What Could be Worse than Hillary as First Lady?

NRO has a great article on Ter(ray)sa Heinz and Laura Bush.

http://www.nationalreview.com/blyth/blyth200410280828.asp
After discussing how Laura Bush had the uncanny ability to remain out of the spotlight, the article goes on:
And that's why the thought of Teresa Heinz Kerry (a.k.a. the Portuguese Firecracker) as First Lady can be so darn unnerving. Mrs. Kerry not only has lots of opinions on everything from the environment to the war to how to alleviate the symptoms of arthritis (with gin-soaked raisins), she also wants everyone to listen to her and respect what she says.

In her "enough about him, let's talk about me" convention speech Teresa declared, "My only hope is that one day soon, women — who have all earned the right to their opinions — instead of being labeled opinionated, will be called smart and well informed, just like men." With that much-quoted remark she was playing, of course, to those few perpetually disgruntled 60s-era feminists still among us — many of whom, by the way, are part of the media.

The only problem is that, throughout the campaign, Teresa has not been "smart and well informed" — she has been a dopey near-disaster. From telling a reporter asking a tough question to "shove it," to winning the New York Times's Marie Antoinette Award (for suggesting that Caribbean children who were victims of a hurricane "go naked"), to last week's diss of Mrs. Bush, it has been gaffe after gaffe after gaffe. And the mouthy "Mama T" at the present time is still being kept tightly under control. Just imagine what she would be like in the White House as the Boss's Wife — and what fun the press would have recording her daily doings.

In [a] USA Today/PBS survey, 76 percent of Americans gave Mrs. Bush a favorable rating and only 16 percent had an unfavorable view, while 40 percent of the public rated Mrs. Kerry unfavorably and only 38 percent had a favorable view.

On the Today show the other morning, John Kerry defended his wife by declaring that he loved her outspokenness. But during the last debate, when asked about the strong women in his life, he couldn't come up with anything nice to say about her. The camera caught Teresa looking pretty sulky about that. He did finally, concede he enjoyed the style of life she provided.