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"Hillary Clinton talks about her 35 years of experience in government...and when she says that, I think about Bill again. I also think that most of that "experience" comes from being Bill's wife, not really striking out on her own. I know she has been a great Senator and I think I would feel differently if she had waited to run and put more time in as a Senator making her own record rather than running on his."
allow me to offer this:
Clinton co-founded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, a state-level alliance with the Children's Defense Fund, in 1977. In late 1977, President Jimmy Carter (for whom she had done 1976 campaign coordination work in Indiana) appointed her to the board of directors of the Legal Services Corporation, and she served in that capacity from 1978 through the end of 1981. For much of that time she served as the chair of that board, the first woman to do so. During her time as chair, funding for the Corporation was expanded from $90 million to $300 million, and she successfully battled against President Ronald Reagan's initial attempts to reduce the funding and change the nature of the organization.
She was appointed chair of the Rural Health Advisory Committee in 1978, where she successfully obtained federal funds to expand medical facilities in Arkansas' poorest areas without affecting doctors' fees.
She also chaired the Arkansas Educational Standards Committee from 1982 to 1992, where she sought to bring about reform in the state's court-sanctioned public education system, fighting a prolonged but ultimately successful battle against the Arkansas Education Association to put mandatory teacher testing as well as state standards for curriculum and classroom size in place. She introduced Arkansas' Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youth in 1985, a program that helps parents work with their children in preschool preparedness and literacy.
And a bit of stuff from the White House years:
Along with Senator Ted Kennedy, she was the major force behind the State Children's Health Insurance Program in 1997, a federal effort that provided state support for children whose parents were unable to provide them with health coverage. She promoted nationwide immunization against childhood illnesses and encouraged older women to seek a mammogram to detect breast cancer, with coverage provided by Medicare, as well as successfully seeking to increase research funding for prostate cancer and childhood asthma at the National Institutes of Health.
She also worked to investigate reports of an illness that affected veterans of the Gulf War, which became known as the Gulf War syndrome. Together with Attorney General Janet Reno, Clinton helped create the Office on Violence Against Women at the Department of Justice. In 1997, she initiated and shepherded the Adoption and Safe Families Act, which she regarded as her greatest accomplishment as First Lady.
...
one can't deny that she worked her heart out to make whatever she touched successful. And many, many women, children and military personnel have her intelligence, hard work, firm grasp of policy and ability to work with lawmakers from both parties to thank for better health care and education.
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