Except that, in US etiquette (in an instance Miss Manners idiosyncratically refuses to accept, btw, even though we all love her), a former high-ranking official continues to be addressed by his former title. So, Bill would still be “Mr. President”, although he has said he likes “First Dude”.
The First Lady has, since Dolley Madison’s tenure, had a near-formal role as White House host(ess), and that does deserve a near-formal or fully-formal title. I don’t see what would be wrong with the title of “First Gentleman”.
I will refrain from using rolleyes and say that perhaps the First Gentleman can step up his game and become the host. Miss Manners is quite modern in some ways and would say no such thing.
Are men so incapable of coordinating social function? Can they not step out of their traditional masculine roles even a little? Nothing is “properly” a woman’s job except perhaps birthing babies. As my great aunt said, work never cared who did it. It just needed to be done.
The White House has a staff for that stuff. FLOTUS or FGOTUS only has to remember to be gracious and charming to all those uncultured savages sitting at the State Dinner table.
That’s an interesting point. I think statistically that women are better at organizing events and thinking of all the details. Men, on the other hand, will take care of the bare essentials and trust that everything else will just fall into place.
Sure, there are lots of exceptions, and that’s why I used the term “statistically.” My friend organized a surprise 50th birthday party for his SO last year and all he did was send out an email with the time and place. As it got closer the women on the list were panicking about what to bring since the original email asked for cards and snacks and BYOB. About two or three days before the party my friend simply replied “Bring what you want. Everything will work out.” And it did work out: perfectly.
If a woman was organizing this there would be weekly, then daily emails about who was bringing what salad, or entrée, or dessert, or wine and on and on.
Men have a more “just get it done” attitude, again, statistically speaking.
If there will ever be such a thing as a typical First Gentleman, it would not be him. Bill’s role would pretty much certainly be as a senior adviser (OK, legally unofficial, but a President can consult with whomever she wishes), and occasional emissary to whoever needs it. The host role, chatting with the Style editor while giving White House tours, and doing some harmless side projects like education or highway beautification, would be a waste of talent and experience.
Realistically I think the US would first need a “stalking horse” gay candidate to run and lose, someone to enable the media and the public to get all the “OMG A GAY PRESIDENT” jokes and commentaries out of their system before a second such candidate comes along and gets taken seriously as a contender.
It can be argued that the entire idea of a first lady is outdated. In most of the countries of the world there is very little attention paid to the spouse of the elected leader of the country by the press or the public. Jill Biden, the wife of Vice-President Biden, has done something no spouse of a President or a Vice-President has ever done before - continuing to work at her job which is unrelated to politics. She teaches English at a community college, just as she had done for most of her adult life. It’s quite possible that the position of a first lady or a first gentleman will slowly disappear in the U.S.
I don’t think the First Gentleman can maintain a “just get it done, bare bones” attitude. I think he will have to learn how to be a good host. I would expect him to. And then maybe we can get rid of this idea that men cannot be hosts.
Men cannot be hosts only because it is easy to sit back and let your woman remember the important dates in your life. But when it’s important, you remember too.
You may be right - something like Geraldine Ferraro, and I guess, Sarah Palin. But, I think it’s way worse that we haven’t had a woman president, and way more important than a gay president. Gay = what, 10% of our society. Sometimes I think we forget that women are 51% of the population. Yet we’re treated kind of like a fringe minority.
It’s 2015 and we still haven’t had a woman in the White House, in either position.
One standard retort is “We’ve only even had one *Catholic *president, and he got killed.”
What role did Denis Thatcher play in hosting at No. 10 Downing? ISTR he had his own separate career, acting mainly as a senior adviser to the Prime Minister but mainly staying out of public view.
Seriously though, although he "advised " his wife he made relatively few formal appearances as the PM’s spouse. That said, as the PM is not Head of State for the UK (that role falling to the monarch) there really is no First Spouse role to speak of anyway.
According to his biography, Below the Parapet, policy-wise he did very little. Margaret asked him for advice about Rolls Royce, and thereafter he swore off. His main contributions were apparently calling time on speech-writing when it went on too late.
By the way, in these days of gay marriage and civil partnerships, should not ‘Confirmed Bachelor’ now once again simply refer to someone who has never married?
Indeed, I somewhat resent the hijacking of the term by the anti-gay community and the loss of respect for the older single male.
