During his 1992 campaign for president, Bill Clinton was justifiably proud of his wife’s accomplishments, and more particularly, her brains for social issues. He went so far as to proclaim that if he became president, America would be getting a “two-fer” in the Whitehouse: him and Hillary. The GOP immediately seized on Bill’s statement, and thus started the long, misogynist VRWC campaign against Hillary Clinton. She was a strong, independent woman, and that just didn’t fit the GOP’s view of a woman’s place in either the home or society.

When Bill tapped Hillary to head up his DOA healthcare reform program, the right wing shills howled long and loudly in protest, and basically derailed her efforts to radically remake healthcare in America. In retrospect, we know why. Special interests, in particular the pharmaceutical and private health insurance industry, felt very threatened. And so, they threw in their lobbying (and public relations) muscle with the GOP. The end result: today, 47+ million Americans don’t have even basic healthcare coverage. And the Republican Party has done everything possible to maximize profits for two industries which are major benefactors of the GOP efforts. 15 years later, the healthcare industry in the U.S. is more broken than ever before.

Why do I bring up this bit of political history? Well, a two-fer.

First, Hillary will be addressing the Democratic convention tonight, in what the Obama campaign hopes is a healing and energizing speech. There’s no question that friction between the two camps continues to exist, but I think the level of perceived animosity is more of a legacy media fabrication than anything else. But I expect her speech to be a strong endorsement of Barack Obama, and a segue into her future agenda as the junior Senator from New York (and perhaps a future run for president). She’ll be the good soldier tonight.

The second part of my two-fer focuses on Cindy McCain. While the Dems are in Denver, the GOP nominee’s wife is on her way to the Republic of Georgia. What’s that all about? Essentially, the two-fer that you’ll get with John and Cindy McCain in the Whitehouse:

[Private citizen Cindy] McCain plans to meet with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and to visit wounded Georgian soldiers. She would also visit representatives of the HALO Trust, which works to remove land mines and on whose board she serves…

Her aides say that the timing of the trip, during the Democratic National Convention in Denver, was never a consideration. But that doesn’t mean they’re ignoring the subtext. “She’s on the phone with the World Food Programme; he’s on the phone with Saakashvili,” McCain adviser Nicolle Wallace told me. “It was a great picture of what they’ll be like in the White House.” …

So. She’d be a “strong woman” in the Whitehouse. Aren’t heads exploding all over freeperville? Au contraire, mon frère:

I’m so impressed with Cindy McCain. Yes, she’s wealthy and, yes, she owns several homes, but she never forgets the least among us in this world. Example: she left today for a mission to Georgia with the World Food Program…

The Clintons were working directly with a variety charitable organizations long ago, while Cindy was still busy accumulating her private jet fleet and closing on houses. And let’s pretend for just a moment that Hillary had traveled on such a “mission” when her husband was running for the presidency. What would have the right wing reaction looked like?

(You already know the answer to that question.)