Joe and Jill Biden traveled to Europe for the G7 summit.  You can bet that there'll be stories about Joe from the trip, none of them reflecting well on America.  Or maybe this year, the stories will be about Jill.  That's because Jill Biden's office tweeted out a picture of Mrs. Joe Biden "prepping for the G7" while sitting at Joe's desk on Air Force One:

Prepping for the G7. pic.twitter.com/drPmb2vBwI

— Jill Biden (@FLOTUS) June 9, 2021

We know from reading Jill Biden's thesis to get her Ed.D. (a sort of mock doctorate) that she's not the brightest bulb in the box — or she's a very lazy woman who knew that she could have submitted 40 blank pages and, because of her political connections, still walked away with a degree.  Nevertheless, there she is, studying away to...what?  To take her seat at the table?  To be the Joe whisperer?

Although it's easy to laugh at Mrs. Biden's pomposity, it's necessary to take seriously the fact that she seems to feel she has a substantive role in this presidency.  Traditionally, first ladies were hostesses, with the charming Dolley Madison serving that function for both the widowed Thomas Jefferson and then for her own husband, James Madison.

In the modern era, first ladies have championed causes, usually causes associated with children, such as literacy and anti-bullying.  I find these causes silly nods to feminism, but whatever.

Two first ladies, however, broke out of these roles.  Most recently, Hillary Clinton was the second half of Bill Clinton's promise that, by electing him, America would get two for the price of one.  Even with that warning, Americans were not impressed with Hillary's efforts at revamping the American medical system.  It was another two decades before Obama, by virtue of being a Black president, rather than a first lady, was able to jam "reform" through.

The other first lady to get involved was Edith Wilson, and it's the Edith model we should be worrying about when we see Jill swotting for the G7.  In March, I already put forward the possibility that Jill has had Edith Wilson in mind.  In brief, Woodrow Wilson had a stroke in October 1919.  Edith basically locked him in his room, wouldn't let anyone see the badly compromised Woodrow, and began acting as president in his stead.

We've already seen how dependent Joe is on Jill and how she often steps up and speaks for him when he becomes confused or incoherent.  Moreover, Jill hasn't announced her "feel good" first lady cause.  Instead, in March, she was on the road selling Biden's policies.

While Biden hasn't had a stroke, he's obviously impaired.  And while Jill isn't very bright, just as Edith Wilson wasn't very bright, she has the advantage, quite possibly, of being smarter than Joe.  (At this stage in his life, a lot of things and people are smarter than Joe.)

No wonder, then, that Jill is stretching her wings and getting ready to help out at the G7.  And what does it matter if what she's doing has no constitutional authorization?  Joe's whole approach to the presidency, possibly starting with the fact that he wasn't actually elected, has ignored the Constitution.

Image: Jill Biden at a rally by Phil Roeder.  CC BY 2.0.

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