surer when applied to politics in which practical considerations take precedence over ideology.

Her touch is less sure when applied to the abstract. An example remains the United States role in the democracy export business.

This became evident when as president Obama’s secretary of state she oversaw the US-sponsored Arab Spring. This turned out to be an example of the United States’ ability to turn a bad situation into something much worse.

Aside from NAFTA Mrs Clinton’s hand can be identified in a number of social shifts notably in the human rights category that were such a hallmark of the last Clinton era.

The reluctance of Americans to talk about their two-term Clinton co-presidency is however less of a mystery when viewed from a European stand point.

Europe has a history of executive queens. England’s Elizabeth 1 comes to mind. The United States does not.

The United States was founded by stern pilgrims with very definite views about the place of women in their society, and especially so in their government.

The influence of these wrathful religious founders is evident to this day to a European visiting the United States.

Yet it is not so clear cut for the Americans themselves steeped as they are in this un-bending puritan tradition. They still like to think that Bill, a man’s man if ever there was one, was the only decider. That Hillary somehow and for eight long years kept her own opinions, should she have had any, to herself.

From the MSCNewsWire reporters' desk - Monday 19 September 2016