A Constitutional Question

A reader writes:

Here’s something else to consider: elected officials and government employees are all subject to ethics rules and regulations. Public officials, and even their employees (including executive branch appointees, congressional staffers and civil servants), take an oath to "support and defend the Constitution" and to "well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter."

Unless I’m wrong, the spouse of the president has no such requirements. The spouse is neither elected nor employed nor appointed, so adheres to no ethical rules or oaths of office. So, it stands to reason that we could soon have a very powerful and influential first spouse (who may even be called to serve as a roving goodwill ambassador to the world, as Sen. Clinton mentioned previously), who is, technically, unaccountable to anyone and unconstrained by any rule or oath.

Obviously, this doesn’t mean that the former president would abuse his position. But it does leave us with a situation open to abuse.

Quote For The Day III

"Are we the country we say we are? Are we the country that holds certain truths to be self-evident, words which incidentally were written by a 33-year-old named Thomas Jefferson. You know, are we the country that judges people by the content of their character, not the color of their skin — words that were written by Martin Luther King when he was about 34 years old," – John Kerry, National Journal.

Does anyone think that Jefferson was too inexprienced when he wrote that phrase?