What did Clinton learn from her White House experience?

[maximusveritas]

I was reading and watching the Iraq War speeches from our top candidates (thanks to the links provided in this post by WesDem). Even though I found Edwards' speech to be much worse overall, I was struck by something Clinton said toward the end of her speech:

This is a very difficult vote. This is probably the hardest decision I have ever had to make -- any vote that may lead to war should be hard -- but I cast it with conviction.

And perhaps my decision is influenced by my eight years of experience on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue in the White House watching my husband deal with serious challenges to our nation.

If her experience led her to make the wrong choice when faced with the biggest decision of her political life, then how much is it really worth? And is it really something she should now be touting as an asset?

[Arugula Latte]

1. Translation: "In my experience, rightwingers and the media will scream if I vote against the war."

"Therefore I will pander to them and go ahead and let hundreds of thousands of innocents be slaughtered for political purposes."

[cali]

3. Close, but not quite.

I don't believe that any of the candidates who voted yea on the IWR thought that the slaughter of hundreds of thousands was in the offing. Should they have? Hell yes, but I doubt Clinton or any of the others were thinking in the terms you expressed.

[rodeodance]

4. I agree.

[papau]

7. Indeed "In my experience" may mean seeing constant public policy truth telling under Bill

[Olney Blue]

2. Bush's war.

[mod mom]

5. She did go to Bosnia (although with Sinbad)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3927757&mesg_id=3927757

It's sad when even MSM picks up on the humor of it.

[Sparkly]

8. Quite like the MSM's hilarity over Gore "inventing the internet"

and "lying" about who he was with when he flew over a disaster area, and claiming his mother sang him the Union Label song as a lullaby, and saying he discovered Love Canal, and on and on and on... They have a nice long history of this kind of thing.

[mod mom]

9. The difference being that Gore never said he invented the internet while Hillary

touted Bosnia.

[Sparkly]

11. "touted Bosnia?"

What's that mean?

Gore said he was instrumental in the development or creation of the internet. That was true.

I think Hillary Clinton said she went to Bosnia? Isn't that true?

[mod mom]

14. from the NYT:

Asked to name three major foreign policy decisions where she played a decisive role as first lady, Mrs. Clinton responded in generalities more than specifics, describing her strategic roles on trips to Bosnia, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, India, Africa and Latin America.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/us/politics/26clinton.html?pagewanted=print

[Sparkly]

16. So she did go to Bosnia.

And the article points out that she did have an important diplomatic role.

My point is this "She went with Sinbad!" nonsense is EXACTLY what the MSM did to Al Gore -- take something that's true and trivialize and twist it into something ridiculous.

[mod mom]

20. from the NYT article: "Her role mostly involved what diplomats call “soft power”

I would say she is exagerating her experience.

I'm off now to read. peace.

[mod mom]

22. One last example:

My husband is an architect. I have attended conferences and lectures with him for the last 20 years. I have read many books and have visited countless sites. I started an historic preservation group and I even petitioned our city council to enact a historic preservation clause to stop demolition of historic home where I live. YET I WOULD NEVER SAY I HAVE ARCHITECURE EXPERIENCE.

good night.

[sniffa]

21. i don't care who she went with

but the claims that she risked her life is over the top, and nauseating.

but then again, Sinbad has been using that trip in his stand up routine.

"So, I flew to Bosnia the other day... and besides my arms being tired, it reminded me of dodging bullets in Benton Harbor."

[mod mom]

15. Here's video of Meredith Vieira calling her out on it:

Meredith Vieira Gets Tough on Hillary
01.02.08 -- 11:51AMBy David Kurtz
The Today show this morning ran an interview with Hillary where she defended herself from questions about her actual foreign policy experience by touting herself as the first "high-profile American to go into Bosnia" after the Dayton peace accords.

In response, Meredith Vieira noted that Hillary had gone to Bosnia with . . . Sinbad:

video at the link

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/062414.php

[Sparkly]

17. I heard.

Maybe I'll watch it later.

[Sparkly]

6. I think she meant that the support of Congress is important for a president

to "deal with serious challenges to our nation." Supposedly, the idea was to give the BushBoy a show of support in going to the UN and getting further inspections.

(Clinton had to fight the GOP in Congress most of his presidency, never botched anything this badly, and still won respect around the world. So her experience, unfortunately, didn't predict the Chimp would "fuck it up" so badly, as I think Kerry put it.)

[Cameron27]

10. That's a good point,

I didn't think of it that way, and because of all that, she'd never refer to our battles with the bushies as a 'food fight.'

[maximusveritas]

12. Yeah, that's how I read it

but she's still using her experience as a justification for her making the wrong decision.

[Cha]

13. How better to

triangulate and give one point the shaft.

[TomClash]

18. In other words

The Empire needs exclusive access to oil reserves to keep the gas guzzlers and their masters happy. If that's not provided, you won't be a Senator very long. That's what the eight years of experience taught her.

[sniffa]

19. hmm, so many bad jokes and so little time

:think: