Now that we know that being President is good for a family’s bottom line after leaving the White House (see previous posting citing the Clintons’ income), I’m wondering if there is anything that stops the family from earning money while still in the White House. Unless you’re listening to an argument to win alimony in Family Court, two-career partnerships are now conventional in the U.S. Why would the Obamas wait until 2016 to start cashing in on their political success? Why couldn’t, for example, Michelle Obama get paid by Apple to promote the company’s watch and fitness apps? If Hillary Clinton were elected, given Bill’s experience with foreign policy, why couldn’t Bill Clinton get a $20 million/year consulting job from Vladimir Putin?
Related:
What if the President has a child, files for divorce and child support in family court, and asks the judge to impute $20M in earnings from that Putin consulting job?
Didn’t we try that during the first Clinton administration, when FLOTUS was also the health-care czar?
Elect Joe Biden. His physician wife has always worked, and I bet she would continue. Side benefit, he’s so incompetent that little harm could come from his presidency. That would be an improvement over the last several presidents.
FWIW Dr Jill Biden has a job.
@ Don Hodges
but she isn’t a “real” doctor
Taking money from Putin sounds like a late late Roman Empire type operation. A commercial endorsement would be late Empire, which sounds about right.
This is a bit like how parishioners used to take a parson’s wife’s “pro bono” involvement in parish activities for granted. Not only did (Protestant) ministers’ wives tend to have more children than the average parish family, and not only had she to look after them in such a way that they would not bring shame on the parson’s household, she would also be expected to head Biblical study circles or teach needle work and anyway to answer the door at all times of day for anyone whose business “couldn’t wait”. I remember a European setting which raised eyebrows when the new parson brought with him a wife who held an executive position that she would not give up, nor did they have children nor would she attend each and every church function. So many “first ladies” are figure heads and expected to “round out” the presidential/prime ministerial “experience” for the masses. And the masses look more and chat about the dress colors than the hubbies’ politics. And things seem to have changed for the worse in our media-hyped world of “instant visual gratification”. Maybe the next step would be to get a divorce before swearing in a new state leader …
@ScarletNumber: re:Jill Biden. You’re right, a Ph. D, and in education at that. I thought she was a physician. Must have had her mixed up with Mrs. Jack Ryan – oh wait, she doesn’t even exist – never mind.
Cherie Blair worked as a barrister throughout husband Tony’s tenure as British prime minister. If Michelle Obama wants to work for a firm, why not?