A Question of Justice

Today's installment of What Would Bill Do:

"Former President Bill Clinton has agreed to all of the conditions sought by President-elect Barack Obama's transition team to eliminate potential conflicts of interest if Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes secretary of state, people close to the Clintons said Wednesday.

"Mr. Clinton accepted several restrictions on his business and philanthropic activities to remove any obstacle to his wife's nomination if the cabinet job is formally offered and accepted, said the associates, who insisted that they not be identified because they were disclosing confidential negotiations," the NYT says.

So much for yesterday's she-isn't-sure-she-wants-it spin.

The new team includes one pretty wealthy guy, as Politico reports:

"Incoming White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel's career as an investment banker was short but, oh, so sweet. Emanuel left the Clinton White House in 1998 as a senior adviser on a government salary. By the time he won election to the House in 2002, he had earned an astonishing $16 million.

"How did he do it? Partly, it was simple luck: Emanuel dipped quickly into the world of investment banking in time to catch the tail end of the 1990s boom economy as a Chicago-based managing director at Wasserstein Perella & Co., where he worked from 1999 to 2002. While he was there, the firm was sold to the German Dresdner Bank for $1.37 billion in stock, netting Emanuel much of his Wall Street windfall . . .

"Frequently, Emanuel turned big Democratic donors and others he'd met during his White House years into clients for Wasserstein Perella, a firm that was led by Bruce Wasserstein, a hefty financial supporter of Clinton."

Remember when columnist Kathleen Parker got savaged by the right for dismissing Sarah Palin as unqualified? Now she's really asking for trouble as she diagnoses what ails the Republican Party:

"Three little letters, great big problem: G-O-D.

"I'm bathing in holy water as I type.

"To be more specific, the evangelical, right-wing, oogedy-boogedy branch of the GOP is what ails the erstwhile conservative party and will continue to afflict and marginalize its constituents if reckoning doesn't soon cometh.