First Lady Fine Line

First Lady Fine Line
Clinton's Working to Claim Credit for Prosperity Without Shouldering Blame for Errors
By Holly Yeager 05/02/2008



On the campaign trail in Indiana, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton likes to talk about Magnequench, a manufacturer of high-tech magnets used in precision-guided missiles, and how a Chinese company bought the Indiana business.

“The president of the United States has the authority to veto that kind of a move,” Clinton said when she brought it up in Princeton, Ind., on Tuesday. But, she complained, the Bush administration had done nothing to stop the deal, and all those Indiana jobs went to China.

Trouble is, the deal was actually approved during her husband’s administration – the latest in a string of episodes in which Clinton’s campaign for the White House has been complicated by events that happened when she was first lady.

For some, seeing Clinton on the stump talking about health care is an unwelcome reminder of the failure of health care reform put forward during the early days of the Clinton administration. For others, disputed accounts of Clinton’s position on the North American Free Trade Agreement and overstated claims of her role in the Northern Ireland peace process revive questions about just how active a first lady she was.

But taken together, these and other episodes mark a shift in how Clinton’s eight years in the White House are coming to be seen as she continues her campaign to take the Oval Office for herself.

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http://washingtonindependent.com/view/the-first-lady-fine