Wasn't it President Bill Clinton who said in the Presidential debates with President number 41, George Bush, that "there is good experience and there is bad experience"?
The following article, written by Dick Morris back in April speaks to exactly what Bill Clinton was talking about:
"HILLARY'S EXPERIENCE IS AT SURVIVINGBy Dick MorrisPublished on TheHill.Com on April 25, 2007. Polls suggest that the leading attribute attracting voters to Hillary'spresidential candidacy is her experience, a virtue which contrasts,presumably, with the lack of it in Senator Barack Obama, her chief rival. But a close examination of her record as first lady and as New York Senatorsuggests that her experience is largely in the avoidance of death byscandal. Were it to be captured in a television series, it would certainly not rise to the level of Commander In Chief and probably not even to that ofWest Wing. It would find its televised metaphor in the reality seriesSurvivor.Consider what her experience has been. She burst forth on the national stage with two tasks in her husband's administration: The selection of thenation's first female Attorney General and the design and adoption of acomprehensive program of health care reform. Her efforts to designate an Attorney General hamstrung the new Administration for months as twonominees, in succession, had to withdraw their names from consideration.Finally, at the eleventh hour, she urged her husband to appoint Florida's Janet Reno, a selection Bill Clinton would come to describe as my worstmistake. In the bargain, she suggested the appointment of Lani Guanier ashead of the civil rights division, a job she was shortly forced to relinquish when her radical views became known, another embarrassment forthe new Administration. Her other selections for the Justice Department,the White House staff and the Treasury were her three law partners: Web Hubbell, Vince Foster, and William Kennedy, appointments which culminated inone imprisonment, one suicide, and one forced resignation.Her other assignment, health care reform, collapsed in such a debacle that it cost her party control of both houses of Congress, a fate from which ittook twelve years to recover.Beyond these initial tasks, her main focus in the Administration was scandaldefense. From Jennifer Flowers to Whitewater to the FBI file affair to the travel office firings to her Commodities Market winnings to the missing RoseLaw Firm billing records to the Paula Jones scandal, she orchestrated theAdministration's defense against scandal allegations. In the process, she almost got herself indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice.And her advice in handling these matters was uniformly bad. It was Hillarywho counseled Bill not to settle the Paula Jones lawsuit even when the plaintiffs called for neither an apology nor payment and she who stonewalledthe release of Whitewater documents even when it led to the appointment of aspecial prosecutor. When the prosecutor whose appointment she had caused heard about the depositions in the Paula Jones case she had refused tosettle, the Monica Lewinsky scandal eventuated.During the period of 1995-1997, the period of the Clinton Administration'sgreatest achievements, she was nowhere to be seen, focusing instead on writing It Takes A Village, and on dodging criminal inquiry. She did notparticipate in the formulation of a balanced budget, nor in welfare reformlegislation, nor in the reduction of crime that stemmed from the 1994 anti-crime bill.Her experience continued when her race for the Senate and its aftermathbecame, in turn, mired in scandal. The pardon of the FALN terrorists to getLatino support in New York, that of the New Square Hassidim to get Hillary Jewish support, and the clemency shown toward Hillary's brothers' clients toget them financial support caused her ratings to plunge to their lowestlevel in March of 2001 as she took her Senate seat. The theft of White House gifts, almost $200,000 of which had to be returned, did nothing toendear her to the electorate.Since then, Hillary has done nothing of note in the Senate except to votefor the Iraq War, a position she has since disavowed, and to win the applause of her colleagues for not being partisan and obstinate. Her mainefforts have been directed at raising massive sums of money for herself andher colleagues and making a lot writing and selling her memoirs. Her efforts on behalf of New York after 9-11 have been exposed as largelyderivative of those of her colleague, the more effective Chuck Schumer.She has passed no important legislation, except for twenty bills renaming post offices and courthouses and congratulating Alexander Hamilton, ShirleyChisolm, Harriet Tubman, the American Republic, and the Syracuse men's andwomen's Lacrosse team on their respective accomplishments. Is this the experience upon which her candidacy is based?"
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Or maybe the "experience" she speaks of is the "yes" vote on the war resolution -- by the way
what is the count now of troops dead, wounded, and troops who have committed suicide because of the war?
Senator Barack Obama NEVER agreed this war was a good idea, said it was dumb,
is brilliantly advising now that we are there in Iraq, we must be as careful getting out as we were careless going in.
Senator Obama gives a fuller picture at:
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/
Bill Clinton was correct: there really is good experience and bad experience.
Good experience shows insight, wisdom, and says "no" to a dumb war.
Bad experience pushes a green button in Congress and says "yes" to a war that should have never been authorized
and should never been waged.
For one to say they have "experience" may mean taking a closer look at just what KIND of "experience" to which they are referring.
All "experience" is not good experience; wisdom (http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/) is always good.
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