The Second President Clinton

Hillary Clinton's announcement of her candidacy for the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination came out via Twitter on a sunny April Sunday. The former Secretary of State and former First Lady learned the hard way about social media. This time, she let tweets do the work of spreading the news that surprised absolutely no one.

Hillary, Bill, and Chelsea Clinton
(Image: guardian.com)

While most of the Democratic Party is offering a nolo contendere to the formidable Clinton political apparatus, the Republican Party will not be so accommodating. The GOP will certainly want to make la famille Clinton a key issue in the upcoming campaign. To that end, Chelsea Clinton will become fair game, especially as she plays a central role in Mom's political march and in the Clinton Foundation. Expect the Republicans to drag media darling Chelsea into the mud.

Ditto for the Clinton Foundation. Mrs. C. will have some explaining to do regarding selected foundation initiatives, with medical programs focusing on sexual behavior at the top of the list. It's red meat for evangelical Christians, who form a significant portion of the GOP's primary voters.

Of course, there's Benghazi, which Fox News and other right-wing propagandists insist has dark, even criminal overtones. Where Hillary will have a significant problem is the Affordable Care Act. Her position on Obamacare will be telling, and the Republicans could make hay linking Hillary to this controversial program.

Ironically, the person who can least help the Clintons return to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is its current occupant, Barack Obama. The president is caught in a net consisting of a health care conundrum, a middle-class freakout over Common Core, a mutiny over Iran, so-so economic progress for the majority of Americans, and a hostile Congress. The so-called "post-racial" society that liberals so triumphantly proclaimed after Obama's 2008 election has turned quite sour. Count on the GOP to tie Hillary and The One together.

Mrs. Clinton has never forgotten how men couldn't quite bring themselves to vote for a woman to be Commander-in-Chief. Compounding that obstacle will be her age: she will be nearly as old as Ronald Reagan was when he ran against Jimmy Carter in 1980. Finally, the First Gentleman lurks in the background. He's an X factor.

Nixon's Western White House For Sale

La Casa Pacifica
(Image: wsj.com)

In case you need real estate's version of a safe deposit box for your cash, consider putting in a bid for Richard Nixon's former residence in San Clemente, California. Known as the "Western White House," the home and surrounding acreage sit on some of the Golden State's most desirable beachfront property. (Ironically, there is more than one "Western White House," including George W. Bush's ranch in Texas.)

According to a story in today's Orange County Register, the asking price for Tricky Dick's Pacific hideaway is $75 million. Even by New York, San Francisco, Tokyo, London, or Monte Carlo standards, that's a lot of money. The article did not state whether there would be an open house for prospective buyers, complete with annoying real estate brokers asking if their visitors have "representation."

Not even former president Bill Clinton can afford Nixon's "La Casa Pacifica." That's too bad, as the San Clemente compound would seem like a comfortable refuge for Chief Executives who've experienced a brush with impeachment.

Proposed 2015 Calendar of the Seven Deadly Sins

Around the year-end holidays, consumers purchase calendars. Some of them feature popular travel destinations. Some showcase either domesticated or wild animals. Certain others flaunt the bodies of domesticated or wild humans. The calendars from non-profit enterprises tend to be dull commercials for their worthy activities.

However, I propose a new product for 2015 calendars: the Seven Deadly Sins. Here's a list of these universal vices:

• avarice
• envy
• sloth
• pride/vanity
• wrath
• lust
• gluttony

The Seven Deadly Sins and Four Other Things
by Hieronymus Bosch

Selected months or days would be associated with a particular deadly sin. My list is hardly thorough, but it's a start.

Avarice -- December. That's the bonus month for many firms, including some hedge funds, Wall Street banks, and private equity firms. Second place goes to the United States Congress. Images of individual members or a team shot are available for all 12 months of the year.

Envy -- Pick any repellent celebrity gossip television program, magazine, blog, or book for the usual and unusual suspects. Again, this delivers 12-month pleasure.

Sloth -- Summer months seem best suited for this vice. Local television newscasters provide ample subjects for this underrated vice.

Pride/Vanity -- The Academy Awards are made to order for the calendar's thematic concept. That takes care of March, when the Oscars are shown to a worldwide audience.

Wrath -- This is best associated with birthdays. Former vice president Dick Cheney, for example, celebrates his birthday on January 30th. New Jersey governor Chris Christie blows away birthday candles on September 6th.

Lust -- Bill Clinton has his birthday candles blown on August 19th. Former president Jimmy Carter, who once acknowledged having lust in his heart, will clebrate his 90th birthday on October 1st. And who could let a year pass without acknowledging Charlie Sheen's contribution to vice?

Gluttony -- Feel free to double down on Chris Christie's sins, thanks to his evidently excessive interest in food and drink. Also, movie director and XXXL fellow New Jersey native Kevin Smith receives "honorable" mention for his well-publicized hassling of Southwest Airlines in 2010 for its "Customer of Size" policy.

The beauty of the Seven Deadly Sins calendar is that each month brings a new, worthy member of vice's poster children to one's attention. Now that's much more fun than associating photographs of penguins or pinup models with a specific month!

The Seven Deadly Sins
by Pieter Bruegel the Elder

Commodities Wizard Marc Rich -- RIP

Marc Rich
(Image: money.cnn.com)

Marc Rich, a dynamic figure of change in the often secretive, always ruthless commodities industry, passed away this week in his adopted country, Switzerland. He lived in exile from the United States since 1983, when then-US prosecutor Rudolph Giuliani indicted Rich and his business associate Pinky Green. As Rich's obituary in the Financial Times noted, both of the accused were later pardoned by former President Bill Clinton, at some public relations cost to POTUS #42.

Rich was greatly respected by his business peers, and those he mentored. Among them was Ivan Glasenberg, the current boss at Glencore. In a commercial world where praise is seldom uttered with sincerity, the level of CEO personalities and the tenor of their admiration was most striking.

Perhaps Rich's most generous endeavors were on behalf of Israel. The commodities wiz never forgot he and his family fled Europe and emigrated to the United States during the height of the Nazi plague. He donated plenty of money to Israel and causes associated with the Jewish state. It's fitting he'll be buried in Tel Aviv, a man with an Israeli passport, as well as those of two other nations, neither of which is the United States.