Records of Clinton's early days as First Lady to be released

The National Archives is set to release thousands of pages of documents from Hillary Clinton's early days as First Lady.

Good for Judicial Watch for suing to get the records released:

The daily schedules are the focus of a lawsuit filed by Judicial Watch, a conservative public interest group, against the archives seeking the release of the former first lady's records, including phone logs and other files. Judicial Watch has also sued separately in federal court seeking the release of documents related to a White House task force on health care that Clinton headed as first lady.

The archives has asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit over task force records or delay the documents' release for at least a year. The archives has asked a federal judge to delay the release of her telephone logs for one to two years. [AP]

Clinton has cited her service as First Lady as evidence of substantive political experience that her primary opponent lacks. I don't know how much weight to give those claims until I see what she actually did in the job.   

I'm sure that being First Lady would be valuable experience for a future president in some respects. For example, as FLOTUS, Clinton frequently represented her country abroad, albeit in a ceremonial capacity. Neither of her opponents have that kind of practical, quasi-diplomatic exposure.

The scheduling records will likely paint a mundane picture of Clinton's day-to-day work. First Lady is, after all, a ceremonial position. Expect the records of Clinton's attempt to build a health care plan to provide more information about Clinton's priorities and leadership style. 

Proximity to power is not equivalent to experience. If it were, Tim Russert could be president.

Comments

[Jack]

Okeydokey. I'm gonna wade in here with a loaded question, first touched on and nudged by my beloved wife:

I'm not clear on how Clinton's experience is so far superior to Obama's. To put it, ahem, a tad less delicately: How does being publicly humiliated by the revelation that your Frat-Boy Husband couldn't keep his trousers zipped in private with a zaftig intern qualify you for the presidency?

I don't see it. I don't see it at all. I see a robotized female Democrat version of John McCain: "I've earned it, it's MY turn."

[Lindsay Beyerstein]

I'm undecided. It all depends what Clinton did as First Lady--which is why I'm eager to see what the records hold.

Clinton's experience as First Lady counts for something in my book. I just doubt it's the trump card she likes to imply.

As FLOTUS she gained valuable experience representing the US abroad. Albeit in a ceremonial position. It's like having been an high profile ambassador.

Access to power is not the same as experience. I didn't think that GWB was more more qualified to be president because his father was.

[parse]

Jack, can you point to one error ever committed by a president who had been publicly humiliated by the revelation that his/her Frat-Boy Husband couldn't keep his trousers zipped in private with a zaftig intern?

I didn't think so.

[Ted Powell]

Jack: "How does being publicly humiliated ... qualify you for the presidency?"

Are you aware of any Clinton supporter having made such a claim, or are you just seeking to be nasty?

[The Phantom]

Ted

I believe that billions of Hillary supporters have made that claim.

[Pennant]

NBC has a quick early review based on some peeks at important events in the Clinton years. It seems like a mixed bag but overall more a drawback than an asset.

While it would seem that there is some truth that she participated in foreign policy exercises, the scope seems much more limited than she has implied in the past. The resume has some meat scraps in between a lot of white bread.

Her participation in "private meetings" on Dec. 22, 2000 also raises some questions given what Jim Popkin points out happened on that day.

While it will be interesting to see what comes out of more detailed analyses of the journals, this preliminary analysis appears to seriously weaken her claims of having substantive foreign policy experience and being more prepared to answer 3AM phone calls when compared to Obama. Some of the openings that it leaves for McCain and the Republican spin machine in a general election matchup seem pretty wide, and just because Obama hasn't shown propensity to go for that jugular doesn't protect it from the right-wing pundits.

It will be interesting to see if Hillary deals as well with the fallout from these records as Obama dealt with the Wright controversy.

[Matt Austern]

I don't think that Clinton has billions of supporters, actually. Millions, yes. But there are only about 6.6 billion people in the world, and not all of them are adults, and not all of the adults have any reason to have heard of US politicians, and not all of the people who have heard of Clinton support her. I wouldn't be astonished to learn that Clinton had as many as a billion supporters, but billions, plural, would be quite a stretch.

[The Phantom]

Matt

Only kidding!

[The Phantom]

I'm reminded of the outlandish viewership claims that the NFL makes about their stupid Super Bowl. I think that they claim that over a billion watches it. I don't think that anywhere close to that number is watching the stupid match.