Sen. Bill Clinton (D-N.Y.)?

The Washington Post is running an op/ed today by Karl E. Meyer and Shareen Blair Brysac urging that New York's Gov. David Paterson appoint former president Bill Clinton to replace his wife should she be apponted Secretary of State. The op/ed offers the following reasons for this stunning proposal:

Amid the blizzard of résumés blanketing Washington as the Obama era dawns, there is a superbly qualified candidate for full employment whose name has been overlooked. We refer, of course, to William Jefferson Clinton, America's 42nd chief executive and commander in chief. Yet now, by a wonderful combination of circumstances, comes an opportunity to harness his unquestioned political talents to benefit his country, the Democratic Party, New York state and his spouse…

Who in his party could question so historic and dazzling a choice? In a stroke, the appointment would provide Sen. Clinton's indefatigable husband with a fitting day job, serve the interests of a state beset by a meltdown in its most vital economic sector and offer a refreshing reverse twist on a tradition whereby deceased male senators, representatives or governors are succeeded by their widows…

In today's unusual circumstances, surely beyond the imagination of any novelist, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton would not have to fret about suitable protocol for dealing with her spouse on foreign trips were he occupied, full time, with senatorial duties. 

I, for one, am just worried sick about the "suitable protocol" issue. Am I the only one who thinks that this is a really bad idea?