David Brooks, "Goodness and Power": I Ask Again, Do Hillary and Bill Have a Joint Bank Account?

In a prior blog entry, I asked if Hillary and Bill have a joint bank account. The significance? The Clinton gang is contending that there was no quid pro quo involving the US State Department with respect to the $500,000 which, according to the Becker and McIntire article in The New York Times, was paid to Bill "for a Moscow speech from a Russian investment bank with links to the Kremlin that was promoting Uranium One stock." However, if Bill deposited such a sum in a joint account, Hillary would presumably have known the source of the funds, which in turn could have colored her judgment regarding the sale of a company possessing 20 percent of America's uranium production capacity. Yes, the whole thing stinks.

On the other hand, maybe they don't have a joint bank account, and perhaps their relationship long ago dissolved into a marriage of convenience. But even in this case, you would think that the American electorate would want to know the nature of their bond and the problems that could plague the executive branch of government as a consequence of their less than perfect union.

But no information is forthcoming, nor should we expect revelations anytime soon. After all, what we don't know about Hillary can't hurt her . . . or her $2.5 billion campaign.

In his latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Goodness and Power," David Brooks concludes:

"[H]istorically, most effective leaders — like, say, George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt and Winston Churchill — had a dual consciousness. They had an earnest, inner moral voice capable of radical self-awareness, rectitude and great compassion. They also had a pragmatic, canny outer voice. These two voices were in constant conversation, checking each other, probing for synthesis, wise as a serpent and innocent as a dove.

I don’t know if Hillary Clinton possesses this double-mindedness. But I do know that if candidates don’t acquire a moral compass outside of politics, they’re not going to get it in the White House, and they won’t be effective there."

Hillary ("What difference does it make?") Clinton "capable of radical self-awareness, rectitude and great compassion"? Surely, David, you jest.