Obama says Hillary's record as First Lady Counts As Experience

wyldwolf

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Thu Aug-23-07 07:11 AM
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Obama says Hillary's record as First Lady Counts As Experience

Pressed by Comedy Central's Jon Stewart last night to say whether he thinks Democratic rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's past as first lady gives her an "experience" advantage, Sen. Barack Obama said of Clinton that "she's a very capable senator ... she's very smart ... people rightly give her credit for having been a participant in the Clinton administration and for doing some heavy lifting on issues."

But a key issue, he said, is "do you have life experience that's going to help you make decisions?"

http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics/

Well, yes Obama, Clinton does... starting with the life experiences YOU JUST GAVE HER CREDIT FOR!

Clinton was politically active when you were just in grade school - and she has experience on both sides of the aisle.

She was the commencement speaker at Wellesley in 1969, chosen by her fellow students--there had never been a student commencement speaker there before. The scheduled speaker was Sen. Edward Brooke of Massachusetts, who Hillary had campaigned for, a Republican, the first black to be a member of the U.S. Senate in a hundred years. In his remarks he was patronizing, Hillary thought. He seemed to defend the Nixon administration's conduct of the war, and didn't mention the wrenching events of 68. When he finished, Hillary got up and extemporaneously excoriated him. As a result of that speech, she was featured in Life magazine as exemplary of this new generation of student leaders. They ran a picture of her in pedal pushers and her Coke-bottle glasses. That article made her well known in the student movement in the U.S.*

When she arrived at Yale, her reputation preceded her. It was perhaps greater than her real accomplishments. She was becoming a generational spokesperson, anointed by others. That's when she met Bill; at that point she was much more famous that he was. This was the year of the Black Panther trial in New Haven. She monitored the trial to see if there were any abuses of the rights of the Panthers on trial, and helped schedule the monitors. Her reports were turned over to the ACLU.*

That summer she went to work at the most important radical law firm in America at that point: Truehaft, Walker and Bernstein in Oakland. They defended the Panthers.*

After Yale she got a job on the staff of the House Watergate impeachment committee. *

She worked on Bill's congressional campaign, Governor campaigns, was first lady and the most investigated woman in American history. The rightwing slime machine gave her everything she had and she STILL beat them while in the White House, and in two Senate Campaigns.

Other candidates talk about Health care policy. She's walked through that fire.

And this is all in a nutshell. Her life experiences so eclipse those of Obama's there isn't even a real comparison.

So thank you, Obama! Your supporters aren't going to like that you count her years as First Lady as experience (they sure don't), but you've now given even more credibility to it.

(*from Alternet)