Memo to HRC: Leave the Posing to Sharon Stone : Dignity: Suggestive fashion magazine photos aren’t in good taste for the President’s wife.

While browsing through the channels a few weeks ago, I had to click back to be sure I was really seeing Hillary Rodham Clinton laughing and joking on “Live With Regis & Kathie Lee.” (Can the day be far off when she’ll be chatting with Geraldo about Gennifer Flowers?) This week, I saw Mrs. Clinton’s name on the cover of the December Vogue magazine, taking second billing to Sharon Stone of the famous crotch, who is the cover girl and is featured in an article “On Sex and Stardom.”

In the layout, Mrs. Clinton is dressed demurely in a black turtleneck. But what is she doing leaning forward with her face resting on her hands, obviously suggesting that if her shoulders are down, then her rear end must be up?

Certain postures are just not fitting for heads of state or their mates. Since Mrs. Clinton is already the second most powerful person in the country, she will gain little by being featured in a fashion magazine. We are fast losing our sense of propriety; the public and private are blending willy-nilly under the false assumption that if we bare all, we’ll be thought of as just like everyone else.

It’s an admirable message (if not entirely true) and one that can be communicated circumspectly and in good taste: We’ve all seen the photos of Jackie Kennedy on the beach at Hyannisport with her hair blowing in the wind and her children playing in the sand, and of Princess Diana walking with her sons in the English countryside, wearing jeans and not a tiara. But when photos were taken of the princess at a gym (with the camera aimed to make her as famous as Sharon Stone), the Royal Family protested. As well they should have.

But I believe, Howard Stern notwithstanding, that there still exists in civilized society the admirable and necessary idea of good taste. The First Lady needs to have a few “airs”--an air of distinction goes with the job. Mrs. Clinton does indeed have an admirable profile and soulful eyes. I’d have preferred to see her forgo the close-ups and keep her distance and her dignity.