Most Popular Archives Shop
OKC, 77°F, Mostly Cloudy, Radar Loop | More Weather




View more >

Mon March 24, 2008

Dear diary: Clinton info much ado about not much

World Wide Web

 
 
Top Jobs
AddThis Social Bookmark Button

The Oklahoman Editorial
MORE than 11,000 pages of Hillary Clinton's daily schedules as first lady hit the streets last week, and early indications are that heightened expectations as to what the document dump might reveal were misplaced.

For example, they don't make or break Sen. Clinton's claim to be more experienced than her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama. After Clinton's heralded attempt to overhaul the nation's health care system stalled out in 1994, her schedule looked more like that of a traditional presidential spouse — visiting hospitals, schools and touristy attractions overseas.

Reporters who examined the schedules say they offer few clues about what she did on her husband's most critical days in the White House. They provide no detail about Whitewater or other Clinton-era trouble spots; matters considered private by archivists were redacted.

The health care overhaul certainly was Clinton's high-water mark as first lady. Schedule documents show that just three days after her husband's inauguration in January 1993, she started holding meetings with aides to organize the effort. "Looking at the '93 documents, especially early on, you would have thought you were looking at a president's schedule,” Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, told The Washington Post. "Things seemed to calm down after the health-care thing blew up in their faces. She stepped back.”

Even so, Candidate Clinton asserts she was involved in a number of important policy initiatives, including the Northern Ireland peace agreement. Participants differ on her role in that, and the scheduling documents don't settle the argument.

Our guess is regular Americans who examine the documents themselves will be left wondering why anyone expected much from them in the way of revelation about Sen. Clinton and, given the dearth of meaty information, why they took so long to release.

Multi Page