Monday, February 18, 2008

The Blue-eyed Edge in the Oval Office

George Washington, whose birthday we celebrate today, was famous for his steely blue eyes. We know this thanks to the many portraits that Charles Wilson Peale painted of our first president.

Michael Medved notes today that Washington's blue eyes were the rule rather than the exception in the Oval Office: 39 out of our 43 presidents had blue eyes.

It turns out that in all of U.S. history, only five presidents had brown eyes – John Quincy Adams, Andrew Johnson, Chester A. Arthur, LBJ and Nixon. All the rest were clearly described with blue, grey, or hazel eyes.

Blue eyes are a recessive genetic trait, found in only 16 percent of the U.S. population today. Granted, in 1900, roughly 50 percent of Americans had blue eyes, but that still doesn't approach the 88 percent of U.S. presidents with blue eyes.

And as for those few presidents with brown eyes,

two of our three presidents who faced serious impeachment proceedings (Andrew Johnson and Richard Nixon) were among our brown-eyed minority. The other three brownies (John Quincy Adams, Chester A. Arthur, and Lyndon Johnson) all hoped to win an additional term as president but failed to do, falling victim to bitter political critics and rivals.

Medved speculates that John McCain may benefit from this trend, but "there’s no getting around one uncomfortable fact: Hillary Clinton most certainly does have blue-grey eyes."

Not quite. Hillary generated gossip during the Clinton Administration every time she changed her hair-do -- and she changed it alot. It's how many women respond when they are unhappy with their lives, and who could blame her, being married to the Boy President.

We forget, however, that Hillary changed more than her hair style: she changed the color of her eyes. Bob Tyrrell details this in Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House.

Strangest of all are her eyes. Hillary actually changed their color. Once they were hazel. Now they are baby blue.

Tyrrell quotes a former Clinton aide who said that Hillary "'tried turquoise contact lenses once, but it was not a great look for her.'"

There is no limit to the extent that Hillary will reinvent herself in pursuit of power. About the only thing that remains unchanged is her desire to inflict Hillarycare on us.

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