Hillary Clinton: Tested in a Crisis

Much has been written recently about Hillary Clinton's ability to manage a crisis and she and her surrogates regularly tout her vast experience in this area. These bona fides were recently questioned in a Chicago Tribune piece. Here's what I learned when I read it: Yes, she was peripherally involved with the peace settlement in Northern Ireland. George Mitchell, the one who actually managed that particular crisis, said she was "Helpful." Others, (i.e. those not involved in her presidential campaign) considered her role be more, well... "ancillary."

As for Kosovo, where she is also claiming credit for crisis management, her visit apparently consisted of a one day drop-by in Bosnia where she was accompanied by Sheryl Crow, Sinbad, and Chelsea. Then there was Rwanda. Her role in that situation? Apparently she had a couple of things to say, but we will never know how she "managed" that one since the position of her husband's administration was to wring their hands. And I gather she is particularly proud of a speech she gave at a women's rights conference in Beijing -- although I'm not sure why she would cite a mere speech given the disdain she generally shows for the form and it's more gifted practitioners. Others with more of a bone to pick have said her vast international experience consists largely of riding elephants in eighty countries. Personally, I think that is unfair. However, an objective person would conclude Hillary Clinton has no more practical experience in this vital area than either Senator Obama, or her new best friend, Senator McCain.

But, wait! There is one area where she has vast experience in crisis management, and it is in the interest of national security that I raise it: her marriage to President Clinton. He has admitted that he behaved badly in their marriage. I think it is safe to assume that Monica Lewinsky was not the first person with whom he created...what? A crisis! The reality -- oh, you skeptics -- is that Hillary has vast experience dealing with crises. And how did she deal with that one? By throwing a lamp across the East Wing at the Leader of the Free World's head.

Please, Hillary-lovers, I am not saying her reaction was unjustified. I think Bill's
pizza-fueled, pants-around-his-ankles shenanigans were deplorable and ultimately set
progressive politics back a generation. But in terms of crisis simulation, he provided an
unintended boon to the nation.

Cut to 2009. It's 3:00 a.m. and it's a particularly bad one. North Korea is threatening to bomb the South, Pakistan has descended into chaos, Iran has attacked Israel. President Hillary Clinton answers the ringing red phone. As she says "Hello", she looks over her shoulder. Oh, no...where the hell is Bill? He said he'd be back from that fundraiser in New York by midnight. Then she barks into the receiver, "Damn it, what?!"

If Hillary Clinton is elected President, America can breathe a sigh of relief. She's already been tested.

And let's save Dolly Madison's White House china while there's still time.

Comments

[lincat]

did she really throw a lamp at Bill? I didn't know that. Yeah, I don't believe anything she says about her accomplishments anymore.

[superduperandy]

Could you just try to be a little objective? Hillary is a fighter and lets be real - nice speaches an "cooperation" don't produce effective bills which actually stand a chance of getting passed. Bullying and dirty tactics do! Machivelli's, "The Prince" is still the most practical and accurate description of the way politics must work despite the stupid optimism the the Obama coolaid-drinking zealots believe.
Here are some FACTS: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/20/201332/807

And can we grow up and stop demonizing Rove?

[KimberlyKay]

Are you being funny? The link that you posted is one that shows that Senator Obama achieved (and tried to achieve) much more than Senator Clinton. If you didn't read the whole link, you should. If you are being funny, well, it did work. I laughed when I clicked the link, read it and realized that the linked post actually shows Senator Obama has more political courage and authors more bills.

[jmengr]

So now Hillary has been tested in a crisis. She has fallen badly behind in the primary race.

And how did she react? She turned into Karl Rove. SHE FAILED THE TEST.

[BubbaC33]

Why is it almost every Obama supporter claims Ms. Clinton is using the Rove playbook when it is clearly Obama who has engaged those tactics. He lied about the strengths of Ms. Clinton's health care plan to cover the weaknesses of his inferior plan. He has used the scare tactics on Social Security developed in a right wing think tank for George W. Bush. He has branded the Clintons racists with a leaked memo, which is classis Rove. And when Obama supporters make their calim they are engaging in the Rove tactic of blaming your opponent for what you are doing yourself.

[lincat]

Why is is that you believe those are Obama's tactics and not Hillary's? I think that Hillary's actions speak for themselves.

[valleygent]

Many are starting to wake up to the Hillary Hoax, her false resume, her false positions, her track record of utter failure with Health care, and her disgusting bid for power in this race. Not to mention the fall of Bill Clinton's image as party father. Just watch the returns.

[jbatch]

Thank you, Seth. Sipping tea and giving tours of what Sorkin called "the dish room" isn't exactly experience for the free world to hang its hat on.

Now, the fact that she's cozying up to McCain, dissing her fellow Dem, and trying to pass off elephant rides as "experience" -- in adition to running a campaign that is not only negative, but chaotic and filled with infighting -- does tell us something.

She lacks leadership, managerial ability and most frightening, judgement.

Abe Lincoln didn't have much experience, but he was long on wisdom and judgement.

Obama's ability to put together smoothly running campaign from a standing start, suggests he has those attributes, too.

Maybe with Barack, there wouldnt be any 3 AM phone calls -- but there damn sure would be with Hillary.

Oh, and of course, there's that other thing -- Barack does better against McCain than she does.

Hmmmmmmmmm. No-brainer. It's gotta be Barack.

[HeadScratcher]

As one columnist in Ohio recently wrote:

'Hillary is the Evita of the Ozarks"

[Veeve]

Holy crap, that's brilliant. :-)

[ntmessage]

You can frame this debate any way you want but you cannot show one example that Obama has ever been able to demonstrate he has put his ass on the line for anything. At least Clinton has, and has the negatives to prove it, along with twice the national senatorial experience of Obama. Obama's Global experience is just a few months and has not even held a hearing on Afghanistan. Boy that really exudes confidence!

Of course, no one has the type of experience you describe since you need to be President for that. So just, lower the bar to just under President for a minute since all three are lacking in that small detail that makes your argument totally disingenuous.

To say that they are all equivalent is a stretch that easily breaks.

Everyone already knows that Clinton is not Dolly Madison and she was not your typical first lady. Just do a little research. To attack on this issue only backfires and makes Obama look even less prepared.

In the same vein and on the other hand we have nothing, zilch, nada to counter that Obama will be anything except the *Barney* president.

[HeadScratcher]

Guess what?

The ONLY person who has "Presidential Experience" is ......THE PRESIDENT!!!

Unless you've been in that chair, you can't claim to have it. You can aspire to it, you can be close to it, but you can't have it unless you've actually yourself sat in that position.

The question is who has the best JUDGEMENT to occupy that chair?

Based on everything I've seen, It's Obama.

[ntmessage]

Obama's conflated judgment amounts to a speech he gave against an uncontested seat until Keyes carpet bagged. This is not judgment unless there is a vote or consequences for his view.

So far, his judgment as a senator includes voting with Clinton on the war, no hearing on Afghanistan and two major foreign relations blunders in a week. And he isn"t even president yet!

[clevelandchick]

She hasn't put her ass on the line for anything. What a joke! She's spoken at conferences. She's nabbed directors' seats on non-profit and corporate boards as political favosr to her husband the governor/president. Hillary Clinton is a cardboard cutout of a candidate and hasn't done jack.

Her experience is completely superficial. No meat to it at all. Not ONE piece of legislation she has authored has become law let alone even make it out of a committee for a vote. The Irish Lord who won the Nobel Prize for bringing peace to Ireland called her claims of being a part of the whole thing as "a bit silly". She lies her ass off about her 'experience' and it's all coming out now. Thank God.

[ntmessage]

Please check your history. She went to bat for the entire country regarding Health Care. She made a decision to stick with her husband after complete embarrassment in public. These are just a couple of examples of her character as all were political challenges that she has paid the price for.

Obama loses until he can give someone a reason to vote for him as oppose to against someone else. There continues to be no tangible reason to do so.

Again, you simply prove the point when you attack Hillary since Obama, by any measure has significantly less National and Global experience of ANY kind.

[KimberlyKay]

Senator Obama put his butt on the line when he opposed the Iraq war in 2002 -- try and remember how the media and most of us were cheerleading for that war. Try and remember that Senator Obama's opposition could have cost him any hope of national office. Remember Senator Max Cleland (R-Ga).

Senator Obama put his butt on the line when he took up the reform of the broken death penalty system in Illinois. The death penalty system that had incarcerated at least 12 innocent people. Few politicians wanted to touch this, but Senator Obama took it up and reformed the system.

There is alot more. Senator Obama is constantly putting his butt on the line. He speaks against homophobia everywhere he goes. He speaks against immigrant-bashing, both undocumented and legal. He speaks against hate, intolerance and bigotry. No, Senator Obama doesn't put his butt on the line just once or twice -- he does it everyday.

[MsWrite]

Hasn't anyone ever heard the saying, "Learned at his father's knee" or something like that? Gaining experience on how to and how not to handle a crisis as president could have been more esoteric for Clinton as she watched Bill Clinton handle the many international crises that arose during the '90s. It strikes me as interesting how literally people have taken Clintons experience claims so much so that they refuse to acknowledge that just being there either in the room with the advisors or in the private residence speaking with her husband might have given her a perspective on what to do in a dire situation.

I'm not privy to that information as my White House credentials have still not been granted - as they haven't for most people here who seem to think they know the motives and inner thoughts of both Clintons. But, I'm fairly certain that just like I learn things from the people around me that Ms. Clinton learned quite a bit during her years in the White House either in her role as First Lady as well as wife to Bill.

Naysayers may point to the duties of the First Lady and say their is no diplomacy involved, but I strongly disagree. Every wife who has ever helped her husband win the presidency is a politial powerhouse in her own right. All you have to do is listen to them as the stump for their husbands during the elections. They have to have a clear understanding of their husband's policies and talking points in order to convey them to voters.

Do you honestly imagine that those instincts and abilities are simply cut-off once they become First Lady? Is it so improbable that during a diplomatic visit that First Ladies might lobby their foreign counterpart on issues important during the visit? Or perhaps ease strained relations by developing a relationship with the wife of a foreign leader?

Power, especially political power, is wielded in a variety of ways and through countless methods. Isn't possible that Clinton's claims of experience could be based on less obvious dealings and not as the "official" member of a negotiating team? Isn't it also possible that in sitting and talking with policy makers such as Madeline Albright, Colin Powell and members of Congress that Clinton learned a great deal about how to handle world leaders?

[efranklin]

She could always blame the incoming North Korean missles on her old standby: the vast right wing conspiracy. Or her fallback scapegoat, the biased media.

[inmyhumbleopinion]

How many working people do you know who keep calm, cool and collected when the s**t hits the fan at the office, but when they're at home in a safe place vent their outrage and frustration? The point is, you can't equate a personal crisis like serial infidelity with a professional crisis during which it's understood one has to keep a level head and some distance.

Let's stop looking for reasons to disqualify two very qualified candidates. This will be a tight race until the end, and it behooves us all to stop nit-picking.

[TruthStar9]

I read these and many other posts, and I wonder about the "intellectual discourse" of this nation, on any subject.
It will be a wonderful day when we fully evolve as a species.
This is a crucial time for and within this nation. Yet, one would hardly think so by such child-like responses and reactions to this fact.

[thebirdstheword]

The problem is, those that we should be having this "intellectual discourse" over, are, for the most part, acting like children themselves.

What's worse, we are talked to by our political parties as if we are children. They play to our fears (3am ad, bringing up Ken Starr, etc.) or gloss over the real problems that our country faces. If people are treated as children, they will respond as such.

[thebirdstheword]

I have to laugh to keep from crying.

[thebirdstheword]

I saw that Bjork shouted "Tibet, Tibet" at the end of a concert in China recently. With those credentials, she'd make a great Sect. of State.

Hell, while we're at it, we might as well crown Angelina Jolie as "Emperor of the Universe"

[queerbodhi]

Ms. Jolie would be "Empress of the Universe," actually.

She may be bi, but she's not a guy.

[CBS]

Somehow I doubt Bill will be sharing the Presidential bed because Obama and Michelle will be in it. Hillary will be doing god knows what and Bill will be doing the usual. They have become our Duke and Duchess of Windsor, a pathetic couple clinging to each other and the "good old days." Cue up Fleetwood Mac as they disappear over the horizon and hopefully out of our lives forever.

[KQuark]

You got that right.

[4Hope]

AHHHH! LOL! although it still makes me mad they ruined a perfectly good F.Mac song for me.
Although, I enjoyed your post, Mr. Greenland, I have to respectfully disagree...how exactly did she 'manage' the crisis of her husband's unzipped junk disease? She turned her back, she made excuses, she didn't insist that he get help - we call that enabling. And you can bet he's just itching to get back in the White House & prowl those halls again - how do you think President Hillary would handle that?

[ScandalousCandice]

In my personal opinion the marriage argument or so called experience is bunk. And before people start to blast me, these are personal opinions. Not facts. I stated that the last time I posted something along these lines and still people choose to yell at me about not having the facts. So please understand that.

I honestly think that the first time Bill cheated on her she got burned really badly. I think after that it became tactical. She worked this out and in her head. And after Lewinsky, I think she looked him dead in his eye and said I am not going to embarrass you with a divorce, but you will do everything in your power to get me either the Senate or even the white house itself. Again the first time was probably the only time she allowed herself to be hurt. And lets face it, Bill has had many "cigar" moments in his past. I cannot imagine anything less from Hillary. And that isn't to be a jerk, but it's because she hasn't proved herself beyond a calculating ice queen.

[dawlishgal]

I feel sort of the same way. Either she cares about his philandering or she doesn't. If she does care, then it could prove a distraction from her presidential obligations (if, indeed, she is elected). If she doesn't care, isn't her staying with him just another illustration of her expediency and her lack of self-respect.

The thing that sticks in my mind about their previous presidencies is their utter recklessness when they knew full well that the mood of the country was changing to dittoheadland and that there was an ongoing well-financed total scrutiny of their behavior . And he dropped his pants in the oval office even though he knew it could bring him down. His choice of a bimbo to mess with and the oval office to boot has got to be close to the acme of recklessness. And how can anybody who trusted them enough to have voted for them twice deny that his recklessness was disrespectful of them, their trust, and their votes? And her pretending that she had misplaced those law records....then all of sudden she finds them. Unbelievable. But, as somebody said on another article here, we chose to close our eyes to the evidence, chose to believe and defend them then because the alternatives were worse.

Well, the alternative is no longer worse. Time for former Clinton supporters to wake up and smell the fumes of their recklessness and corruption.

[frustratedinohio]

Oh, how funny are you? Did you really think that up all by yourself? I have to give you credit. There were probably a lot of people who wanted to base an entire post on something so juvenile, so 7th grade, but they just didn't have the guts to do it. But you, you were immature enough to actually do it. And all by yourself. That's a big boy!

[crypticpro]

An ad hominem argument, also known as argumentum ad hominem (Latin: "argument to the man", "argument against the man") consists of replying to an argument or factual claim by attacking or appealing to a characteristic or belief of the person making the argument or claim, rather than by addressing the substance of the argument or producing evidence against the claim. The process of proving or disproving the claim is thereby subverted, and the argumentum ad hominem works to change the subject.
From Wikipedia.

[TruthStar9]

Right-on Crypticpro!

[StephenJK]

Who is debating without using "argumentum ad hominem"? Pretty much no one.

[Schnitzel]

The sad thing is you really can't make stuff like this up!

The Joke's on you Poopsie!