Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Is Clinton overqualified to be president? — Jonathan Bernstein (He's serious!)
The Malay Mail ^ | May 12, 2015 | Jonathan Bernstein

Posted on 05/11/2015 5:19:10 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

No one knows how Hillary Clinton will do as president, if she gets the chance.

But we do know she is probably the best qualified presidential candidate ever, at least when it comes to checking off relevant boxes. This comes up today because a writer for the Weekly Standard claimed she would be an “affirmative-action” president (an argument easily knocked down by Jonathan Chait at New York).

Let's go through her resume:

She has been a senator (for longer than Barack Obama was and longer than Rand Paul or Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio will have been in 2016). Remember, she also has experience on the House side, as a staff member of the Judiciary Committee during Watergate.

As for the executive branch, she was in the cabinet, in the front-line job as secretary of state. It's rare among modern presidents to have any such experience. She has also worked in the White House, as a top adviser to her husband when he was president.

While Clinton never served as a governor or state legislator, she had a formal role in planning education reforms in Arkansas when her husband was governor and helped sell them to the legislature.

More? She was involved with the Children’s Defense Fund at the state and national level for years, eventually becoming national chairwoman for several years. So check off the “interest groups” box.

She had a full career as a lawyer — as a partner in the Rose Law Firm, which, among other things, qualifies as a small business. No, she wasn't an executive at a big company anywhere, but she has been on the boards of Wal-Mart and other corporations.

As far as I know, she has no experience in local government. She hasn't been a judge or worked directly for the federal judiciary, although she has been around the courts enough. She hasn't had a formal position in the Democratic Party (unless I missed that), but she has been an important party actor for years.

All things being equal, I’d rather have a president who is familiar with the White House, the executive branch, both chambers of Congress, state government, interest groups and various private-sector companies.

Of course, things are rarely equal. People can debate how well she performed in all these jobs and positions, and take issue with her policies and views. The positive aspects of her resume alone won't likely be a deciding factor for voters in the Democratic primaries, let alone in a general election, where party is (quite properly) far more important.

Still, it isn't hard in presidential history to find huge failures stemming at least partly from inexperience, whether it was Bill Clinton’s awful transition or George W. Bush's deferenceto people in his administration who manipulated him, or Jimmy Carter’s inability to work with anyone in the federal government. Hillary Clinton, if she is elected, may not avoid making some of these mistakes, but no one will be able to blame them on a lack of experience.

In having what some political scientists call "presidential branch" experience, she is similar to vice presidents, who when they take on substantive roles do so as advisers to the president, rather than within an executive-branch department or agency.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: hillary; hillary2016; watergate
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-40 last
To: 2ndDivisionVet

The Malay Mail a/k/a the Malmail.


21 posted on 05/11/2015 5:55:33 PM PDT by AmericanVictory (Should we be more like them or they more like we used to be?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Where is the BARF alert?!


22 posted on 05/11/2015 5:58:26 PM PDT by GGpaX4DumpedTea (I am a Tea Party descendant...steeped in the Constitutional Republic given to us by the Founders)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

What is that awful smell?


23 posted on 05/11/2015 5:59:39 PM PDT by kaehurowing
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Flick Lives

Details, please!


24 posted on 05/11/2015 5:59:56 PM PDT by GGpaX4DumpedTea (I am a Tea Party descendant...steeped in the Constitutional Republic given to us by the Founders)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: faithhopecharity

“it might just force the D party to nominate an honest (and loyal) person ?”

Name just ONE such person in the D party! (By loyal, I assume you mean loyal American? Loyal to the Constitution (as written, not as judicially revised)


25 posted on 05/11/2015 6:03:54 PM PDT by GGpaX4DumpedTea (I am a Tea Party descendant...steeped in the Constitutional Republic given to us by the Founders)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

“she also has experience on the House side, as a staff member of the Judiciary Committee during Watergate.”

Which she was thrown off of for being a corrupt, lying bitch!


26 posted on 05/11/2015 6:10:36 PM PDT by Dr. Bogus Pachysandra (Don't touch that thing Don't let anybody touch that thing!I'm a Doctor and I won't touch that thing!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

She did nothing while she was a Senator and got four people killed and lost 6 billion dollars while Secretary of State.

Real success, there.

Sadly, it doesn’t matter how bad we think Hillary is, the GOP wants Jebster to lose graciously.


27 posted on 05/11/2015 6:24:14 PM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam, Know Peace)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ClearCase_guy

Primary Qualification:

UNUSED lady parts.


28 posted on 05/11/2015 6:25:16 PM PDT by Organic Panic
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Please list these qualifications ,LOL


29 posted on 05/11/2015 6:27:43 PM PDT by molson209 (Blank)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Bet this fool is on the Clinton Foundation beneficiaries list.


30 posted on 05/11/2015 6:33:43 PM PDT by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Still bitterly clinging to rational thought despite it's unfashionability)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

“But we do know she is probably the best qualified presidential candidate ever, . . . .”

More qualified when running for POTUS than the following?

George Washington
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
James Monroe
John Quincy Adams
Martin Van Buren
James K. Polk
Henry Clay
William Howard Taft
Calvin Coolidge
Dwight Eisenhower
Richard Nixon
George H.W. Bush


31 posted on 05/11/2015 6:45:06 PM PDT by Soul of the South (Yesterday is gone. Today will be what we make of it.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Jonathan Bernstein is obviously underqualified as a commentator!


32 posted on 05/11/2015 6:47:47 PM PDT by JimRed (Excise the cancer before it kills us; feed & Ifwater the Tree of Liberty! TERM LIMITS NOW & FOREVER!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Guess whose going to be invited to the next Clinton Foundation charity conference in Barbados?


33 posted on 05/11/2015 7:09:00 PM PDT by garjog (Obama: bringing joy to the hearts of Terrorists everywhere.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Excuse me! Best qualified? NOT!
She is under-qualified and lacking some of the following POTUS properties:

Leadership(NONE),
Accomplishments (NONE),
Every seat occupied(EMPTY)
Failure(MIDDLENAME)
Everything touched(BROWN)
Temper(TRUE)
Recall(NONE)

But Hillary was born female, has a birth certificate, talks to Eleanor Roosevelt, and is old enough to be Ted Cruz’s mother. Gee Wally, what could be better...


34 posted on 05/11/2015 7:54:16 PM PDT by Texicanus (Texas, it's like a whole 'nother country.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
Remember, she also has experience on the House side, as a staff member of the Judiciary Committee during Watergate.

Yeah, and she got fired from that job because of her lying incompetence.

She tried to subvert the Constitution by trying to prevent President Nixon from having legal representation during his trial.

35 posted on 05/11/2015 8:26:15 PM PDT by Slyfox (If I'm ever accused of being a Christian, I'd like there to be enough evidence to convict me)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet
In having what some political scientists call "presidential branch" experience, she is similar to vice presidents, who when they take on substantive roles do so as advisers to the president, rather than within an executive-branch department or agency.

Give me a flying fricking break!

Hillary is not similar to the vice president. She was the other half of the blue-plate special.

She ruled her husband's presidency as if she were the president. She made all the decisions. She hired all the staff.

The only thing that remotely connects her to the vice presidency is that she took Algore's office as her own in the West Wing. And, boy was he ever p!$$ed.

36 posted on 05/11/2015 8:33:55 PM PDT by Slyfox (If I'm ever accused of being a Christian, I'd like there to be enough evidence to convict me)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Warming various seats, spewing leftist tripe (Slang. something, especially speech or writing, that is false or worthless; rubbish) does not qualified make.


37 posted on 05/11/2015 8:34:22 PM PDT by rockinqsranch ((Dems, Libs, Socialists, call 'em what you will. They ALL have fairies livin' in their trees.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

I just feel sorry for lost souls like this. Maybe he smokes too much pot or his mom accidentally dropped him on his head as an infant. Idk.


38 posted on 05/12/2015 11:53:38 AM PDT by SaraJohnson
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Organic Panic

UNUSED lady parts.....Huma says...”KMA!! SHE did!!”


39 posted on 05/12/2015 12:05:32 PM PDT by Safetgiver ( Islam makes barbarism look genteel.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: 2ndDivisionVet

Next week: “Is Hillary a Goddess?”


40 posted on 05/12/2015 12:06:37 PM PDT by DungeonMaster (Of those born of women there is not risen one greater than John The Baptist.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-40 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson