I read that George Bush Sr. consistently corrects anyone who calls him “Mr. President” and says he’s “Mr. Bush.” Doesn’t like people to use it as a courtesy title.
Tamex, in the US media in recent times there has been a tendency for people who formerly held high office to be referred to by the highest office held; e.g. “General Powell,” “Secretary Cheney,” even though they had been out of office for years. Carter and Reagan were not referred to as “Governor,” nor Ford as “Congressman”, nor Bush(pére) as “Ambassador,” after leaving the White House. However it stands to reason that in the presence of one or more former Presidents of the US together with the current one, the phrase “Mr. President” should be assumed to mean the latter.
As for the Clintons, my guess is that the formal form of presentation of this hypothetical First Couple, for example at State Dinners, would be something to the effect of “The President of the United States and Mr. W. J. Clinton.” As for a “title” for Bill, IIRC “First Lady” is not an office, per se, but just something we call the person; when we’ve had single or widowed Presidents, there has been a designated “Hostess of the White House,” a female relative or the spouse of a Cabinet official, to serve social purposes. So Bill may be the “Host of the White House,” “Buddy’s Keeper,” “Hillary’s Old Man,” or “That Guy in the Back.”
Of course, if this scenario were to happen (and after the Dubba vs. Gorebert scene, I believe anything can happen), I think it likely we’d be dealing with “President Rodham.”
jrd
Gender is the clearest and most obvious differentiator. So if H gets elected, I reckon the standard terminology would be:
Hillary: President Clinton
Bill: President Clit-non
If I recall, the former President is supposed to be asked how he wishes to be addressed. Something similar to this came up when Ike finished his second term. He preferred “General.”
On Thursday Dec. 21, the WNYC show On the Line had a segment entitled “But why is…” that dealt with the question of how people are addressed. The guest was Emily Yoffe, “The Explainer” from Slate.com Her explanation were that the titles (e.g. President, Secretary, Vice-President, etc.) are to be used only when you hold that particular office. The press, however has contravened the ‘orthodox’ use of the titles and slapped them in front of anyone who was connected to this or any previous administration.
There are, however, certain exceptions to the standard: Governors are always referred to by their title, so in answer to the OP, if Senator Clinton was elected to the Presidency, (assuming of course that there hadn’t been a divorce to complicate things) Bill would be referred to or addressed as “Governor Clinton”.
Similarly, the title of Senator also sticks with the individual throughout their life, even after they leave office, as does the rank of General or Admiral, (those who have achieved the full rank with 4 stars; Brigadier, Major and Lieutenant generals are technically not included, nor are the Rear (lower or upper half) or Vice Admirals).
As to the OP: Official documents (press releases and the like) seem to use “President and Mrs. Clinton”. Since in this hypothetical situation the title of President for the First Spouse is basically just a courtesy title, I imagine “President and Mr. Clinton” would be used. I dunno what they’d do with the “Office of the First Lady”. With any luck, they’d permanently abolish it. Perhaps after we do get a female President, people will simply refer to “the President’s husband” or “the President’s wife”.
It’s not just the press that continues to use the former office as a title. At one of his first press conference after the election day, Dubya referred to “Secretary Cheney.”