California Conservative

I wish that were the case but it isn’t. That said, Obama delivered a hard blow to Hillary’s chin if this Mo Dowd column can be believed. Here’s what I’m talking about:

Making an economic speech in Knoxville, Iowa, earlier that day, the New York senator had touted her own know-how, saying that “there is one job we can’t afford on-the-job training for, that’s the job of our next president.” Her aides confirmed that she was referring to Obama.

Pressed to respond, Obama offered a zinger feathered with amused disdain: “My understanding was that she wasn’t Treasury secretary in the Clinton administration, so I don’t know exactly what experiences she’s claiming.”

If Hillary wants to claim credit fo running the Clinton War Room, I’m ok with that. If she wants to claim credit for the various appointments to second-tier DOJ jobs, most of whom didn’t make it through, I’ll stipulate to that. If she want to take credit for the Clinton economic policies, I’ll laugh in her face. Tony Blankley’s latest Townhall column pokes fun at her experience claim, too:

What plausible claim does Miss Hillary have to experience in managing a national
economy, balancing a budget or fixing income inequality? Even on health care, according to her husband, the aspiring “first louse (he wants to be called first laddie, but I think the derivation from first spouse works better) claims that she didn’t have much to do with Hillary Care — it was his fault.

Is the national media actually going to accept without even a murmur of skepticism Hillary Clinton’s claim to possess all the experience gained by her husband as president? If Obama (or for that matter any other candidate in either party) were to claim such experience, a reporter might well ask him on what basis he claims such experience.

Hillary’s only policy experience was a flop. Hillarycare didn’t singlehandedly deliver the House majority into GOP hands for the first time in 40 years but it would’ve had the House not gotten caught with the House Banking Scandal and House Post Office scandal.

That’s the only real policy experience she’s had. It was a disaster.

If I were advising a candidate who was running against her, I would lay into her loudly and often with a challenge to her claim of experience. If she actually was managing the national economy from 1993-2000 from her perch as wife of the president, let her release White House documents showing her active participation in such management. When I worked in the Reagan White House, I wrote hundreds of memos on my areas of responsibility. There was a paper trail. If Hillary actually was doing what she implies she was doing, there will be a long paper trail of memos that she either wrote or commented upon.

EXACTLY!!! Hillary’s claims of being the experienced candidate in the race would be more believeable if she showed documented proof of that alleged experience. If she’s claiming this great experience, she should produce proof of it. Al Gore didn’t have a right to claim credit for Bill Clinton’s economic successes because the credit rightfully goes to Bill Clinton and LLoyd Bentsen, to his successor Robert Rubin. That said, Al Gore had more right to claim his experience than Hillary.

The ‘invested in Hillary media’ wants to give her a pass on this, that’s their right. Rational people won’t give her a pass, though. These days, we’re too into the accountability and credibility thing to blindly accept Hillary’s claims without doing our due diligence first. Here’s another quote that can’t make Hillary’s advisers happy:

“She hasn’t accomplished anything on her own since getting admitted to Yale Law,” wrote Joan Di Cola, a Boston lawyer, in a letter to The Wall Street Journal this week, adding: “She isn’t Dianne Feinstein, who spent years as mayor of San Francisco before becoming a senator, or Nancy Pelosi, who became Madam Speaker on the strength of her political abilities. All Hillary is, is Mrs. Clinton. She became a partner at the Rose Law Firm because of that, senator of New York because of that, and (heaven help us) she could become president because of that.”

Hillary knows that she wouldn’t have a serious chance at winning the White House if there hadn’t been a President Bill Clinton. What real credentials does Hillary have? She’s touted as the “smartest woman in the world” but that’s just opinion. What proof do we have of that? Ms. Di Cola makes a great point in citing DiFi’s experience as running San Francisco.

Things are changing now that we’re drawing close to the Iowa Caucuses. Media scrutiny appears to be ramping up. Thus far, I haven’t seen Hillary’s offer of proof that she’s presidential material. Her most memorable moments thus far are her fumbling a simple question about whether illegal immigrants should be issued drivers licenses and her planting questions with the audience.

That isn’t exactly the best thing to be remembered for.

Technorati Tags: Hillary, Hillarycare, Clintonomics, Robert Rubin, Lloyd Bentsen, Obama, Dianne Feinstein, Experience, Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Election 2008

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 21st, 2007 at 8:42 am and is filed under Author: Gary Gross, Economy, Election 2008, Feinstein, Health Care, Hillary, Pelosi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.