THE CLINTONS: FROM BAD TO WORSE

DEXTER -- If you are still trying to recover from the shock of Hillary Clinton in all probability running for the U.S. Senate from New York, and if you think that is the end of the shock, we've got news for you.

It now seems that President Bill Clinton, when he finally ends his second White House term, is thinking -- now get this -- of running for the U.S. Senate too.

Heavenly days. One Clinton in the Senate is probably too many, but two? That's downright dangerous.

But when confronted with the hint that he might run for the Senate when his presidential term ends, Mr. Clinton called it "crazy," which means, of course, that he is thinking about it. You can count on it.

It is bad enough to think of the U.S. Senate, a dignified body of 100 people, and then Mrs. Clinton becoming a part of it.

But to think of both Clintons being in the Senate at the same time, still married to one another, and one representing New York and the other Arkansas -- well, that is just too much to contemplate.

Some idiot who supports the idea said he thought it would be fine for them to be working together "doing public service."

Just a few more months of "public service' from the Clinton pair is going to put this country in the greatest crisis since the Civil War. Maybe worse.

Just imagine: The U.S. Senate. Clinton versus Clinton. Folks, we're about to go from bad to worse.

The Clintons, both of whom are smart, seem to fail to realize one simple fact about Americans. Americans tire and become bored of any individual or any couple after about seven or eight years. And that is true even if the person or the couple have had spotless conduct, which won't apply to the Clintons at all.

Just look back a bit. The American people liked Eisenhower and his wife, but by the time the Eisenhowers had completed eight years, the people were becoming bored and were ready -- even anxious -- to see them retire. Even Ronald and Nancy Reagan, admired and respected by virtually all Americans, were becoming tiresome after seven or eight years.

Americans seem to get enough of even the best of individuals or the finest of couples. So-and-so was nice, but it's time to move to someone else, we seem to be saying.

And maybe that is the way it should be. America does not have a monarchy, nor does it need or want one. One guy, one woman or one couple for about eight year, that's enough.

But the Clintons haven't learned that lesson yet and may have to learn it the hard way. Hillary seems to be a sure bet to run for U.S. senator from New York, a state in which she has never lived, never voted and really knows little about.

But she's pretty smart and savvy and may well become the next U.S. senator from New York. But Bill Clinton the senator from Arkansas? Will he go from being the most powerful man in the world to just one of 100 senators? Will he be willing to serve on a equal basis with the wife, the junior senator from the Empire State? Has it come to that?

Can't they just leave the White House amid the cheers of many and the boos of a few and retire from public life like lots of others have done? Can't they be content to raise the money and build his own presidential library, travel the world, make sweet little speeches, write books and worry about their daughter?

That was enough for the Reagans, for General Ike and Mamie and even for Theodore Roosevelt and his wife. But not enough for the Clintons. Can't this country manage to get along without them in positions of power? If we can't get along without them, we are in bad shape indeed.

Hillary has probably gone too far, and there is probably no turning back for her. She's in the race. But Bill. Can't he stop such gosh-awful ambitions right now before they consume him? Can't he be content with the several terrible things he has done and the good things he has done, leave the White House and retire?

The Clintons are smart, true enough. But there are millions of other intelligent people in this country well-equipped to be president -- or first lady -- and do the job very well, thank you. Instead of planning more worlds to conquer, the Clintons ought to be planning their own quiet retirement in the shadows instead of seeking the limelight.

In all their adult lives they have never been in the shadows. They ought to try it and find they enjoy it. And the American people will enjoy seeing them in the shadows too.

Barney Miller is the former publisher of The Daily Statesman and is a member of the Missouri Newspaper Hall of Fame.