For all the trauma and turmoil of 2009, there are plenty of people who have reason to dread the flipping of the calendar.
Former President Clinton, whose legacy took a tumble with his wife’s 2008 presidential defeat, is facing a new book by law professor Ken Gormley. The book reportedly gets former White House intern Monica Lewinsky on the record and makes new allegations about Clinton’s behavior, including what the definition of “is” is.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke clung to his job in 2009, but he’ll be waltzing on a minefield from now on. Democrats and Republicans alike are talking seriously about trimming the power of the central bank. Meanwhile, Bernanke has promised to drag the economy out of the dumps without sparking inflation, a task economists say may be the toughest test yet for the chairman.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., turned in a strong performance in 2009, pushing through most of the Democratic agenda while her Senate counterpart, Majority Leader Harry Reid, struggled. But Republicans think they can make that ambitious agenda, including a health care overhaul and limits on carbon emissions, into a tool to unseat vulnerable Democrats from swing districts. Pelosi is already figuring prominently in GOP attack ads.
Florida Gov. Charlie Crist suddenly finds himself in a death-or-glory battle with former state House Speaker Marco Rubio, an arch-conservative. It’s not just Crist’s career that’s at stake: The Party of Lincoln suddenly finds itself under siege by tea party populists, and some are wondering whether there’s any room at all for liberal-leaning types in the era of Sarah Palin.
But if this crowd thinks it has trouble ahead, consider: At least no one here has to be the next head coach of the Washington Redskins.
