Hillary Clinton's experience cuts both ways

No two actions had more impact on the Clinton presidency. If the Whitewater papers had been given to the Post, the Clintons would have been cleared. There would have been no special prosecutor, no Kenneth Starr, no request from Starr that his mandate be extended to the Monica Lewinsky affair, and no report to Congress seeking the impeachment of Bill Clinton. Similarly, if a compromise bipartisan health care plan had been enacted, Clinton could have secured a base from which to proceed to other reforms. Neither happened. And the person responsible in both cases was Hillary Clinton.

Why did the president not take charge? As Gergen indicates, the months when Whitewater and health care dominated the news were also the months when Paula Jones alleged sexual improprieties on the part of Bill Clinton. The president was in no position to overrule his wife. "Like a bouncing golden retriever who has pooped on the living room rug," Gergen writes, "[Clinton] curled up and looked baleful for days." Unable to say no to Hillary, even if the decisions on Whitewater and health care threatened the fate of his presidency, he ceded final authority to his wife.

Yes, experience does count. And much that Hillary Clinton brings to this campaign buttresses her credentials for election. But in these two instances, experience does not speak well for her judgment.