Saturday, February 16, 2008

"Experienced in handling the economy!"

One of the arguments I heard about a McCain vs Clinton match-up (from a Clinton supporter) in the general election was:
1. McCain has served in the military heroically, which Clinton has not, but Clinton did serve on the Armed Services Committee, which should help her face military threats.
2. But, Clinton's forte is the economy - which is the primary issue facing Americans now-a-days. She will do much better than Obama on that front, against McCain.

I am not sure where Senator Clinton picked up this "experience" on the economy. True, there was a major boom during President Clinton's reign, but a large part of that has been attributed to Bill and Al... as in, Alan Greenspan and Bill Gates! Further, as Senator Clinton herself says:

"[NAFTA] is was not something I was focused on at the time. I was focused on health care at the time, as you remember," she said laughing, alluding to her well-publicized failure to overhaul the system. "I was working 24-7 to try to achieve universal health care..."

Of course, we all know how her efforts to get UHC ended - but this indicates that Senator Clinton had nothing to do with the trade and economic policies of the '90s Clinton administration.

So, what experience on the economic front is Senator Clinton touting? As far as I can tell, her plans are made up for her by economic advisers - the same as the plans for Senator Obama. If anything, Senator Obama has actual experience creating jobs for "downsized" or forced-out factory workers, back in the 1980s... When Senator Clinton was on the board of anti-labor Wal-Mart!

Maybe Senator Clinton's economic experience was in the area of "always low prices!" [The Nation link via this.]

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