Group Pushes for Release of Clinton’s First Lady Phone Logs
WASHINGTON — Hillary Rodham Clinton’s early job as health care policymaker gave way during the remainder of her years as first lady to a more traditional, restricted role, according to thousands of pages of calendars outlining her activities in the White House. While her influence clearly waned after the collapse of a national health care initiative, Clinton became part of the public face of her husband’s administration, on issues from foreign policy to domestic legislation.
Among the documents released Wednesday by the National Archives: stage directions during the 1996 presidential campaign for a bill signing ceremony on legislation to protect workers’ health insurance. “HRC will not have a role but will be seated in the front row,” the schedule states.
The calendars reflect her extensive itineraries abroad, a record she has used in the presidential campaign to demonstrate readiness for office.
But while Clinton engaged in substantive meetings with foreign leaders over the eight years, the overseas events are heavy with more traditional appearances by a first lady.
The schedules show her meeting other political wives, having lunch with prominent women, touring cathedrals and hospitals and engaging in various ceremonial duties in trips to Japan, Russia and other countries.
The schedules showing Clinton’s engagement on a wide range of matters are an outline and don’t reflect phone calls or impromptu strategy sessions, says her presidential campaign.
Those phone calls were at issue Thursday in federal court in Washington. A conservative group that won release of the calendars was pushing for release of 20,000 pages of the former first lady’s phone logs.
The National Archives estimates it will take at least one to two years before it can begin processing the phone logs and offers no estimate on a release date. The archives is asking a federal judge for a halt to the processing of any additional records in the case, citing limited resources and other requests it says must be processed in a fair and orderly manner.
“Under the law, these phone records should have been released two years ago,” said Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, the group that succeeded in getting the calendars released. “Voters shouldn’t have to wait two more years for these records of a presidential candidate.”
Clinton was an early champion of the North American Free Trade Agreement that she now criticizes. The schedules show her holding at least five meetings in 1993 aimed at helping to win congressional approval of the deal.
She also pushed NAFTA on multiple occasions, including one in November 1993 at a closed meeting with 120 expected participants. As a presidential candidate, she blames the pact for costing jobs and promises to renegotiate it.
The calendars raise at least as many questions as they answer about her statements in the campaign promoting her foreign policy experience.
For example, the calendars show that on problems in the Balkans, she met for 30 minutes in Washington on April 21, 1999, with the Macedonian ambassador to the United States, followed by her May 14, 1999, trip to the Balkans. What is unclear is whether that experience justifies her statement on the campaign trail that “I negotiated open borders to let fleeing refugees into safety from Kosovo.”
Hillary has no more expereince than Obama, All she did was do what first lady normally do… pick flowers, schedule dinner, make plans for her husband. Sad thing she was home the nite Bill and Monica were having their affair…WOW, i sure dont trust Hillary to answer the phone at 3am! She mite not hear the phone ring..
If we can forgive Bill Clinton for disgracing us in the white house with Monica, then we can allow Obama to finish what he started without judging him for something HE DID NOT SAY…
PA has your back Obama!
HRC, stated that she had experience with Foreign policy. Why on earth would she be the one to negotiate Foreign policy when she had NO experience while or before being first lady. How can she say she has more experience then Obama? HRC is telling the American people that while in the white house, as first lady, our president at the time gave his wife, with no experience in Foreign policy, the job to negotiate. While reading the report on her activities as first lady. There was NO evidence she had any negotiating ability at all.
My opinion. I am very disappointed with the media. I can see that the media can influence voters by continue to run stories over and over. The stories seem to pop up around the time when the candidates are trying to win the states with larger delegate numbers. Because, Obama is black, the race card can always be played. I am very disappointed. Oh, by the way, I am a middle age, white female who is a republican and is planning to vote for OBAMA. I believe that all of us sometime in our life heard comments that we do not appreciate. I think the media plays the race card to much and makes HRC look good a few days before voting. I have a friend who was going to vote for Obama, because the media ran the picture of Obama wearing a turbin, now she believes he may be a muslin. That tells me that the media decides the next president. Not the American people. Please, lets make this about how the candidates can help America.
Thank you for your time.
JB
Maybe, just Maybe? The ignorant democrats will see what their candidate does behind closed doors. She is a gifted, educated, lawyer, who knows how to act, lie and steal, and be associated whith murder, and missing people, who have been associated with her professional life and Bill Clinton’s political life, A truly evil person.
Push it, push it real good. Anything to distract from the Obama/J. Wright issue. We’ll worry about Hillary if and when she beats the Obamanation.
HILLARY IS USING THIS BEHIND CLOSE DOORS MEETINGS AND TRAVEL EXPERIENCES TO CLAIM SHE IS THE MOST EXPERIENCE IN FOREIGN POLICY. I THANK GOD RECORDS DONOT LIE, LITTLE BY LITTLE THE CAT IS LET OUT OF THE BAG. SHE IS PLAYING POLITIC GAMES WHICH SHE LEARNED FROM HER HUSBAND BILL CLINTON. ATTENDING MEETINGS AND GOING PLACES DONOT QUALIFY HER AS THE MOST EXPERIENCE NEITHER THE NEXT COMMANDER IN CHIEF. PLEASE, I WANT THE MEDIA TO CONTINUE TO CHECK THE RECORDS AND INFORM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE AS YOU ALWAYS DO
That is the sum total of this Man. That is all he stands for.
Someone else in these columns said on Obama [I made a note and quote without his kind permission because he put it well]: “To use prejudice, twist it and let it hang in the air hands clean, the way of the terrorist, the Manipulator Messiah.”
Study his Philadelphia speech well. It is nothing less than unadulterated racial incitement, skillfully dressed in fine words in that old City; yes he picked his venue well. The man is brilliant, absolutely brilliant. Problem is, his devious mind.
Obama can’t loose. He’s got it worked out. When Denver burns, as it now sure will, he will have achieved his purpose.
That is how Terrorism works.
But see, then he can step in as Peacemaker Messiah. Simply wins, either way it goes. His a genius [give him that] but of what …. ask him, he won’t tell, as with everything else. Fine oratory, but we know nothing of the man.
A previous comment herein adapted an old cliché to the Dem’s; another way would be: “live by the Messiah, die by the Messiah.”