Op-Ed: Hillary Clinton, the 'Can-Do' Candidate?

Hillary Rodham Clinton talks a lot about her past accomplishments and how they make her more prepared to take on the role of Commander in Chief and therefore, be the Democratic Presidential nominee in 2008.

So just what are these accomplishments that she speaks of? We all heard her now famous quote at the Democratic Debate on MSNBC in New Hampshire:

You know, I think this is one of the most serious decisions that the voters of New Hampshire have ever had to make. And I really believe that the most important question is, who is ready to be president on day one? You know, the problems waiting – some of which we have talked about already – are huge, and the stakes could not be higher. …. So I am offering 35 years of experience making change and the results to show for it.

35 years of public service – So, let’s look at what Hillary describes as her serving her country for the past 35 years. It has been widely reported that for 15 of those 35 years, she worked for a corporate legal firm. Really, how many of you would equate practicing corporate law with serving your country? And, while doing all that public service (aka corporate law), you sit on the Board of Directors of a few of America’s largest corporations, including Wal-Mart (known for its staunch anti-union stance) and TCBY (anyone heard about childhood obesity?). For eight of her 35-years of public service she was First Lady and for a further 7+ years, she’s been the Senator for the State of New York. To recap, the only full-time, not for profit public service job that Mrs. Clinton actually held during her self-styled 35-years of public service was when she worked for the Children’s Defense Fund. It is worth pointing out, however, that she held that particular job for less than one year. Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton was born on October 26, 1947. Her formative years were steeped in Republican red and her first foray into politics was in 1964 when she campaigned for Presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and chaired a local chapter of the Young Republican's in Illinois. Her political leanings began to change after she attended Wellesley College. 35 years ago, in 1973, Hillary graduated from Yale law school, moved to Washington, D.C. and got a job working for the Children’s Defense Fund. However, in 1974, Hillary left the Children’s Defense Fund and went to work for the House Judiciary Committee’s impeachment proceedings on President Nixon’s Watergate scandal. When that Committee was disbanded later that year, Hillary says that despite many lucrative offers to stay in Washington, she “followed her heart” and Bill Clinton to Arkansas. Anyone else would look at the facts and say this is rather revisionist on her part, given that she passed the Arkansas bar but failed the bar exam in the District of Columbia. Following Hillary’s “choice” to move to Arkansas, she got a job teaching at the University of Arkansas’ School of Law. In 1977, she joined the Rose Law firm, as a specialist in patent infringement and intellectual property law. Over the years, Hillary received many accolades including being named twice to the National Law Journal’s “The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America”, Arkansas Woman of the Year in 1983, Arkansas Young Mother of the Year in 1984, she was listed as one of Arkansas best business-litigation attorneys in 1989, and she continued to work at the Rose Law firm until 1992 when Bill Clinton became the 42nd President of the United States. First Lady – William Jefferson Clinton was elected President of the United States in November 1992. At the beginning of her career as first lady, Hillary was named by the President to chair the Task Force on Health Care Reform. Hillary’s final Plan did not receive enough support for a vote on the floor of either the House of Representatives or the Senate and in September 1994, it was finally abandoned. A point of interest for you all is that during 1993-1994, the Democrats held majority control of both the House and Senate. However, in November 1994, the Democrats lost control of both the House and the Senate to the Republican’s. As First Lady, Hillary did not have security clearance, she did not attend National Security Council meetings, nor was she given a copy of the President’s daily intelligence briefing. In fact, during what were arguably the most difficult moments of the Clinton Presidency when he was forced to deal with terrorism and finally ordered cruise missile strikes on a suspected terrorist training camp in Afghanistan and a chemical weapons factory in Sudan, the Clinton’s were not even speaking to each other. A few days before he ordered those strikes, it is alleged that Bill told Hillary the truth about his “sexual relations”(hip) with Monica Lewinsky. One senior national security official who spoke with both Clintons during that time is quoted as saying: “It was the height of Monica, and they were barely talking to each other, if at all.” Senate Career – Hillary Rodham Clinton was elected to the Senate in November 2000. Since then, she has sponsored 356 bills. Of those 356 bills, 309 didn’t make it out of the Committee stage. So the question is: just how many of the remaining 47 have actually been enacted? Well, it would seem that a grand total of two bills that Hillary sponsored were successfully enacted into law. Well, isn’t this exciting news? Those two bills must have been hugely important legislative coup d’etats that she must have fought long and hard for. So, here they are: The first to pass was introduced during the 108th Congress. It is entitled “An Act to establish the Kate Mullany National Historic Site in the State of New York”. Now at this point in time you may well be asking yourself “Just who is Kate Mullany?”. Well, Kate Mullany was the woman who along with a co-worker, Esther Keegan, organized the Collar Laundry Union in February 1864. The Collar Laundry Union was the first female union ever formed in the United States of America. In September of 1868, Kate was also the first woman to be appointed to the National Labour Congress. Now we move on to the other piece of legislation that Hillary can lay claim to. It was introduced during the 109th Congress and is entitled “An Act to designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2951 New York Highway 43 in Arvill Park, New York as the ‘Major George Quamo Post Office Building’”. Wow, what a long and impressive title to what must be yet another impressive piece of legislation. Again, you must be asking the question: “Just who is Major George Quamo?” and at this point all I can answer is “F***ed if I know, just Google him!” (OK, OK, here is a link. I’m just not going to go into the details because by now, I hope you’ve got my point.) What does this say about Hillary the Senator and just what exactly is it that she “Can-Do”? That during her (so far) two terms as a Senator, she can get through Committee and pass into law, two completely inane pieces of legislation? What we are talking about is a seven year plus period (that is well over 2,500 days) where she was able to get one building designated as a heritage building as part of the National Parks Service and, get another building named in Vietnam vet’s honor? Now, while the acts of both of these people were admirable and quite worthy, would you consider these accomplishments as qualifiers of leadership on a federal level? If you are looking at it in the overall grand scheme of things and talking about Hillary’s legacy or her “body of work” as a Senator, what does it say? Or better yet, let’s say hypothetically in 10 years from now, when they open up another million-dollar Clinton Presidential Library in New York or wherever it is that Hillary claims to be from at the time, and the area that will be cordoned off for the “What Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton accomplished”, you realize that it will have to be large enough to house a grand total of 3 pages of legislation. To close out this post, I’d like to highlight an excerpt from a Presidential Debate: Quote 1: The most important distinction in this campaign is that I represent real hope for change … I want to bring that change to the American people. But we must all decide first we have the courage to change for hope and a better tomorrow. Quite 2: Well, I think the one thing that distinguishes is experience. Quote 1a: I want the future of this country to be as bright and brilliant as its past, and it can be if we have the courage to change. Quote 2a: In the Oval Office, you can’t predict what kind of crisis is going to come up. You have to make tough calls. You can't be on one hand this way and one hand another. You can't take different positions on these difficult issues. Sound familiar? Do you think the person who said Quotes 1 and 1a is Obama and Quotes 2 and 2a are Hillary? Actually, Quotes 2 and 2a were spoken by George H.W. Bush and Quotes 1 and 1a were spoken by Bill Clinton during a Presidential Debate that was held in October of 1992. Well, it seems to me that the more things change, the more they stay the same, all they do is change the speakers and the party. I am still asking myself just what is it that Hillary "Can-Do"?