From First Lady to Secretary of State

Before Bill's second term was ended, Hillary Clinton won a tough race for Senator of New York, becoming the first woman to be First Lady and a sitting US Senator at the same time. As a junior Senator, Clinton did not make a big splash as a legislator, but she quickly gained a reputation as a hard worker who was willing to work with Senators across the aisle. She was instrumental in securing funding for the recovery of the 9/11 attacks, and fought beyond her time in the Senate for health care benefits for Trade Center First Responders. One of her most notable campaign promises was to create 200,000 new jobs in upstate New York, and people who criticize her Senate tenure will point out that she was unable to keep this promise. Bill O'Reilly along with Donald Trump often levied this criticism on Clinton while neglecting to point out that there was an economic downturn in 2001, not no mention the events of 9/11. Regardless, her favorability as former First Lady, her re-election to the Senate in 2006, and her yeoman-like work in the Senate put her in a good position to run for president in 2008. The Clinton's were always known as ambitious and in the early years when Bill was asked about their political plans he was known to often say, "Four years of Bill, four years of Hill!"

So in 2008 it was time to make that plan come true. Unfortunately for them, Hillary faced a strong challenge from Barack Obama. Obama was young, fresh, erudite, and an amazing speaker, as evidenced by his rousing speech at the 2004 DNC Convention. And he was a black man who appeared to be electable. I personally decided to back Obama for all of the above; I liked Hillary and had no gripes about her personally, but the thought of four or eight more years of White Water, Monica, File Gate, Vince Foster and the rest was what swayed me to vote for Obama in the primaries. Ironically, the opposition to Obama by the GOP probably ended up being even worse than what I expected as far as Clinton was concerned. Everything went right for Obama (even with Wright, Alinsky, Ayers, and Rezko), and he achieved a historical win for the presidency.

Clinton soon became Obama's choice for Secretary of State, and Hillary became the world's most admired woman for several years running. Opponents claim that she had no important accomplishments during her tenure, but she was an effective diplomat, and she was instrumental in laying the groundwork for the JCPOA, AKA the Iran Deal, for her successor. Near the end of her time as SOS the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, was attacked claiming the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others. The GOP jumped on this tragedy, primarily as a means of attacking President Obama just months before the 2012 election. The person most affected politically by this AT THE TIME was Susan Rice, who performed the "full Ginsberg" on the following Sunday news shows. But Hillary was not so much in the spotlight regarding Benghazi at the time.

Next: The War on Hillary Clinton ramps back up as she leaves the State Department.