Idle threat of the week

This week the panel of judges who choose Idle Threat of the Week were faced with a bit of a quandary. There is no question Bill Clinton's binge of red-faced, finger wagging barely coded race baiting constituted a threat of sorts. And there is no question the week ended with his wife Hillary -- still technically the one running for President -- receiving a rebuke from South Carolina voters far stronger than the polls and pundits had predicted.

Yet questions linger. Obviously Bill and Hillary have a more complicated relationship than the typical husband and wife. Raising the possibility that Bill is, subconsciously or otherwise, trying to torpedo his spouses run for the office he held to mixed reviews for eight years.

Some will say Bill's strategy of pushing Barack Obama into an electoral ghetto of black voters, suspiciously idealistic young and upperclass white voters, and the diminishing returns of the Kennedy clan is smart -- if brutal -- strategy. But Bill Clinton, who has been hailed as the political mind of his generation, should surely know this was going to probably happen regardless of anything he said or did. So why burn the Clinton name into such an ugly tactic?

Whatever the reason it is clear Bill Clinton's surprising and seemingly uncontrollable rage has led to the impression he might not know what noises his mouth makes, or who exactly is he trying to threaten. Which is why the race for Idle Threat of The Week for January 21st to 27th has been called for the 42nd President.

Mitt Romney who, stunningly, now has a puncher's chance to be the next President of the United States, scored points this week by joking that Americans would probably recoil at the thought of Bill Clinton back in the White House with nothing to do. This American is here to report having Bill on the campaign trail with nothing to do is nothing but entertaining and revealing.