The First Gentleman?

The Washington Post is running an article entitled, "In His Wife's Campaign, Bill Clinton is a Free Agent." The article presents an overview of a typical week lived by Bill Clinton. It states, "Exactly how Clinton would conduct himself during this unprecedented process has been a subject of much speculation from the outset. Advisers worried that his charisma might eclipse his wife, that his past marital misconduct might become an issue again, or that after years of dominating public attention it would be hard for him to cede the spotlight." Apparently the former president talks about a great deal, in addition to pitching for his wife.

Read the Article!!

Discussion Starters for Young Children

• Ask your students if they've ever heard their mother start saying something and their father finish saying it for them? What did their parents say? Have they ever started to say something only to have somebody else interrupt them and finish their sentence for them? What were they saying? Why do they think that sometimes people say the same things as one another at exactly the same time?
  
• Consider teaching students the game of Jinx.
  
• Do your students think that it's good to say nice things about other people? Why/why not? What kinds of things might be nice to say about other people?
  
• Consider asking every student in class to say one nice thing about somebody else in class. Make sure that something nice is said about every student.
  
• Have your students ever wanted somebody to listen to them say something but couldn't get anybody to pay attention? How does this feel when this happens? What do students think that they could do to try and get other people's attention?
  
• Consider asking students to develop skits demonstrating how they might get somebody's attention in a nice way when they want to say something.
  
• Do students think it's appropriate to call out and interrupt class or interrupt whole school assemblies by calling out? Why/why not? Why do they think that somebody might interrupt class? What kinds of things could be done to make sure that students don't disrupt class? Why might these strategies work?
• Consider asking students to make a list of strategies to discourage people from calling out in class. Make sure that the entire list is not punitive.
  

Discussion Starters for Older Students

• Vocabulary terms to discuss: Transformation; Pivoted; Unprecedented; and, Stratospheric.
  
• Ask students to imagine that Senator Hillary Clinton asked them for advice. How involved should she allow her husband to become in her presidential campaign? What advice would your students provide to the Senator? Why would they provide this advice. If students were to seek out advice from others, from whom should they seek advice? Why should they seek advice from these people?
  
• Students might develop responses in groups of two or three and then present back to the class.
  
• Ask students to imagine that they were the thought processes inside Bill Clinton's head. What would they think about the potential of Senator Clinton becoming President. Would they want her to be President? Why/why not? How would they feel about being the first First Gentleman in the history of the United States? Why would they feel this way?
  
• Consider asking students to respond to these questions in reflective essays, written in the voice of Bill Clinton.
  
• Ask students to imagine that Hillary Clinton had never met Bill Clinton. Do they think that she still would have been running for president today? Why/why not? If they had ever met do students think that Mr. Clinton would have been president? Why/why not? In what ways might married couples help one another succeed in life? Is it ever possible for married couples to impede one another's success? How might they do this? Do students think that these impediments are avoidable? Why/why not?
  
• These questions might prompt an interesting class discussion.