 Roush also notes that the first two weeks show how Claire " runs a charity with a brutally iron fist " . While Frank is Machiavellian , Claire presents a woman urging on her husband 's assertion of power in the image of Lady Macbeth . Hank Stuever of The Washington Post describes her as an ice @-@ queen wife . She encourages his vices while noting her disapproval of his weakness saying " My husband doesn ’ t apologize ... even to me . " Nancy <unk> Smith of The Wall Street Journal describes what she sees of their relationship in the first two episodes as pivotal to the show 's success : " <unk> though they may seem — and their harmless air is what makes the <unk> so effective as political <unk> — this is a power couple with the same malignant chemistry as pairs of serial <unk> , where each needs the other in order to become lethal " . 
