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[sofa king]

34. She was the most talented Senator I ever watched.

Last edited Sun Aug 28, 2016, 02:10 PM - Edit history (3)

Way back when, it was my job to watch and chronicle the activities of all freshman Senators, so even though Mrs. Clinton kept a low public profile in 2001, I followed what she did in the Senate as closely as I could. I'd tap my contacts among staffers and ruffle through then-obscure publications like Roll Call and The Hill, follow every vote, and so on.

The inside track on Mrs. Clinton was that she was amazing. Each new Senator had to complete a large number of orientation courses, including a Code of Official Conduct course which I vaguely recall was overseen by Senator Robert Byrd in person back then.

Whatever the case, the word from Senator Byrd's office was that Mrs. Clinton was the star pupil, who mastered the code of conduct courses and quickly moved on to the esoterica of Senate procedure which is what saved all of your asses in the years 2001-2009, narrowly preventing the Bush administration from expanding half a dozen wars you never heard about and dumping your Social Security money into the crashing stock market, among other things.

Senators are evaluated by their peers and their committee assignments tell you an awful lot about how they're going to turn out. Mrs. Clinton's fellow Senators put her on the very most important and difficult Committees, including Budget, Armed Services, Environment and Public Works, and Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. No pedigree or imaginary privilege can get a freshman Senator on those Committees; one has to demonstrate ability to get such plums.

I kept a sharp eye on Senator Clinton for another four or five years before I finally left the field. She was the model Senator, who was familiar with every report and often wrote them, who was prepared for every hearing, who asked the detailed and penetrating questions, who had the crack staff that knew everything about everyone and how everything worked.

In retrospect, she was the best new Senator I ever had to watch. When President Obama says Mrs. Clinton is the best-qualified Presidential candidate ever, he really means it, and he's surely basing some of that assessment on his time with her in the Senate. Hillary Clinton is going to be a masterful President, one for whom we will all be proud to vote for--and be proud of ourselves for it--for the rest of our days.