"HRC will not have a role but will be seated in the front row."

Stephanie

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Wed Mar-19-08 05:53 PM
Original message

"HRC will not have a role but will be seated in the front row."

Edited on Wed Mar-19-08 05:54 PM by Stephanie

Who can honestly say they'd like four more years of the Clintons in the White House?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080319/ap_on_el_pr/clinton_papers_22

First lady Clinton and the intern crisis
By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press Writer
49 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Hillary Rodham Clinton was home in the White House on a half dozen days when her husband had sexual encounters there with intern Monica Lewinsky, according to Sen. Clinton's schedule, released Wednesday among 11,000 pages of papers from her years as first lady.

***

Her schedule has her choosing flowers for a black-tie dinner, congratulating "Guns Aren't Cool" award winners and reading to kids in the week in January 1998 when allegations of the scandal begin coming out. She denounced a "vast right-wing conspiracy" in a TV interview.

Almost a year earlier, the schedules show, she was home on Feb. 28, 1997, the day when the Kenneth Starr report says Bill Clinton had a sexual encounter with Lewinsky in an Oval Office bathroom in the early evening, staining her blue dress.

***

The National Archives in Washington and former President Clinton's presidential library in Arkansas jointly released the first lady's schedules after months of pressure from critics who say the Clintons were delaying the disclosure. The issue has dogged her in her bid for the White House.

In all, 11,046 pages have been made available. Nearly 4,800 pages have parts blacked out. Archivists said that's to protect the privacy of third parties. Schedules for more than 30 days of activities were not included in this release.

Clinton, now New York senator, said in her memoirs that she had little choice but to carry on with her appearances when the Lewinsky revelations came out. It was on Jan. 21, 1998, when her husband woke her up, sat on the edge of the bed and said, "There's something in today's papers you should know about." He told her of the reports of his relationship with the former intern, and she said she believed his denials.

But on Saturday, Aug. 15, 1998, with the investigation closing in on the real story, he woke her up again and owned up to his misbehavior. She said in her book that she was grateful there were no public events that weekend.

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In the Whitewater probe, one of the pivotal events occurred on Jan. 4, 1996, a day in which Mrs. Clinton's personal calendar for late that afternoon is marked "Private Meeting" with her chief of staff, Margaret Williams.

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Her calendar for Jan. 26 says "No Public Schedule," although the first lady stood before a bank of microphones in front of the federal courthouse in Washington, and declared: "I am happy to answer the grand jury's questions." Several hours of testimony she gave that day made her the first first lady to ever be hauled in for such questioning.

Neither the federal probe by Independent Counsel Starr nor Republican-led investigations on Capitol Hill were ever able to sort out why the records of Mrs. Clinton's work had never been turned over to investigators. Mrs. Clinton said she had no idea where the billing records had been.

***

Clinton says her years as first lady equip her to handle foreign policy and national security as president.

But the schedules show trips packed with plainly traditional activities for a first lady, along with some substance.

For example, in her January 1994 visit to Russia with her husband, her schedule is focused on events with other wives. She sat in on a birthing class at a hospital, toured a cathedral and joined prominent women in a lunch of blinis with caviar and salmon.

***

She was also involved in helping her husband win congressional approval of the North American Free Trade Agreement, a deal she now criticizes and says she would try to change.

Her White House policy role diminished markedly after the collapse of the health care initiative.

However, she maintained a highly visible place in the administration.

For example, at the same time she was facing the Whitewater criminal investigation, she was raising her profile with the publication of her book, "It Takes A Village: And Other Lessons Children Teach Us."

Her 10-city book tour started a national dialogue that eventually became fodder for political critics on the needs of children.

In addition, the first lady was part of the public face of presidential bill signings. In the stage directions for the signing of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, the calendar for Aug. 21, 1996, states: "HRC will not have a role but will be seated in the front row."