The XX Factor

Jess , here's a theory: Tina Brown told Hillary to take off her burqa in hopes of starting a rumble. Once the Sec of State has derobed, she and Obama can start the fight Washington watchers expected them to have when she took the job. Cue Season 3 of the Barack and Hillary soap opera: Inside the White House.

Melodrama is what this pairing is supposed to produce for us, after all. The projected series of plot twists: Which donor thug would embarrass Bill? Which Hillary staffer would trash-talk Obama? Which photo-op with her would Obama flub? Instead, there's been practically nada. No leaks, no complaining. Even Bill has been muzzled. And so maybe Tina, like any good troublemaking journalist, is trying to goose some action. "It becomes clearer by the day how brilliantly Obama checkmated both Clintons by putting Hillary in the topmost Cabinet job," Brown writes. Maybe. But so far it mostly looks like he checkmated the gossip mongers. Which is a real problem, don't get me wrong. Sometimes I think this administration is too disciplined for its own good.

Photoraph of Hillary Clinton and President Obama by Peter Souza/The White House via Getty Images.