Dean's Wife Shuns Politics

...do you think she could maintain her practice if he were elected?

I think she should maintain this practice if (god forbid) he were elected. Where is it written that the President must have a spouse who must act like an elected representative spending millions of dollars to run an office of the First Lady???

How did this 'institution' manage to creep into our political culture??

Again your sentiments are fine and as far as the 'institution' of First Ladies is concerned I have no opinion one way or the other. The point I was trying to make, and you are avoiding or haven't considered, is the practicability of maintaining her practice if he were elected.

Firstly there would be SS agents in her office at all times. They would insist upon vetting every patient she saw. (Not to mention every other contact in her life as is the norm for Presidents and their families.) Would that be conducive to her smalltown private practice? Would she be accepting of that? Would her patients?

Secondly, Shelbure Vermont is about an hour's drive from Montreal. How secure could the SS keep her from potential terrorist attack or capture while working out of that little office and living in her home on Lake Champlain? It's possible but the logistics are probably rather difficult. The SS would fight very hard against such a situation and they would not be alone in the government. Should old Howie insist she be left alone and inadequately protected he would look like a heartless fool in the eyes of average Americans. And he would be. If harm did come to her the press would evicerate him Democrat on no. Leaving her out their like bait would also create a real and serious potential for harm to the country through blackmail or the effect on international policy deriving from harming her. The President could be rendered ineffectual and untrustworthy by association with the mere possibility that his decision making was based on his emotional reaction to such an incident.

In short the situation of a First Lady being open to the public in the manner that a family physician is, being on-call, would be unacceptable. Unacceptable to Congress, unacceptable to the press and unacceptable to the people and rightly so.

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