41 years after Hillary Rodham said "I do," Bill Clinton proudly takes his wife's name
WASHINGTON D.C. -- As a feminist redemption story, Bill Clinton's spousal journey from cheating scumbag to impeccably supportive husband is about to get a new, highly romantic public chapter thanks his latest act of husbandly devotion.
This morning, White House Press Secretary Leslie Jones confirmed rumors that America's first First Gentleman Bill Clinton filed paperwork in Westchester County Court late last Friday to officially change his last name to "Rodham," the once-reviled maiden name of President Hillary Rodham Clinton.
"Better late than never!" Jones said. "He loves her, and he doesn't care who knows it!" The announcement immediately set Twitter ablaze with thousands of people speculating about the power dynamics at play in today's version of the Clinton-Rodham's disconcertingly modern marriage, with many MRA activists accusing America's first female president of misandry, "name murder," and "metaphoric castration."
On Wednesday, the former president was clearly delighted to explained his decision to embrace "Rodham" as part of his own legal identity in a lengthy interview with the New York Times's gender columnist Susan Chira.
"I watched Hillary take shit for years because she wanted to keep her maiden name, Rodham, as a middle name," he said, shaking his head in smiling disbelief. "People hated her for it, and they hated me for marrying a woman like that. When she finally dropped 'Rodham,' the people of Arkansas forgave me and decided to hire me as governor. I look back on that with horror. For years, I pursued my own political ambitions at the expense of my wife's identity, and I was a shitty husband."
Clinton said he finally decided to take his wife's maiden name as his own around Christmas, shortly after Hillary defeated failed candidate Donald Trump by more than 3 million votes in November's election, to signal his deference to his wife's career, personhood, and identity, saying and his disgust with masculinity. "It's about fucking time. She's not my property. By doing this, I want her to know that I choose to belong to her."
538's Nate Silver said it's unclear how Bill's legal name change will sit with middle America, but he cited polling that shows that American public looks favorably on "traditional marriages structures," where stay-at home husbands take their wives' last names.
In addition to changing his name, Bill Rodham is promoting sewing and cooking classes for young American boys through a wildly popular program called, "First Husbands in Training."
