Thursday, March 20, 2008

What Qualifies As Experience?

They have finally started digging into Hillary's schedules while she was First Lady:

In her bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton has touted her experience in the Clinton White House as preparation to lead the nation in a time of crisis. "Ready on day one" has been her slogan.

But an initial reading of some of the more than 11,000 pages of Clinton's schedules from her days as first lady, released today by the National Archives and the William Jefferson Clinton Presidential Library, shows that she was often far from the site of decision-making during some of the most pivotal events of Bill Clinton's presidency.

Clinton, who was an accomplished attorney and first lady of Arkansas before moving to the White House, frequently claims more than 30 years experience in public life, contrasting herself with Barack Obama's slimmer resume - he served several years in the Illinois legislature and was elected to the US Senate in 2004.


Let us look at that last paragraph. What does Hillary's resume look like. She was a lawyer, although I don't know how accomplished she was. But let us face it, her public experience is about the same as Obama's. She has served as a few years in the Senate. Other than that she is married to Bill.

This is just a few examples of her "experience":

For instance, Clinton has said she helped negotiate the April 1998 Good Friday agreement between warring factions in Northern Ireland. But while Catholic and Protestant figures hashed out last-minute details of a power-sharing agreement in Belfast, Clinton was at the National Press Club in Washington at a party honouring Bella Abzug, a congresswoman from New York City who had died recently. While President Clinton phoned major participants in the peace talks, she met with Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and joined a farewell party for Democratic operative Karen Finney. On the day the agreement was actually signed, she met with Philippine first lady Amelita Ramos.


If being married to someone counts toward experience, I'll be happy to let my wife fix your electronic equipment and I'll write your insurance policy for you. I don't think you would be satisfied with either.

I am sure she did get a few experiences from her time at the White House.

Of course she didn't pick up on the fact that Bill was running around on her, even though it looks like she was there:

Hillary Clinton was present in the White House, however, for at least one significant event of the Clinton presidency. On November 15 1995, when President Clinton is said to have begun his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky, she was in the White House, according to her schedule.

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