Whose Idea Was This?

On Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Bill Clinton will host a virtual one-on-one conversation about women’s empowerment and the impact that the covid-19 pandemic has had on women and girls around the world. Why Clinton, a horndog of a man who has been accused of sexual harassment and sexual misconduct multiple times throughout his career is regarded as the best person to take on this topic is a question for the ages.

A statement from the Clinton Foundation reads:

Highlights of this week’s virtual meeting include key discussions with: President Clinton and Vice President Kamala Harris on empowering women and girls in the U.S. and around the world; President Clinton and Stacey Abrams on expanding participation in democracy; Secretary Clinton about how young people can lead with empathy and kindness; Chelsea Clinton on the latest global efforts to combat COVID-19; and other leaders around climate change, social justice, systemic racism, and civic engagement.”

The conversation is part of the 13th annual Clinton Global Initiative University, a leadership development program focusing on university students and youth activists. This year’s virtual conference in partnership with Harris’s alma mater Howard University.

That Bill Clinton would be involved in an organization he helped create is not at issue here. There are plenty of other conversations and topics taking place during this multi-day conference that he would, perhaps, be better suited to speak about, like climate change or vaccine access. Great. A conversation between Clinton and Abrams about “expanding participation in democracy” sounds fine. Cool, awesome.

But Bill Clinton discussing the empowerment of girls and women? Well, that’s certainly a choice. Where’s a pithy Monica Lewinsky tweet when we need one?