Former Bill Clinton Staffer says Hillary is Exaggerating Her Experience

Many of us have been wondering exactly what kind of experience Hillary Clinton has that qualifies her on day one to be president that Barack Obama doesn’t have. True she is in her second term as a senator while Obama is only in his first term, but that is the only difference when it comes to actual experience.

Hillary likes to claim that because she is married to a former president she has all this experience. While it is true that she accompanied Bill across the globe while he met with foreign leaders, she has been grossly exaggerating what her role was as first lady.

Former director of the policy planning office under Bill Clinton, Greg Craig, is now attempting to set the record straight.

According to Craig:

There is no reason to believe, however, that she was a key player in foreign policy at any time during the Clinton Administration. She did not sit in on National Security Council meetings. She did not have a security clearance. She did not attend meetings in the Situation Room. She did not manage any part of the national security bureaucracy, nor did she have her own national security staff. She did not do any heavy-lifting with foreign governments, whether they were friendly or not. She never managed a foreign policy crisis, and there is no evidence to suggest that she participated in the decision-making that occurred in connection with any such crisis. As far as the record shows, Senator Clinton never answered the phone either to make a decision on any pressing national security issue – not at 3 AM or at any other time of day.

While this is scathing enough, he then goes on to debunk many of the examples that she has given to prove her national security/foreign relations experience.

Northern Ireland: Senator Clinton has said, “I helped to bring peace to Northern Ireland.” It is a gross overstatement of the facts for her to claim even partial credit for bringing peace to Northern Ireland. at no time did she play any role in the critical negotiations that ultimately produced the peace. As the Associated Press recently reported, “[S]he was not directly involved in negotiating the Good Friday peace accord.” Kosovo: Senator Clinton has said, “I negotiated open borders to let fleeing refugees into safety from Kosovo.” It is true that, as First Lady, she traveled to Macedonia and visited a Kosovar refugee camp. It is also true that she met with government officials while she was there. First Ladies frequently meet with government officials. Her claim to have “negotiated open borders to let fleeing refugees into safety from Kosovo,” however, is not true. Her trip to Macedonia took place on May 14, 1999. The borders were opened the day before, on May 13, 1999.

Greg Craig goes on to site more inaccuracies in this article, it is a must read. I have found it laughable that Hillary Clinton has played this experience card by claiming that she has 35 years of experience because she is married to a former president.

The truth is that while she claims that Obama doesn’t have enough experience to be president because he is only a one term senator, she doesn’t have the experience either, being only a two term senator.

Just because she watched what Bill did while he was president, it doesn’t add to her qualifications.