Hillary Clinton's Accomplishments

Like most people with some interest in politics, I've been following the campaigning for nominees for the 2008 US Presidential elections. It's interesting, the debate whether the USA will get a 'First Woman President' or a 'First Non-White President' – a problem that would have been solved entirely if Oprah Winfrey had only stopped fooling about with her talk-show and walked the Presidential talk – although I'd really been rooting for Dennis Kucinich – he comes across as a man of decent principles and he has such a charming wife. But he dropped out of the race in January, and we are left with the male-female, black-white pair, Hillary and Obama (I know John McCain is somewhere around on the horizon, but he can stay there and fight his 100 years war in Iraq). Let's look at Hillary Clinton, not because she is a woman and women's rights are human rights, but because she is what this article topic is about.

From looking around the Internet, I've come up with the following information, all filed under 'accomplishments' -

Early Accomplishments -

• She was born on 26 October 1947 in Chicago, Illinois, on October 26, 1947 to Hugh and Dorothy Rodham, and grew up in Park Ridge, Illinois, along with her two younger brothers, Hugh and Tony.
• Growing up, she played tennis, softball and volleyball, enjoyed swimming, ballet and skating, and was active in Girls Scouts and in the local Methodist youth group.
• She was a high-achiever at school, found all her lessons easy.

Young Adult Accomplishments -

• In 1965, she got admission into Wellesley College. She graduated with honors.
• She went on to study at Yale Law School and served on the Board of Editors of the Yale Review of Law and Social Action.
• She met and started dating Bill Clinton at Yale.

Career Accomplishments:

• She joined the Children's Defense Fund as a staff attorney in 1973.
• In 1974, she was invited to join the Impeachment Inquiry staff of the judiciary Committee of the House of Representatives.
• She joined the law faculty of the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.
• She founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families and served on the board of the Arkansas Children's Hospital.
• She started the Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters.
• She was named Arkansas' Woman of the Year in 1983 and its Young Mother of the Year in 1984.
• She was named one of the top 100 lawyers by the "National Law Journal" in 1988 and 1991.
• She became the only First Lady to compete for a Senate seat and to win in the state of New York.
• According to Sean Robertson of Daily Kos, she did the following as Senator -
  • She endorsed bills to 'extend period of unemployment assistance to victims of 9/11', 'pay for city projects in response to 9/11', 'assist landmine victims in other countries', 'assist family caregivers in accessing affordable respite care' and 'Designate part of the National Forest System in Puerto Rico as protected in the Wilderness Preservation System'.
  • She passed resolutions to name courthouses after Thurgood Marshall and James L. Watson, and post offices after John A. O'Shea and Sergeant Riayan A. Tejeda.
  • She voted to designate August 7, 2003 as National Purple Heart Recognition Day and swore to support the goals and ideals of National Purple Heart Recognition Day and also, on a separate occasion, the goals and ideals of Better Hearing and Speech Month.
  • She congratulated the Syracuse University Orange Men's Lacrosse Team and the Le Moyne College Dolphins Men's Lacrosse Team on winning the lacrosse championships.
  • She passed resolutions to establish the Kate Mullany National Historic Site, to establish the 225th Anniversary of the American Revolution Commemorative Program, and to recognize the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.
  • She passed resolutions to honor the respective lives and achievements of the late Alexander Hamilton, Shirley Chisholm, John J. Downing, Brian Fahey, and Harry Ford.
• She is currently campaigning to become the Democratic National Committee's nominee for the 2008 Presidential elections.

Personal Accomplishments -

• In 1975, she left a promising career in Washington and "followed her heart to Arkansas". Arkansas was where Bill Clinton was, and there she married him.
• Her daughter, Chelsea, was born in 1980, was shielded from too much public attention, and has grown up into a normal, well-turned-out young lady.
• Hillary Clinton supported her husband's political career and stood by her man when he became president, even when he did her dirty.
• She always "had big dreams and willing to make the sacrifices to make them happen."
• One of her favorite topics is the need "to find the right balance in our lives."

Curiously enough, when I looked up Hillary Clinton's accomplishments on the Vote Hillary website, most of the links – except 'Providing Quality Affordable Health Care', 'Quality Education for All Our Children', 'Women’s Rights are Human Rights' and 'Keeping America's Commitment' - lead to 'Page Not Found'.

Then there are two very important points that are not often included in her 'achievements', but nevertheless deserve to be highlighted -

• Senator Hillary Clinton's vote supporting the War in Iraq.
• Senator Hillary Clinton's vote against the humanitarian amendment bill to ban cluster bombs.

It is worthwhile to note how someone who had the intelligence to get into an Ivy League school and who often touts her concern for children's welfare has neither the sense nor the compassion to use her voting powers to end the preventable deaths and maiming of children in Iraq, Afghanistan and many African countries.