Hillary Clinton
Candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination
by Beth Rowen
Only shades of difference distinguish the platforms of the top
contenders for the Democratic Presidential nomination, but Hillary Clinton
stands out in one respect: she’s the only candidate seeking a return
to the White House.
If Clinton is elected the country’s first
woman president in November 2008, she will add another first to her already
long list of accomplishments. Indeed, Clinton was the first student to speak
at Wellesley College’s commencement, the first female partner at
Arkansas’s prestigious Rose Law firm, the first First Lady to hold a
post-graduate degree, the first former First Lady to hold a seat in the U.S.
Senate, and the first former First Lady to run for president.
In the
months leading up to the primaries, Clinton consistently polled ahead of the
other Democratic candidates and beat them in the fundraising race. Many
Democrats, however, fear that Clinton cannot win a general election.
Clinton, once a darling of the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, has
moved to the center during her tenure in the Senate, but she remains a
deeply polarizing figure. It’s fair to assume that with Clinton as the
nominee, the general election would be among the most bruising in
memory.
Low-Profile Senator
In her run for the Senate in 2000,
Clinton visited every county in New York—part of her “listening
tour.” She successfully faced down the carpetbagger issue, and handily
defeated Rep. Rick Lazio, 55% to 43%, in the general election.
As a
freshman senator, Clinton assumed a bipartisan approach and a low profile.
It was not an easy feat. Imagine David Ortiz trying to avoid stealing the
limelight during a pickup ball game at the local field. Clinton got right to
work, taking assignments on several Senate committees, including the Armed
Services; Environment and Public Works; and Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions committees.
While remaining circumspect in the Senate,
Clinton put herself in full PR mode for the 2003 publication of her memoir,
Living History, which covered her eight years in the White
House.
Early Supporter of War in Iraq
In areas of national
security and international relations, Clinton initially supported the Bush administration—as did most Democrats after September 11, 2001. She
voted for the USA Patriot Act in October 2001 and to renew it in 2006.
(Clinton, however, helped draft a compromise bill that dealt with concerns
that the provisions in the bill violated civil liberties.) She also
supported 2002’s Iraq War Resolution that authorized President Bush to
use force in Iraq. While never expressing regret for the vote, Clinton has
said that she voted in favor of the resolution based on faulty intelligence
reports. She also supported military action in Afghanistan, which began in
October 2001 following the September 11 terrorist attacks.
On the home
front, however, Clinton opposed Bush’s tax cuts in 2001 and 2003,
calling them irresponsible. She also voted against the nominations of John
Roberts and Samuel Alito to the U.S. Supreme Court. She said Alito would
“roll back decades of progress and roll over when confronted with an
administration too willing to flaunt the rules.”
Easily
Reelected
Clinton breezed to victory in her reelection bid in 2006,
defeating former Yonkers mayor John Spencer, 67% to 31%. During her second
term, Clinton has consistently opposed Bush’s war strategy. She voted
against his surge of 20,000 troops to Iraq and in favor of a resolution that
required combat troops to be fully withdrawn by March 2008 (it failed). She
also voted against a war-funding bill that gave the Bush administration $100
billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Political
Shift
Clinton was born on October 26, 1947, in Chicago. As a
high-school student and during her first few years as a student at Wellesley
College, she was a staunch Republican. She campaigned for Barry Goldwater in
1964 and was a figurehead in the Young Republicans.
All the while,
Clinton was a passionate social activist who battled racism and worked with
children of migrant workers. The volatile events of the late 1960s led to
Clinton's change in political philosophy. She supported Eugene
McCarthy’s bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1968. A
year later, her controversial commencement speech at Wellesley landed her in
Life magazine, bringing the young woman from Illinois national
attention.
Champion of Children’s Rights
As a student at
Yale Law School, Clinton met two people who would determine the course of
her adult life. The first was civil rights lawyer Marian Wright Edelman, a
Yale alumna who headed the Washington Research Project (now known as the
Children's Defense Fund). Clinton spent a summer working for the project,
interviewing migrant workers and their families. She devoted the remainder
of her law-school education to studying the rights of children and much of
her professional career to championing the cause.
Love at first
sight
Clinton met Bill Clinton during her second year at Yale. As the
story goes, it was love at first sight. Both graduated in 1973 and
maintained a long-distance relationship until the fall of 1974, when she
turned down several offers from big-name firms and accepted a teaching post
at the University of Arkansas School of Law, where Bill had been teaching.
One of Hillary Clinton's first jobs after graduation put her in charge of
legal procedures for the special counsel of the Watergate investigation,
which ultimately led to President Nixon’s resignation.
A Name
for Herself
While Bill was building his political career in Arkansas,
Hillary was making a name for herself in legal circles. When Bill's election
as Arkansas attorney general in 1976 (not long after their marriage in 1975)
required them to move to Little Rock, Hillary taught at the University of
Arkansas and headed its legal-aid clinic.
She joined the Rose Law Firm
in 1977, and she continued to serve on several boards of directors of
children's advocacy organizations, including the Legal Services Corp. She
also established the Arkansas Advocates for Children and
Families.
Life in the governor’s mansion
Hillary didn't
give up her law career when Bill was elected governor in 1978. In 1980, she
became a partner at Rose and had her only child, Chelsea. The Clintons were
briefly ousted from the governor's mansion in 1980, but Bill came back,
winning elections in 1984, 1986, 1988, and 1990.
Bill appointed
Hillary to a series of high-level posts in his administration, including
head of the Arkansas Education Standards Committee (she used the post to
institute competency tests for teachers) and chairperson of the Rural Health
Advisory Committee. These were not instances of nepotism: Hillary had earned
herself national recognition for both her national service and her legal
skills. The National Law Review twice selected her as one of the most
influential lawyers in the country.
But even her experience as a
high-profile public figure could not prepare her for the intense public
scrutiny and press coverage that would chronicle her every move both on the
campaign trail and in the White House.
First Lady
In 1993
President Clinton appointed his wife the leader of his Task Force on
National Health Care Reform. While her ambition, thoroughness, and
methodology were widely praised, her plan to reform the $800 billion
industry screeched to a halt amid criticism that it was unrealistic as well
as idealistic.
In fact, Clinton's entire tenure as First Lady was a
rollercoaster ride, with the obvious marital problems, the health-care
reform fiasco, and widespread criticism from both liberal feminists and
conservatives. Feminists chided her for her stand-by-your-man reaction to
her husband's infidelities; conservatives, perhaps intimidated by her
intelligence and independence, criticized her hands-on role as co-President.
Hillary added fuel to the fire when she blamed the President's mounting
troubles on a “vast right-wing conspiracy.”
The
co-President issue may very well come up again if Hillary Clinton is elected
in 2008, but she will not bear the brunt of the criticism. Instead that will
fall on her husband—the First Gentleman, the First Spouse, or some
other name yet to be determined.
Information Please® Database, © 2007 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.
