Earlier today, I was reading the comments section of an article about Hillary Clinton.
One of the commenters mentioned that, in his/her opinion, Hillary Clinton did not have any accomplishments. And another – obviously a Clinton supporter, berated this person by sarcastically telling him/her to google “Hillary Clinton accomplishments” and see how many there are.
Well, that struck me as a pretty good idea. So I did it. And one of the first web sites it brought me to, not at all surprisingly, was hillaryclinton.com.
So I clicked to see what the Clinton campaign itself had to say about this.
And here – in its entirety (sorry for the length) is the entire writeup….in rust, with my comments in blue:
Over her decades-long career in public service, Hillary has taken on her share of tough fights. Here are just a few of the biggest things she’s accomplished.
- FOUGHT FOR CHILDREN AND FAMILIES FOR 40 YEARS AND COUNTING.
After law school, Hillary could have gone to work for a prestigious law firm, but took a job at the Children’s Defense Fund. She worked with teenagers incarcerated in adult prisons in South Carolina and families with disabled children in Massachusetts. It sparked a lifelong passion for helping children live up to their potential. Actually, she went to work for the Rose Law Firm….and rose to partner and senior partner coincidentally with her husband becoming Arkansas’ Attorney General, then Governor. I agree it wasn’t very prestigious, because the Rose Firm turned out to be quite the shady enterprise. That said, I am happy that she cares about children – which I do not deny. But do you see any substantive accomplishment there? A program? Legislation? Something? anything? Me neither.
2. HELPED PROVIDE MILLIONS OF CHILDREN WITH HEALTH CARE.
As first lady of the United States, Hillary fought to help pass health care reform. When that effort failed, she didn’t give up: Hillary worked with Republicans and Democrats to help create the Children’s Health Insurance Program. CHIP cut the uninsured rate of American children by half, and today it provides health care to more than 8 million kids. Hillary Clinton did fight for CHIP. She didn’t write the legislation or shepherd it through congress – how could she as First Lady – but she had enough of a hand in it to say she was part of the reason it passed. Thin gruel as accomplishments go, but this one I’ll give her partial credit on.
3. HELPED GET 9/11 FIRST RESPONDERS THE HEALTH CARE THEY NEEDED.
When terrorists attacked just months after Hillary became U.S. senator from New York, she worked to make sure the 9/11 first responders who suffered lasting health effects from their time at Ground Zero got the care they needed. What does “she worked to make sure” mean? What did she actually do? Many members of congress worked for this goal, no more or less than Ms. Clinton did. No accomplishment here.
4. TOLD THE WORLD THAT “WOMEN’S RIGHTS ARE HUMAN RIGHTS.”
Standing in front of a U.N. conference and declaring that “women’s rights are human rights” was more controversial than it sounds today. Many within the U.S. government didn’t want Hillary to go to Beijing. Others wanted her to pick a less polarizing topic (you say polarizing, we say half the population). But Hillary was determined to speak out about human rights abuses, and her message became a rallying cry for a generation. She made a speech? This is an accomplishment? Oh, brother. Next.
5. STOOD UP FOR LGBT RIGHTS AT HOME AND ABROAD.
As secretary of state, Hillary made LGBT rights a focus of U.S. foreign policy. She lobbied for the first-ever U.N. Human Rights Council resolution on human rights and declared that “gay rights are human rights.” And here at home, she made the State Department a better, fairer place for LGBT employees to work. Lobbying for a UN resolution – non binding and with nothing to force any behavioral change on any country – is an accomplishment? Only if you don’t have any and are trying, desperately to materialize one out of thin air.
6. HELPED EXPAND HEALTH CARE AND FAMILY LEAVE FOR MILITARY FAMILIES.
Hillary worked across the aisle to expand health care access for members of the National Guard and reservists—making sure those who served and their families had access to health care when they returned home. And she worked to expand the Family Medical Leave Act, allowing families of those wounded in service to their country to take leave in order to care for their loved ones. Yes she did. So did many others. So what was the name of that major bill she sponsored and got passed which expanded health care access? And the minor ones? The answer is nothing and nothing, because there is not one piece of legislation to back this absurd “accomplishment” claim up.
7. NEGOTIATED A CEASEFIRE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND HAMAS.
As our nation’s chief diplomat, Hillary didn’t back down when the stakes were high. As Hamas rockets rained down on Israel, Hillary went to the region immediately. Twenty-four hours after she landed, a ceasefire went into effect—and that year became Israel’s quietest in a decade. Yes, Hillary Clinton met with Israeli, Palestinian Arab and Egyptian leaders and was instrumental in getting them to agree on a “peace” deal. But the “deal” forced Israel to ease restrictions on building supplies which, instead of being used for infrastructure in Gaza, were diverted to build the terror tunnels that culminated in a huge blow-up of hostilities two years later. Read all about it here. That’s some helluvan “accomplishment”.
All these years in the public eye, and that is the length and breadth of Hillary Clinton’s “accomplishments.
This is supposed to impress us?
You’re kidding, right?
