Does “eight years with a front-row seat on history" count as experience?

[ericgtr]

Just curious because I work from home a lot developing websites, writing code, networking, etc. and my wife couldn't even tell you what a URL is.

[aquart]

1. Ooooh, we ARE being disingenuous today.

I guess your wife bakes cookies. Hillary didn't.

[ericgtr]

4. We both work

However, she works late and gets home while I am working and when she does make cookies, they aren't very good. ;)

I don't mean this to sound hostile but I do think it's a fair question.

[Richard Steele]

2. Yes. It's what makes Laura B*sh such a strong candidate. nm

[cosmik debris]

3. front row seat--or bench warmer?

I'd rather have the first string.

[RavensChick]

6. Bench warmer for sure!

All this guy did was force us into a war which should not have even started in the first place and totally ignored domestic issues, except vetoing bills that would've given children health insurance. Now that we're on the brink of 2008, let's get out the vote so we can start reclaiming the White House!

[Evergreen Emerald]

5. Madeline Albright (does your wife know who she is?)

Talked of Clinton's extensive foreign relations experience during the Clinton Presidency. She talked of Clinton as an Ambassador meeting heads of over 80 countries. She was more than having tea. She was an active ambassador.

She was also a personal adviser to Clinton--said Bill Clinton. She has knowledge of the stresses and responsibilities of being President.

Of course you cannot rule out her time and experience in the Senate as well as her life long experience as an advocate.

She did more than have a "front-row seat." Although, in college, a front row seat gave me better grades then not attending at all. Obama / Edwards did not attend at all.

[ericgtr]

10. Would people have voted for Bill knowing Hillary was his "personal adviser"?

It doesn't have a lot of merit after the fact. I think it would better serve hillary to tout rapport rather than experience with world leaders.

From the nytimes http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/us/politics/26clinton.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5090&en=682d6c4a538cdc82&ex=1356325200&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&adxnnlx=1198681276-7WLaNl%20zkrIIQjzG5RYSug

In seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, Mrs. Clinton lays claim to two traits nearly every day: strength and experience. But as the junior senator from New York, she has few significant legislative accomplishments to her name. She has cast herself, instead, as a first lady like no other: a full partner to her husband in his administration, and, she says, all the stronger and more experienced for her “eight years with a front-row seat on history.”

For those who think I am just making things up to slam Hillary, this is a legitimate question especially when this is the core of what she is running on.

[Evergreen Emerald]

13. lots of people have personal advisors.

What a load of crap!

[Cameron27]

15. Well the NYT is full of baloney.

The Anti-Clinton forces want it both ways, they hit the Clintons for being a team, and at the same time accuse her of sitting on the sidelines.

[Mother Of Four]

20. I've said it many times...

If she WAS indeed "Co-President" Then she should not be eligible to run because she would have already served her 8 years.

She can't have it both ways...either she was a First Lady with First Lady duties...or she was "A full partner in the presidency"

:shrug:

[Yael]

7. Not in my book

[cali]

8. what a silly comparison.

yes, her experience in the White House counts- for something. It's not executive experience and shouldn't be weighted as heavily as that. It's not legislative experience and so the same holds true. But it is experience as an advisor and a diplomat. Clinton ran the administration's health care initiative. Yes, it failed, but it's certainly experience working on a vital issue and working with Congress. She travelled extensively representing the U.S. on important issues. She acted as an advisor to her husband, particularly on domestic and political issues. I believe that JE's experience as a trial lawyer are pertinent experience, as is Obama's work as a community organizer, lecturer on Constitutional law, and work as a public interest attorney. Count those as experience, and you ought to factor in Clinton's years as first lady.

Your comparison is sadly lacking. I hope you now understand why.

[enough already]

11. How effective an advisor can you be without access to classified material?

Health care failed under her guidance. Yes, the experience 'counts', but what's it really worth?

[ericgtr]

12. Agreed

Also from the nytimes article I cited above:

"But during those two terms in the White House, Mrs. Clinton did not hold a security clearance. She did not attend National Security Council meetings. She was not given a copy of the president’s daily intelligence briefing. She did not assert herself on the crises in Somalia, Haiti and Rwanda.

And during one of President Bill Clinton’s major tests on terrorism, whether to bomb Afghanistan and Sudan in 1998, Mrs. Clinton was barely speaking to her husband, let alone advising him, as the Lewinsky scandal sizzled."

[Evergreen Emerald]

14. I have to say, I am getting so sick of that right-wing lie that healthcare

"failed under her guidance." The croonies in the Senate were determined to destroy the Clintons. They spent their years on office attacking relentlessly. For you to blame Clinton on that healthcare failure shows a complete lack of historical knowledge.

And finally: she may not have had security clearance, but it appears that she was an advisor, an ambassador, and traveled to over 80 countries meeting heads of state.

You can ignore the facts if you want to, but they are real.

[enough already]

16. Part of being an effective executive and a leader is figuring out how to get things done

What was her plan to overcome resistance on health care, other than doing what you're doing and blaming it on Republicans? I can't tell you. Whatever it was, she failed at it. And if she didn't know that resistance was coming in advance and didn't have a plan to deal with it head on, then shame on her. You can ignore that fact if you want, but it is real.

And any rich guy/gal can be an 'ambassador'. Those 'jobs' are political payoffs more than anything else. Every asshole Republican you can name has traveled and met heads of state, etc. Does that qualify them as experienced enough to be President?

[Evergreen Emerald]

21. BS. You are ignoring history.

[cali]

18. You don't need a security clearence on many vital issues

How much is her experience in the White House worth? I suggest that that's best left to individual voters.

[ccpup]

9. Posts like this are -- more times than not --

more indicative of the OP's willful ignorance, blatant stupidity or immature need for attention than they are an actual attempt to have a conversation or to learn any new valuable information.

If the OP were serious about answering his own question, he'd do a simple Google search and learn what Hillary actually DID during those eight years. The meetings with World Leaders to discuss issues -- as well as help them take effective action to address these issues -- affecting women and children worldwide as well as the speeches (followed by policy and action) that helped not only rock the boat in male-dominated societies when it came to their imbalanced treatment of women and children, but also gave those Equality Movements in emerging countries a much needed boost.

With the most rudimentary of Net Searches -- not difficult, I imagine, for one who develops websites and writes code -- his intentionally asinine question would answer itself.

[IndianaJones]

17. more than likely, his wife is much more intelligent than he is...

and not the idiot he makes her out to be. clearly issues with women abound.

[ThomWV]

19. Not compared to 4X that many years in the area of policy formulation, like Biden

Where there is a price to be paid for mistakes and you don't get to dance off into the sunset if your ideas don't fly.