The Curious Math of Hillary's "35 Years of Experience"

Hillary Clinton keeps talking about her 35 years of experience. "I am offering 35 years of experience making change," she said in New Hampshire. "I'm not just running on a promise of change, I'm running on 35 years of change." And she repeatedly mentioned the 35 years again in this week's debate in Las Vegas.

Well, Senator Clinton, I'm confused. I've done the math. You're 60, which means that 35 years ago you were 25. And I Googled your name, looking for all the change you were making as a 25 year old and, frankly, I'm not finding much. You were going to Yale Law School at the time -- which I'm sure was a personally transformative experience, but it's hardly the kind of change that should count on one's Presidential Training Experience resume, is it? Is that when you started your personal Working-for-Change-O-Meter?

That summer, the summer of 1972, you campaigned in Texas for George McGovern's unsuccessful presidential bid. A worthy -- if ultimately futile -- endeavor to be sure, but a notch on your Years of Change belt? Kind of a stretch, don't you think?

But as liberal as you are with your Experience Arithmetic, you are awfully stingy when it comes to the experience and background of Barack Obama.

"He was a part-time state senator for a few years," you recently said of Obama, "and then he came to the Senate and immediately started running for president," she said. "And that's his prerogative. That's his right. But I think it is important to compare and contrast our records."

For starters, the state senate in Illinois is not a full-time job, but you make it sound like he was some kind of political temp worker, just filling in when someone called in sick. But leaving that aside, why is it that you get to count your time canvassing for McGovern as working for change, but Obama's time as a community organizer and public housing advocate aren't worthy of mention? And what about his time at Harvard Law (where he was the first black president in the history of the Harvard Law Review)? Doesn't count? But your time at Yale Law does? In the now immortal words of your husband: Give me a break.

I know you are good person who is devoted to public service. But that doesn't absolve you of the responsibility to not distort your record. And to not distort the record of your opponent.

Your 35 years talking point just doesn't add up.

Comments

[Anastasia]

Re Hillary's statement: "and then he came to the Senate and immediately started running for president."

Didn't Hillary do the same thing?

[shimanskyr]

Hillary has been a change agent since 1969 when Life Magazine profiled as someone who spoke for her generation when she gave an anti war speech at her Wellesley commencement. Hillary has been a change agent fot 39 years.

[greejambri]

Why aren't Edwards and Obama calling her on this 35 years experience crap!!! Obama has held elected office longer than she has!

[cminmd]

Mack 20- You are the one who needs to read up on history. Dems passed Civil Rights Legislation and a Dem president signed it into law. While some Republican votes were needed to get over the bar, it was majority Dem in both houses that got the legislation passed.
Senate-
Democrats 46 for, 21 against
Republicans 27 for, 6 against
In the House of Representatives-
Democrats 152 for, 96 against
Republicans 138 for, 34 against

Sorry, reality doesn't change because your party wound up on the jerky side of history.

[cseper]

Don't let anyone forget..the negative attacks began with Obama when he announced the week before the Philadelphia debate that he would start being more aggressive. This is a matter of public record..not opinion.

If Obama is nominated he will lose and another 4 years of Republican mis-management of our country is guaranteed. At the rate he is attacking Clinton, she might be too damaged to win.

[TishiJo]

Hillary Clinton claims thirty-five years of experience. Hmmm. That takes you back to 1973, when Hillary was in law school.
Going by years spent as an elective official, Obama's 12 years exceeds Clinton's seven, which in turn exceeds Edwards' six.
Clinton emphasizes in particular her profound experience in foreign policy. During her husband's two terms in office, Hillary Clinton did not hold a security clearance, did not attend meetings of the National Security Council, and was not given a copy of the president's daily intelligence briefing. One wonders how she would lead the country if God forbid, her husband would die of a heart attack?
If Clinton continues to build her campaign on the dubious foundation of government experience, it shouldn't be very difficult for her GOP opponent to pull that edifice down. After 25 years in Congress, John McCain, for example, could easily make Hillary look like an absolute fraud!

[xcrunner77]

Amen, brother.

We don't even know what she did during her 8 years as White House hostess because she won't release any of those records. The one thing we do know is that Hillary Clinton screwed up any chance of health care reform for a decade. That was her first act of national leadership.

I'd also like to know exactly what she has done for blacks and Latinos. It seems that because Bill was the first President to act like he actually gave a damn about non-white voters beyond just their votes, that's the same thing as having done a lot for those communities. Is that really all it takes to get minority votes, five seconds of Bill being nice to you?

Let's have some specifics, Hillary.

[foolchild0]

Cheers to the post. Hillary's "experience" is the most troubling distortion of this campaign, especially considering that Dodd, Biden, Richardson, Kucinich, and Gravel all had more than her but were never taken seriously as candidates, and this bubble's got to get popped in the name of the truth more than anything else.

[jesstickles]

I JUST COPIED AND PASTED THIS BUT WHOEVER WROTE THIS IS DEAD ON!!!!!!!!

Hillary is the poster girl for capitalism.

If you like increasing prices of food, vote Hillary.

If you like the price of gasoline and heating oil, vote Hillary.

If you like the price of health insurance, vote Hillary.

If you value war over education, vote Hillary.

If you value media and corporate consolidation of our public airwaves, vote Hillary.

If you want pesticides in your food and cloned beef and milk, vote Hillary.

If you prefer lobbyist and corporate influence to grassroots citizen democracy, vote Hillary.

Sleep well America, let the dream continue.

[Themo]

Ari. Why don't you just list the accomplishments of all the candidates and be done with it. No controversy. Is Hillary counting all the advocacy and voluntary work she might have participated in while she was in school? What about their respective voting records in the respective bodies of legislation they served in? Facts, my son, facts.

[Mack20]

Finally a post at THP that admits the painful truth: neither one of the democratic candidates possess experience, leadership or new ideas. The discussion tonight is which candidate has the greater lack of experience. Barack's resume includes being the first black elected president of The Harvard Law Review. Another experience builder is when he gave the keynote address at the 2004 convention. This invisible track record seems to help him. He has very little baggage to haul around like Mrs. Bill.

Hillary, on the other hand, has plenty of experience managing the many bimbo eruptions that have occurred in her strange marriage to former President Slick Willy. She must be a devout Christian to unfailingly and consistently forgive Bill's numerous transgressions.
And we need her experience to solve the current mortgage crisis. After all, she made her first mortgage payment just 8 short years ago when she began carpet bagging her way into the Senate.

Good luck to you democratic voters. The choice between the lesser of two inexperienced liberals will be difficult.

[nazirmo]

Obama may be leading in polls but the fact is that recently he said that =
he did not want his staff to give him any paper until 2 seconds for fear =
he would lose it. He also said that he was not a chief operating officer =
and said that being President is not making sure that schedules are =
being run properly.
In contrast Hillary responded on the MSNBC debate that she would lead =
from day 1.
With the kind of comments from Obama above his he =
really suitable for the highest job ?

[midtown]

13 years in the Rose Law Firm?

[newyorknewyork]

I'm glad we finally got someone in the media who can add.

Or should I say SUBTRACT?

[TJS]

Hillary's years on Corporate Boards of companies like Walmart, which she earned by virtue of her marriage to then-Governor Bill, should count for a few years...let's be generous and give her 5. Then there's her time as First Lady. It's unofficial, but let's give her a half-year for every year of Bill's Presidency. That's another 4 years. Then her big card...8 years in the Senate. That's 17 years. Using the Clinton Magic Math, you double it (34) and add a year for good measure...and there you have it, 35 years of experience!