Hill and Bill

When Bill and Hillary Clinton8217;s friends say they are exactly the same in public and private they tend to mean it literally: 8220;I don8217;t think I8217;ve ever heard them talk about anything but politics,8221; says a friend who has known them since the McGovern campaign. Which is not at all to say that their marriage is the dispassionate alliance some critics take it for8230;

Hillary Clinton certainly propped her rescue ladder up against Bill Clinton8217;s house on fire and hauled out his 1992 presidential campaign. Later, she saved his presidency by blaming allegations that he8217;d run amok with Monica Lewinsky on a 8220;vast right-wing conspiracy8221;. But the former president seems to have found that utility as a political helpmate is harder than she made it look. 8220;The last thing we would have expected is that her campaign would fail because Bill Clinton became a liability in a Democratic primary8230;,8221; says his former press secretary Dee Dee Myers. Instead, his performance has been so startlingly subpar that 8220;you have to wonder, is he intentionally trying to undermine her? The answer I think probably is yes, but it8217;s also unconscious.8221;

This is no time to look away from their unorthodox but mutually oxygenating setup, in part because the whole rationale of her candidacy is predicated on her symbiotic relationship with, and experience alongside, her husband. Mysterious as they are to us, even now, Bill and Hillary Clinton do get each other, and that is no small thing. While their union is unconventional, it also remains intense in ways a lot of more traditional marriages just aren8217;t after 30-plus years. Barging in on the two of them in the heat of a political discussion is, by some accounts, almost like walking in on another couple having sex.

Should Hillary prevail, of course, Bill will have his restoration and she her turn. Should she lose, they will almost certainly try again8230; Win or lose, the campaign for their dual, inextricably intertwined legacy will never be over. And, win or lose, they8217;ll fight on together.

Excerpted from Melinda Henneberger8217;s article in Slate, April 14