Comments on: Hillary’s Irish Legacy http://susiemadrak.com/2008/03/13/09/44/hillarys-irish-legacy/ Keeping a jaundiced eye on the corporate media. Thu, 04 Dec 2008 06:03:08 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: JKFriz http://susiemadrak.com/2008/03/13/09/44/hillarys-irish-legacy/#comment-138371 JKFriz Thu, 13 Mar 2008 15:24:08 +0000 http://susiemadrak.com/2008/03/13/09/44/hillarys-irish-legacy/#comment-138371 I think that the Clinton administration's commitment to seeing the peace process in Northern Ireland through - including Hillary's role in that process - was perhaps the one genuinely unsullied and laudable initiative of the Clinton era. I studied in Belfast, and there's no underestimating the enthusiasm folks have about the Clintons there. Still, it's hard to argue that her role in the process was more than auxiliary, given the centrality of Trimble, Hume, Mo Mowlam, and George Mitchell in making Good Friday happen. Hillary was an active proponent of the peace process, and played a specific role in organizing communities - but if you read most books about the forging of the Agreement, her name rarely if ever comes up. I'd also say that generally speaking, the forcefulness and the moral clarity that Hillary sometimes showed as a First Lady have been somewhat lacking in her career as an elected official. It's a little ironic that her non-elected career - which Obama partisans so often dismiss as inconsequential - shows many more moments of good judgement than her pockmarked legislative career. I think that the Clinton administration’s commitment to seeing the peace process in Northern Ireland through - including Hillary’s role in that process - was perhaps the one genuinely unsullied and laudable initiative of the Clinton era. I studied in Belfast, and there’s no underestimating the enthusiasm folks have about the Clintons there. Still, it’s hard to argue that her role in the process was more than auxiliary, given the centrality of Trimble, Hume, Mo Mowlam, and George Mitchell in making Good Friday happen. Hillary was an active proponent of the peace process, and played a specific role in organizing communities - but if you read most books about the forging of the Agreement, her name rarely if ever comes up.

I’d also say that generally speaking, the forcefulness and the moral clarity that Hillary sometimes showed as a First Lady have been somewhat lacking in her career as an elected official. It’s a little ironic that her non-elected career - which Obama partisans so often dismiss as inconsequential - shows many more moments of good judgement than her pockmarked legislative career.

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