I was a real fan of Hillary Clinton when she was First Lady. I thought it was wonderful that her interests expanded beyond selecting a new china pattern for the White House. That's why it really pains me to have to ask, Hillary, have you lost your mind up in here?
Throughout her campaign, Hillary has been dropping little comments about Obama's lack of experience and therefore qualifications as commander-in-chief, and touting her own experience as preparing her for the job. The pointed focus of her 3:00 A.M. phone call commercial is her vast experience versus Obama's lack of experience. However, she has outdone herself with her assertions at a recent press conference on March 6, aligning her own experience with Republican nominee John McCain and dismissing Obama as not being in their league.
“I think that since we now know Sen. (John) McCain will be the nominee for the Republican Party, national security will be front and center in this election. We all know that. And I think it’s imperative that each of us be able to demonstrate we can cross the commander-in-chief threshold,” the New York senator told reporters crowded into an infant’s bedroom-sized hotel conference room in Washington.
“I believe that I’ve done that. Certainly, Sen. McCain has done that and you’ll have to ask Sen. Obama with respect to his candidacy,” she said.
Calling McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee a good friend and a “distinguished man with a great history of service to our country,” Clinton said, “Both of us will be on that stage having crossed that threshold. That is a critical criterion for the next Democratic nominee to deal with.”
I first read the text of this press conference in my friend Bruce's blog, Self-Sufficient Steward, and was in total accord with his astute assessment that Hillary is trying to scare the American public into voting for her with a message of "nominate me or suffer the dire consequences!"
Hillary's ongoing litany about her vast experience has puzzled me from the start. Thinking that perhaps I had missed some significant part of her career, I did a little research. (I love the Internet!)
Yep, Hillary has an impressive pedigree as a lawyer; she was the first woman to make partner at the Rose Law Firm where she worked from 1977-1993, with a few breaks to birth Chelsea and aid Bill with his political campaigns. I've never made partner anywhere but I am a lawyer; maybe I have the experience to answer that call at three AM. Dang, but I've never been First Lady.
Hillary has been First Lady twice, but I don't think that First Lady is an elected position, it's just a title bestowed on you because you're a woman married to the president. Maybe Nancy Reagan should be president, after all someone had to be running the country towards the end of her husband's presidency, given his unfortunate affliction with Alzheimers.
So what exactly has Hillary Clinton done to demonstrate that she is qualified to cross the commander-in-chief threshold?
She alleges that she was active in foreign policy decisions during her tenure as First Lady, but there seems to be a lack of evidence to back up her claims. She visited Northern Ireland and says that she was essential in helping peace to that region; unfortunately, no one else recalls it that way. She also claims credit for brokering the deal that resulted in Macedonia opening its borders to refugees from Kosovo. However, official records confirm that the Macedonia accord regarding the Kosovo refugees was signed the day before Hillary arrived in the country. Hillary also cites her one day visit to Bosnia, accompanied by comedian Sinbad, musician Sheryl Crow, and daughter Chelsea (her foreign policy advisors?) as evidence of her foreign policy experience.
Granted, Hillary presumably had the president's ear during her time in the White House, and no doubt provided him with her insight on issues of domestic and foreign policy, but the one issue that she and Bill have avowed that she advised him to act on was to take US military action to stop the genocide in Rwanda. Evidently, Bill didn't listen. The official buzz is that there was never any consideration of US military intervention in Rwanda during the Clinton administration, and in memoirs by each of the Clinton's and Madeline ALbright, no mention is made of Hillary's advice regarding Rwanda. Her advice has only been announced during her presidential campaign.
Hillary's own political experience consists of her terms from 2001 to the present as the junior senator from New York. That is the sum total of her experience. Not that such experience shouldbe dismissed lightly, but I'm hard pressed to understand how it makes her any more qualified to cross the three AM phone call threshold than Barack Obama, who served as an Illinois state senator from 1997-2004, and is currently the junior senator from Illinois in the US Senate (elected in November 2004).
I'm angry with and embarrassed for Hillary Clinton. This fabrication of a non-issue is beneath her. It is rare that any first time presidential candidate has any noteworthy foreign policy experience. Our constitution places limits on who gets to negotiate foreign policy (I know that you might not believe this if you've seen Tom Hanks' movie, Charlie Wilson's War.) Even John McCain has not had substantive foreign policy experience (being a POW doesn't count).
Hillary has not only opened her own record up to attack, but she has also dealt a negative blow to her own party. If the measure for choosing a president were strictly based on foreign policy experience, John McCain appears to have a slight edge over either Clinton or Obama, but no election should be based on a single issue or factor. Presidential Campaigns have to be about the multiple issues that affect the citizens who live in this country.
Shame on you, Hillary, shame.
PS In the interest of full disclosure, I support Barack Obama for president; however, until now, I still had respect for Hillary Clinton.
12 comments:
Thank you for that super insight into the US elections. I hope you don't mind but I have copied/pasted it to my sister as I know she will be most interested. We look on at the US election from this side of the pond with some amazemenet...it does seem to go on rather a long time !! we have only about a month when it is our election time and we think that is to long !!!! ANwyway thank you again. HAve a good week. Much LOve Sybil xx
I also held Hillary Clinton in high regard until Bill Clinton brought in awkward racial comments earlier in the campaign and with what I consider low stooping ads about the 3 AM calls she fell from her perch for me. Now with the Jon McCain comments I have lost most of my consideration for her. She acts to me more like a desparate youngster seeking approval in any way she can get it and I don't like it at all. This whole experience argument is nothing more than a puff cloud being proped up by fear. Like you've said no presidential candidate today or in the past unless they were a Vice President has had much foriegn policy experience which makes this argument null and void. Those who wish to hold on to it as an example of why they would support a candidate I believe are fooling themselves. Seems to me judgement should play a larger roll than it is presently being played which certainly removes Clinton from my selection process.
For the record I am now supporting Obama.
Spencer
I can't wait for April to get here. That is when I get to cast my vote for Obama. I hope he takes the state of Penn. BIG TIME!
The dealbreaker for me was her response on 60 minutes to the charges that Obama was a Muslim. "To my knowledge there's no basis for it." To my knowledge? Trying to leave open that smidgen of doubt, Hill?
I don't blame her for pushing any button she can to cast Obama as less qualified than her. I just think she's trying so hard she's coming off as 1) desperate and 2) entitled. She seems to have the idea that she deserves this, just because it's the deal she made with Bill back in 1980-something--first you, than me. You really feel like Obama is coming from the idea of wanting to serve the country, and she's wanting to serve her ambition.
She should just call Obama now and ask to be his running mate. For the good of the country and the party.
I loved this. A few things:
I think I might start calling people at 3 AM, and if they answer the phone, I'm going to say, "Congratulations! You are qualified to be president!" I think everyone will get a real kick out of that, and appreciate the call.
I listened to a good segment on NPR about the "experience" thing. Most people seem to think that if Clinton does win the nomination (which seems increasingly unlikely, but it's not over yet), her "3 AM" commercial will seriously backfire on her with McCain. He's got a much more legitimate claim on experience than she does.
Ken and I were amused tonight to hear that the Clintons (they seem to be a tag team these days) floated the idea of a Clinton-Obama ticket. Since when does the front runner accept an offer from the person behind them to be...the second-in-command? What kind of pretzel logic is that? We were happy to see that Obama dismissed the idea immediately. Why would he even discuss it?
Great post! (And thanks for your fun and amusing comments on my journal!)
Beth
Dreams die hard. I was for Hillary years ago, even before Bill made it to the White House. I refuse to give up my dreams...they have been there far to long to wake up to reality, expecially when no one is really sure what the true reality is. Yet.
Thoughtfully written as always. As I work for an American family the upcoming presidential election is a big topic of discussion in the big house. I am not sure any of the candidates is really up to the job, but then, who am I? I'm not even an American. But I do have the say that the thoughts of either Hilary Clinton or Obama as President of one of the most powerful countries in the world strikes fear into my heart.
Marie
http://journals.aol.co.uk/mariealicejoan/MariesMuses/
She's a politician. So I can't go by what she says, only what she does. Yet it's telling I think that with all her not-so-covert hints about Mr. O's qualifications to lead, Hillary has all but stated outright that if nominated, she'll ask him to be her running mate. "It's a very real possibility" says Mrs. C when asked. Hm. CATHY
http://journals.aol.com/luddie343/DARETOTHINK/
I used to like and respect her, also. I see her becoming like so many other politicians at this point. Shame indeed. Even while I support Barack Obama for President, I do even more and more strongly when she pulls this stuff.
I am afraid that I agree with your assessment of Hilary, and what I am worried about now is that she will run so hard that Obama will get squeezed out by those not inclined to vote for a black man for the candidate. If she wins then McCain will be apt to be our next president and I feel he is too much into war and that Obama would do more to bring about peace in these warring countries than he would. He is too militant. Besides being too old. I do not think Hilary would be a good candidate for this at all. The closer the race gets the more it concerns me. Gerry http://journals.aol.com/gehi6/daughters-of-the-shadow-men/
i always enjoy reading your commentaries...they are deep and thought provoking....and so well written. i've never been a fan of hillary or bill and the prospect of having them back in the white house is just plain scary. i only wish that more people would use the internet and run their own personal investigation of hillary's accomplishments.
gina
I am getting a tad tired of this fake battle ground between these people and I am sure the American public is too. Both have their good qualities as well as their bad. I would say may the best man win, but there's a female candidate too ;-)
Gaz xxx
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