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Family and Medical Leave Absence

March 19, 2008 3:01 PM

One notable absence in the 11,000 pages of the former First Lady's schedule from the National Archives released today  -- any mention on her schedules of the Family and Medical Leave Act before her husband signed the bill into law.

That's interesting, because in speeches and on her website, the Clinton campaign repeatedly gives Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, credit for "helping to pass" the Family and Medical Leave Act.

The bill was signed into law on February 5, 1993 -- 16 days after Bill Clinton was sworn into office.

Though then-Gov. Bill Clinton often heralded the bill, which former President George HW Bush had vetoed, on the campaign trail in 1992, there's really no evidence that Hillary Clinton "helped to pass" the bill, which was the baby of Sens. Chris Dodd, D-Conn, and Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.

Asked for substantiation for her claiming credit, the Clinton campaign provided little evidence except for feminist organizations praising her for the bill becoming law and Bill Clinton writing in his autobiography: "Hillary and I talked often about how fortunate we were to have had that critical time to bond with Chelsea. Hillary told me that most other advanced countries provided paid parental leave to all citizens, and we believed that other parents should have the same priceless opportunity we'd had. I thought about those first few moths with Chelsea in February 1993, when I signed my first bill into law as President, the Family and Medical Leave Act."

Odd.

- jpt

March 19, 2008 | Permalink | Share | User Comments (38)

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Funny thing, when Obama was asked for his papers while a state Senator from Illinois, he said that he didn't know where they were, that they were probably thrown out.

Huh??


This is such a one-sided demand for Hillary to release data, while the press forgets that Obama's papers were discarded.

Isn't that a little out of the ordinary to not maintain personal files and records? Or is it merely convenient?

Posted by: OhioNative | Mar 19, 2008 4:32:34 PM

The Lady's schedule indeed appears to be informative on various issues.

Politico reports for instance how it shows that Hillary helped to push NAFTA. Had the paperwork been out before the Ohio primary, we might have seen different results there.

Posted by: Greta | Mar 19, 2008 4:27:53 PM

It's a CO-Presidency. He will help her. President Clinton knows what to do.

Clinton 08

Posted by: Carl | Mar 19, 2008 4:15:15 PM

Howard Wolfson says, "11, 000 pages of the former First Lady's schedules are now part of the public record and I believe that is approx. 11, 000 more docs. than the Obama camp. has released up until this point relating to any part of his service especially as a State Senator...When these docs. were released and we had a chance to look at them online, we put out a statement about them and in that statement we called on Senator Obama again to release relevant documents and information from his tenure in the State Senate relating to his schedule, to memos , to letters that he may have written to state agencies perhaps on behalf of Mr. Rezko or others.....We've heard different answers from Sen. Obama about this when asked about it. At one point he said he had documents, another point he said he did not have documents. Apparently, he left the office with nothing....."

One thing is true Hillary had no problem releasing over 11, 000 documents...Obama does. Give it time...he'll get caught re. sour info. on his record and once again we'll hear another speech.

Posted by: catherine in nm | Mar 19, 2008 4:07:33 PM

Maybe Obama should make use of this act so that he may deal with his identity issues that apparently need attention and counseling.

Posted by: irma | Mar 19, 2008 3:59:50 PM

By the way Mary,
The only relevant question, in my opinion, is did the campaign bring on someone touting a religious perspective, making it part of a campaign, with the intent of influencing voters in that direction, in a substantive manner, showing a flagrant disregard for the separation of church and state. Obama did exactly that. If Hillary did that I would never support her.

Posted by: WestCoastMessengerWest | Mar 19, 2008 3:58:48 PM

Catherine in NM, great point.

Posted by: irma | Mar 19, 2008 3:57:33 PM

Catherine in NM, great point.

Posted by: irma | Mar 19, 2008 3:57:33 PM

This is why the MSM and their Messiah, Mr. Hope, wanted these papers released. Nit-pick, nit-pick, nit-pick. Heaven knows you have 11,000 pages to pick your nits from! Have fun.

Now, what about pushing Mr. Hope to release ALL of his previous tax records and his Illinois legislature records and then you can nit-pick those too!

I'm sure you're all working on that, right? I know you all are just chomping at the bit to dig into Mr. Hope's previous life, right? *SARCASM*

We already know you people (the MSM) HATE the Clintons and are doing your very best to destroy them. I can't wait to see your faces when she's sworn in as President. I hope she bans you all from her Press room. You all deserve it.

Posted by: Vickie | Mar 19, 2008 3:56:36 PM

HAHA...it's b/c someone else was in charge of it jake. not clinton.

Posted by: justin | Mar 19, 2008 3:56:08 PM

Mary,
I hope to see a complete investigation by MSM on Clinton's relationship with Clinton's religious affiliations. At the same time I hope we get to see Obama's complete relationship as well. How much money has been paid to the Reverend Wright out of campaign funds? Are you willing to have that question explored? I'm willing to bet Hillary comes up clean as a whistle, but we haven't seen the whole Obama picture yet. Bring it on!

Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | Mar 19, 2008 3:55:58 PM

By the way Emily,
I would like to keep OBAMA's speech in the forefront, for the next two weeks, if it so important to you. Per the ABC News report the speech was filled with contradictions when compared to what Obama has said over the past several months about Reverend Wright. Obama has lost trust with the American people. Hillary is consistently releasing information and promoting transparency. Obama is trying to hide behind the class "CRAZY UNCLE" defense.

Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | Mar 19, 2008 3:50:57 PM

BTW,

With his unending and seemingly less than objective reporting on the Rev. Wright stories, your colleague Brian Ross has left many readers with the impression that he (and/or ABC NEWS) has a particular and personal bone to pick with Obama. This is the chatter I have heard. What say you?

Posted by: Mary | Mar 19, 2008 3:48:27 PM

What about all her other claims? All bogus?

Posted by: Joan | Mar 19, 2008 3:48:26 PM

Yawn, boring. Irrelevant. 11,000 pages. Only political voyeurs and right-wing haters care about this kind of stuff, and their intentions are rarely good. Right Emily?

Posted by: WestCoastMessenger | Mar 19, 2008 3:47:35 PM

Just a suggestion....let's run the fine-toothed comb over Obama's documents while he was BRIEFLY in the Senate. Oh, I forgot, he/staff won't release those documents for one reason or another.

By the way, Hillary, for the first time since mid-feb is leading in the Gallup Poll. Don't get too excited I'm sure this poll won't get any air time. Let's be honest here, if it weren't for the internet, a Hillary supporter would only hear from the networks which continue to be a campaign show for Obama. Sick.

Posted by: catherine in nm | Mar 19, 2008 3:47:32 PM

Jake,
Perhaps you could look into Hillary's religious affiliations with the same rigor you used in writing about Obama's religious associations. Perhaps a symbolic acknowledgement, comment, investigation or factcheck on the article by Barbara Ehrenreich,
"Hillary's Nasty Pastorate" that appeared in The Nation today?

What say you?

Posted by: Mary | Mar 19, 2008 3:27:09 PM

Not just odd, Jake: damning. Typical of the "say it and it will become true" philosophy of the Clinton campaign. Although the release of these 11,000 pages was timed to divert attention from Obama's speech yesterday, it may yet backfire mightily on Hillary Clinton.

Posted by: Emily | Mar 19, 2008 3:25:51 PM

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