Hillary's Experience --Ask Bill (He Doesn't Remember It)

Hillary's Experience --Ask Bill (He Doesn't Remember It) By Dick Morris and Eileen McGann

Is Hillary Clinton the Walter Mitty of presidential candidates when she takes credit for the successes of her husband's presidency?

Lately, she's been repeatedly linking herself to Bill's job creation, budget balancing, economic programs and domestic policies initiatives. There's a lot of “Bill and I” and "we” in her speeches. It's all part of the “bring back the Clinton years” theme that she rolls out to Democratic Party audiences.

At the core of her highly disciplined campaign message is her claim that her “experience” in the White House and the Senate makes her uniquely qualified to move right into the Oval Office. According to Hillary, her two term co-presidency with Bill specially prepared her for the next Clinton administration and gives her exceptional credentials that no other candidate can match.

And her message is working — the most recent Gallup Poll shows that 45 percent of American voters cite Hillary's “experience” as the highest positive rating about her.

Out on the campaign trail, she often refers to her “eight years in the White House,” when asked why she should be elected.

So, what exactly was it that Hillary did in the Clinton White House that gave her all of that experience?

Well, obviously there was the health care fiasco, Hillary's secretive, expensive and utterly failed attempt to socialize the health care industry. Surely, she can't be referring to that.

One would think that the $20 million combined memoirs of the former first couple could provide some clarification. But a careful reading of their respective stories leads to even more confusion. One wonders whether they ever read each other's work.

It seems that in her book "Living History," published in 2003, the former first lady doesn't really claim to have been an influential co-president working and learning at her husband's side after all.

And most of what she does take credit for involves traditional first lady issues, such as childcare and cancer research. She barely mentions any role for herself in the signature issues that confronted the Clinton presidency.

If you contrast her current claims of helping to run the country against her own writing about her White House days, there's a big difference. Now she speaks of the Clinton administration accomplishments, as if she were part of implementing them. But only four years ago, she told another story.

Bill doesn't seem to recall her help and involvement on too many issues. Even on those relatively few things that she actually does take credit for in her book, the former president doesn't have the same recollections that she does about her important role in the White House.

In her book, Hillary discusses her advocacy in the White House on social security, welfare reform, the bankruptcy reform bill, violence in the media, budget cuts and improvement in the Family and Medical Leave Act.

But, in his memoirs, Bill rarely mentions Hillary's role in any of his administration's policies, except for health care. One would have expected that he would have described some of the details of her unparalleled 'experience.'

In fact, of 102 mentions of Hillary in Bill Clinton's "My Life", the content is as follows:

11 entries are about Hillary's integrity, character, her writing a book, supporting American crafts, etc.

Only five entries concern a substantive role, including: participating in a White House staff gathering at Camp David; speaking out for women's rights in China; campaigning for child protection legislation; and campaigning for Democratic candidates, and the Millennium Project

Here's some examples of how Hillary catalogued some of her work and how Bill described the same issue:

Welfare Reform: "I supported welfare reform and worked hard to round up the votes."

Media Violence and Children: "Bill and I … convened a White House strategy session on how to curb media violence directed at children."

Bill remembers it somewhat differently, crediting Al and Tipper Gore with a drive to get V chips in televisions. No mention of Hillary.

Budget Cuts: "I also spent two years helping... Stave off cuts in legal services, the arts, education, Medicare and Medicaid."

Bill writes about how proud he was about his “sweeping reforms of our adoption laws.” No mention of Hillary.

Bill describes signing another of his priorities into law. No mention of Hillary.

So, is Hillary a Walter Mitty character who imagined herself as the effective and hard-working co-president of the United States, while she was actually marginalized and uninvolved in any important policy making?

Or was she really a strong co-president who wasn't given the proper credit by her husband in his book, and was too modest to write about it in her own book?

Some notable quotes from the Queen-of-Nice, Hillary

"Where is the G-damn f**king flag? I want the G-damn f**king flag up every f**king morning at f**king sunrise." Cheers to the Truth!
(From the book "Inside The White House" by Ronald Kessler, p. 244 - Hillary to the staff at the Arkansas Governor's mansion on Labor Day, 1991)

"You sold out, you mother f**ker! You sold out!"
From the book "Inside" by Joseph Califano, p. 213 - Hillary yelling at Democrat lawyer.

"It's been said, and I think it's accurate, that my husband was obsessed by terrorism in general and al-qaida in particular."
(Hillary telling a post-9/11 world what a 'great' commander in chief her husband was; Dateline, NBC 4/16/2004.)

"I have to admit that a good deal of what my husband and I have learned [about Islam] has come from our daughter."
(TruthInMedia.org 8/8/1999 - Hillary at a White House function, proudly tells some Muslim groups she is gaining a greater appreciation of Islam because Chelsea was then taking a class on the "religion of peace")

"F**k off! It's enough that I have to see you shit-kickers every day, I'm not going to talk to you too!! Just do your G*damn job and keep your mouth shut."
(From the book "American Evita" by Christopher Anderson, p. 90 - Hillary to her State Trooper bodyguards after one of them greeted her with "Good morning."

"You f**king idiot."
(From the book "Crossfire" p. 84 - Hillary to a State Trooper who was driving her to an event.)

"If you want to remain on this detail, get your f**king ass over here and grab those bags!"
(From the book "The First Partner" p. 259 - Hillary to a Secret Service Agent who was reluctant to carry her luggage because he wanted to keep his hands free in case of an incident.)

"Get f**ked! Get the f**k out of my way!!! Get out of my face!!!"
(From the book "Hillary's Scheme" p. 89 - Hillary's various comments to her Secret Service detail agents.)

"Stay the f**k back, stay the f**k away from me! Don't come within ten yards of me, or else! Just f**king do as I say, Okay!!!?"
(From the book "Unlimited Access", by Clinton FBI Agent in Charge, Gary Aldrige, p. 139 - Hillary screaming at her Secret Service detail.)

"Many of you are well enough off that [President Bush's] tax cuts may have helped you. We're saying that for America to get back on track, we're probably going to cut that short and not give it to you. We're going to have to take things away from you on behalf of the common good."
(Hillary grandstanding at a fund raising speech in San Francisco; SFGate.com 6/28/2004.)

"Why do I have to keep proving to people that I am not a liar?!"
(From the book "The Survivor," by John Harris, p. 382 - Hillary in her 2000 Senate campaign)

"Where's the miserable c*ck sucker?"
(From the book "The Truth About Hillary" by Edward Klein, p. 5 - Hillary shouting at a Secret Service officer)

"No matter what you think about the Iraq war, there is one thing we can all agree on for the next days - we have to salute the courage and bravery of those who are risking their lives to vote and those brave Iraqi and American soldiers fighting to protect their right to vote."
(Was posted on Hillary Clinton's senate.gov web site on 1/28/05)

"Put this on the ground! I left my sunglasses in the limo. I need those sunglasses. We need to go back!"
(From the book "Dereliction of Duty" p. 71-72 - Hillary to Marine One helicopter pilot to turn back while en route to Air Force One.)

"A right-wing network was after his presidency...including perverting the Constitution."
(To Barbara Walters about the Republicans who impeached her husband; 20/20, ABC 6/8/2003.)

"Son of a bitch."
(From the book "American Evita" by Christopher Anderson, p. 259 - Hillary's opinion of President George W. Bush when she found out he secretly visited Iraq just days before her highly publicized trip to Iraq)

"What are you doing inviting these people into my home? These people are our enemies! They are trying to destroy us!"
(From the book "The Survivor" by John Harris, p. 99 - Hillary screaming to an aide, when she found out that some Republicans had been invited to the Clinton White House)

"I mean, you've got a conservative and right-wing press presence with really nothing on the other end of the political spectrum."
(C-Span, 1/19/1997 - Hillary complains about the mainstream media, which are all conservatives in her opinion)

"Come on Bill, put your dick up! You can't f**k her here!!"
(From the book "Inside The White House" by Ronald Kessler, p. 243 - Hillary to Gov. Clinton when she spots him talking with an attractive female at an Arkansas political rally)

"You know, I'm going to start thanking the woman who cleans the restroom in the building I work in. I'm going to start thinking of her as a human being" -Hillary Clinton
(From the book "The Case Against Hillary Clinton" by Peggy Noonan, p. 55)

"You show people what you're willing to fight for when you fight your friends."
(From the book "The Agenda" by Bob Woodward, ch. 14)

"We are at a stage in history in which remolding society is one of the great challenges facing all of us in the West."
(From the book "I've Always Been A Yankee Fan" by Thomas D. Kuiper, p. 119 - During her 1993 commencement address at the University of Texas)

"The only way to make a difference is to acquire power"
(From the book "I've Always Been A Yankee Fan" by Thomas D. Kuiper, p. 68 - Hillary to a friend before starting law school.)

"We just can't trust the American people to make those types of choices.... Government has to make those choices for people"
(From the book "I've Always Been A Yankee Fan" by Thomas D. Kuiper, p. 20 - Hillary to Rep. Dennis Hastert in 1993 discussing her expensive, disastrous taxpayer-funded health care plan)

"I am a fan of the social policies that you find in Europe" Hillary in 1996"
From the book "I've Always Been A Yankee Fan" by Thomas D. Kuiper, p. 76 - Hillary in 1996)

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