The Los Angeles Times reports today that some 2 million papers from Hillary Clinton’s years as first lady have been locked up at the Clinton presidential library and are not likely to be released until some time after the elections next year. Among the documents are appointment logs, calendars and memos, including memos about meetings with two senators who are now her rivals in the presidential race, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd.
By law, documents must be reviewed and sensitive information redacted before being released and the staff told the paper they are working as quickly as they can, although critics say that’s not quick enough. Many of her documents about the failed healthcare initiative have been released, but about 1,000 are still kept secret under the Presidential Records Act because they contain confidential information.
Secrecy is smart politics, of course. Democratic strategist Bob Shrum told the Times, “In 2 million pieces of paper, would opposition researchers hope to find one where she wrote a memo saying, ‘I wish I’d never gotten involved in healthcare?’ Sure. That’s what they’d love to find.”
And it seems to me to be part of a pattern. Her college thesis about Saul Alinsky, the unabashed radical, was locked up at Wellesley during Bill Clinton’s presidency and was eventually unlocked without fanfare. MSNBC.com found it, read it and reported on it. So did Carl Bernstein for his recent book.
As Bernstein said in interviews for the book, “This is a woman who has led a camouflaged life and continues to.”
9/13 Update: A National Archives offical said yesterday an estimated 10,000 pages of Clinton’s daily schedules from her time as first lady could be made public by the end of the year, although Presidents Clinton and Bush could postpone their release.
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I have Carl Bernstein’s book about Hilary but have not gotten to it yet.
Have you read it? I am curious to know what you thought.
I have read it, albeit very quickly and need to re-read it at a slower pace.
I think it’s an important book. It’s deeply-reported and the great amount of information about her early years is fascinating and will inform my understanding of who she really is. The skimpy few pages about her Senate years are a bit frustrating but I suppose he had to stop somewhere.
His writing is magnificent, btw.