Tina Brown to Hillary: Forget the White House, Enjoy Being a Grandma
Friday, 02 May 2014 10:12 AM
By Drew MacKenzie
By Drew MacKenzie
Former Vanity Fair editor Tina Brown has urged Hillary Clinton not to enter the race for the White House in 2016 — and instead enjoy her life as a soon-to-be grandmother and an ex-president's wife.
Brown wrote in an opinion piece for The Daily Beast that the former Secretary of State should just have fun with the perks of the "post-presidency" and reject the chance to endure "the vile toxicity of the campaign experience and the grueling gridlock of the Oval Office itself."
Brown, who co-founded the Daily Beast, noted that former presidents, such as George W. Bush, Jimmy Carter, and Clinton's husband, Bill, are enjoying their time out of office far more than when they were in Washington, D.C.
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Calling it a "win-win," Brown wrote in her guest column that "the only reason to run for the highest political office in the land is not the presidency but the post-presidency."
She added that "for Obama and Michelle, it will be fantastic, because they are young enough to have a long, massive, wildly interesting presidential afterlife. While sitting presidents become more and more despised, ex-presidents become more and more popular.
"No longer being president does wonders for your morale. Even the Bushes have seemed happier out from under it. Big George went parachute jumping. Little George medicates memories of his Iraq mistake by painting not-bad pictures."
Brown, who resigned as editor of the Daily Beast last year to launch Tina Brown Media, pointed out that 89-year-old Carter held "an audience spellbound" last month while talking about his "one-dollar-toilets-for-women" program in Ethiopia.
And noting that Hillary's daughter, Chelsea, is pregnant, Brown said, "Life for Hillary can get so deeply familial and pleasant, she can have her glory-filled post-presidency now, without actually having to deal with the miseries of the office itself.
"She is as adored as any ex-president already, she is making a ton of money, and she can expand the real passion of her life, her global mission to promote women's rights, education, and political participation. The spotlight follows her and always will."
But Brown warned, "If she becomes president at 68, it will be another press onslaught from hell and such a hog-tied two terms, only the festive delights of hip replacement surgery will await her by the time she gets out. Leave the presidency to the people who don't know what she knows all too well: what it's really like."
Brown, author of "The Diana Chronicles," a biography of Princess Diana, is now penning "Media Beast," a memoir of her years in the media world due to be published in 2016.
Urgent: Who Is Your Choice for the GOP's 2016 Nominee?
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