If Hillary Clinton enters the White House, just what will they call Bill

The prospect of Hillary Rodham Clinton entering the White House as the 45th President of the United States raises the intriguing question: what will they call Bill? Since Eleanor Roosevelt’s day, the president’s wife has had the official title, First Lady, with her own team, working in the Office of the First Lady.

Unofficially, the title goes back further. Martha Washington, wife of George, was called the First Lady. So, in a sense, the title is as old as the American Constitution. But, say what you will about Bill Clinton, he ain’t no lady, according to The Independent on Wednesday.

He has an eye for the ladies, of course, so calling him the First Lady’s Man would be apt and descriptive, but President Hillary might not like it. When Australia was governed by a woman for the first time, they called Julia Gillard’s partner the First Bloke, but that is not very American. Perhaps First Gentleman would fit the Bill.

Once his title is sorted, Bill will have to make a strategic decision about what the role of a President’s husband should be. He will be unique among the list of 45 First Ladies, not only because of his gender, but also because he will know more about being President than the President.

Sooner or later, he might set off a confrontation like the scene in the current series of House of Cards in which President Frank Underwood (played by Kevin Spacey) brutally reminds his wife Claire (Robin Wright): “This office has one chair… And if you suddenly can’t stomach that, well then I’m a fool for having married you".