(in addition to what president obama mentioned last night)


Here’s A List Of Hillary Clinton’s Accomplishments, So Quit Saying She Doesn’t Have Any
By Ryan Denson on April 13, 2015 1:52 am ·

There are many, many people who seem to think Hillary Clinton hasn’t accomplished anything. Apparently, being a First Lady, a Senator, as well as Secretary of State doesn’t count as accomplishments to her critics. But here is a very simple summary that encompasses Hillary Clinton and what she has accomplished throughout her life — Courtesy of a friend:

“First ever student commencement speaker at Wellesley College. Distinguished graduate of Yale Law School. Former Director of the Arkansas Legal Aid Clinic. Former civil litigation attorney. Former Law Professor at the University of Arkansas School of Law. Former First Lady of Arkansas. Former First Lady of the United States, and the first FLOTUS in US History to hold a postgraduate degree. First ex-FLOTUS in US History to be elected to the United States Senate. Elected by the… State of New York to serve two terms in the United States Senate. Former US Secretary of State. GRAMMY Award Winner. Author. Self proclaimed Pantsuit Aficionado. Married to a man named Bill, who plays the saxophone.”

You don’t have to like Hillary Clinton or her ideas. I get it. She’s a Democrat, a progressive (in most eyes), and conservatives don’t like that. However, you cannot say she does not have any accomplishments. Here are just a few:

Even though her major initiative, the Clinton healthcare plan, failed (due to Republican obstruction), you cannot deny that it laid ground for what we have today, the Affordable Healthcare Act, something Clinton supports and would continue.
She played a leading role in the development of State Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides the much-needed state support for children whose parents cannot afford nor provide them with adequate healthcare coverage.
She was also instrumental in the creation of the Adoption and Safe Families Act and the Foster Care Independence Act.
Successfully fought to increase research funding for prostate cancer and asthma at the National Institute of Health (NIH).
She spearheaded investigations into mental illness plaguing veterans of the Gulf War; we now have a term for it – Gulf War Syndrome.
At the Department of Justice, she helped create the office on Violence Against Women.
She was instrumental in securing over $21 billion in funding for the World Trade Center redevelopment.
Took a leading role in the investigation of health consequences of first responders and drafted the first bill to compensate and offer the health services our first responders deserve (Clinton’s successor in the Senate, Kirsten Gillibrand, passed the bill).
Was instrumental in working out a bi-partisan compromise to address civil liberty abuses for the renewal of the U.S. Patriot Act.
Proposed a revival of the New Deal-era Home Owners’ Loan Corporation to help homeowners refinance their mortgages in the wake of the 2008 financial disaster.
Was a major proponent of sensible diplomacy which brought about a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, and brokered human rights with Burma.
Oversaw free trade agreements with our allies such as Panama, Colombia, and South Korea.
Was the most traveled Secretary of State to date.
The Clinton Foundation, founded by her and her husband, has improved the living conditions for nearly 400 million people in over 180 countries through its Initiative program.

These are not all of her accomplishments. Her activism on behalf of women a children across the world is renowned. Her activism for raising the minimum wage and combating climate change is stellar. You do not have to support what she does or stands for. But do not say she doesn’t have any accomplishments. The conservatives who say this are the ones who are pushing for Ted Cruz – who brought on a $24 billion shut down. That, to them, is an accomplishment?

Yes, Hillary Clinton has accomplishments. You don’t have to like them, but they do, in fact, exist.

http://addictinginfo.org/2015/04/13/heres-a-list-of-hillary-clintons-accomplishments-so-quit-saying-she-doesnt-have-any/

patient and generous as you and many others here have been. As I reviewed many of the responses below, I saw the OP making excuse after excuse as to why she couldn't research this information herself. She hasn't had a TV in 6 years. When directed to Utube by someone, she doesn't do Utube yet she's got over 8,000 posts on DU. If she'd spent any time here this primary season, she'd know plenty of Hillary's accomplishments. But somehow she's a Bernie Supporter and in spite of a lack of a TV, lack of access to Utube, internet access hasn't interfered with her knowing everything that she needed to know about him to support him.

Again I appreciate your patience. I've been following the Convention on TV and the antics of some have really worn my patience thin.

Many, many such examples were shown, with real flesh-and-blood people testifying to her impact on them. CSPAN is your friend.

Jelani Freeman may have been my favorite:

No doubt you have already heard Bill Clinton talk and Barack Obama and an endless string of people. If you're not persuaded now, just accept that and move on. Not everybody is meant to like everybody in the world. That's fine. Accept it.

But on my point about accepting that some politicians speak to us, some speak to others' hearts. I caucused for Hillary in 2008 because I believed that she was the best candidate running -- until right before the convention, when Obama was pulling ahead, and I realized that with a strong Democratic party behind him, Obama could be a fantastic leader. And he was. But if I had not "felt" right in supporting Obama, I would have just said "No, I'll hold out."

For the people who really can't stand Hillary, I think that they need to accept their feelings and be true to that. If you have nothing against her (beliefs about "rigged" primary votes, or conspiracy theories in general, for instance, or some lingering rage about Benghazi or the fact that she used a server to route email), try reading issue statements on her campagn site? Or any of the hundreds of supportive articles describing her strengths, like Matt Yglesias's column today about her insistence upon getting all of the details right and the focus on sound policy:

http://www.vox.com/2016/7/28/12308198/hillary-clinton-speech-dnc

There was a time when Democrats could be counted upon to provide wise policy perspective. Al Franken said long ago that a Democrat is someone who has read a dozen position papers on a topic and still doesn't know which option is best, mirroring the old "I belong to no organized party" joke from Will Rogers. My faith in Hillary is that she understand policy -- healthcare policy, for example, or environmental, or educational -- as well as that she brings a commitment to equality for all Americans, as she has fought her entire life for civil rights. I stand with her for the same reason that the Human Rights Campaign stood with her -- she has been with LGBT folks as an ally for decades, and she will push for ENDA to be passed, as well as shore up the civil rights of sexual minorities and ethnic and racial minorities.

I have an inborn reluctance to play Change My Mind with people, though, and I'm just offering these points as an explanation of why I want her in the White House to carry on Obama's successes. For folks who can't bring themselves to vote for her, I recommend being true to yourselves and accepting that fact. As Justin Bobby said on the OC, only time and truth will tell.

intensely following politics since 1964, when I was 14 years old! Thanks for the like.

Democratic Convention 2016 website.

I haven't had a tv in years. That doesn't stop me from knowing what the hell is going on.

I am also betting most of what you were told and "know" as true about Hillary aren't true, but RW smears that people believe.

Listen to any of the speakers, both famous and ordinary citizens?

It's been three days of what she's done....

Just sayin' ...it's out there ~ glad you're curious.

And no YouTube either.

I love transcripts though, are there any places to read the speeches?

I'd advise you watch the convention. C-span has the speeches available to stream. Watch some of them and hear what people that have worked with her say about her, about the stories of her helping the 9-11 victims in NYC, how she's been an advocate and worker for children all her life.

Hang in there. Appreciate your willingness to learn more about Hillary.

those accomplishments and achievements for the past three days. If you haven't been watching, they're all available on the Internet for you to review. If you want to learn, it's easy to do that.

... he's learned so much about Hillary and her accomplishments going back decades.

He's now a solid Hillary supporter.

Every speaker brought me more and more into the circle.

I'll never stop supporting Bernie, and all of the amazing work he will, no doubt, continue to do.

Its more difficult to dig out the facts - that's true for both Bernie and Hillary. Putting emotion aside and finding the facts in the cold light of day can feel pretty tedious, but we should all pay more to actions than intentions.

What someone has done is a pretty reliable predictor of what they will do in the future and talk? Talk is cheap.

commitment to a public option will be evident tonight and beyond. That would help a lot....

I'm sure she'll say more tonight.

You could begin, for example, by listening to Barack Obama's speech from last night. It's on YouTube. He mentioned numerous accomplishments and examples of Hillary's good works. Then, you could use the Internet to fact check the president, until you are satisfied that you have learned enough.

Is there a transcript I can read?

I love reading.

Seriously thank you!

and a couple of short excerpts..

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-obama-2016-convention-speech-transcript-20160727-snap-story.html

...but the heartfelt passion displayed by the people giving the speeches really is something that should be seen and heard in order to appreciate exactly what they are trying to convey. I use imagination to give the character in the books I read their own personalities and voices but in this context there is no replacing the genuine article. My opinion only.

Happy reading!

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-obama-2016-convention-speech-transcript-20160727-snap-story.html

But really watch it if you can, all of it. Listen and see his face as he talks about Hillary.

She is prochoice. Now, she is LGBT friendly. I don't have much else.

And oh yeah, she's not trump.

LGBT issues are not just about marriage. You should look up her and bill's record on HIV/AIDS, which is a giant issue in our community.

She only came over from the dark side in 2013.

me, but it certain not my ONLY LGBT issue.

Clinton believed that ENDA was equally important, and inasmuch as LGBT folks suffer tremendously from job and work discrimination, I think ENDA is more important, actually, than doing away with DOMA. I look forward to ENDA being passed in the next few years.

Watching some of the speeches would be a very good exercise. The first night (they're running together, but I'm sure it was Night 1) was all personal testimonials all the time. There were a couple from 9-11 survivors, including a first responder who lost two cousins when the towers came down. Hillary bent over backwards for him and others in New York, and she never gave up. Never.

From the very beginning of her career as a young lawyer, she never forgot people and she never gave up, and they have never forgotten her.

When Bill sent her to the Senate with their Health Care bill (that iirc included single payer) the Republicans chewed her up and spit her out. How dare the president send his wife to them? They expected her to crawl away and never be heard from again. But she went back, and never gave up until the Children's health care bill got passed. It was a compromise and it was not everything, but by God it was a significant chunk.

Her whole life has been in service to those who need it most.

Thanks for joining with us.

That's a very well formatted speech.

Personal story, achievement list, personal story, achievements and more talking about today's events.

Very good speech.

And honestly I had always known was a great asset for women's rights. And children. These are good.

Her evolution had troubled me, but I'm beginning to think I was demanding perfection from human beings. Whether or not she's sincere in her evolution for LGBT rights, I know the country as a whole is headed in the right direction.

And perhaps we will lead her with our votes in the downticket? Perhaps she is playing it safe as a politician. But either way, we'll be better with her than with Trump.

I am learning so I'm very grateful for the transcript links people are giving me.

who is opposed to homosexuality entirely on religious grounds, but her team decided that she should stop attacking LGBT people in order to win over a larger support base. She stopped attacking LGBT people, still objects to gays and lesbians, but believes that they should be treated fairly and votes pretty much like a person who supports LGBT people would.

People in politics come from a variety of backgrounds, and from a variety of perspectives. I look at the votes to see what's what.

I was already a supporter, but not so in 2008, and I feel better about her as well after this convention. I needed a little education myself, and they've done a great job putting human faces on her work.

the oppressed, and the disadvantaged, both in the US and around the world. It is an extraordinary list.

Read about everything she did before she ever met Bill Clinton. You may be surprised.

I know I learned a lot of things I didn't know about her.

There is plenty of information about her accomplishments. I would highly recommend doing your own research. That way you can fact check and you'll have your own opinion.

environmental issues.

Those are three issues where she should be proud of the role she has played.

Please consider re-evaluating what you "know" about Clinton. In my experience, a lot of what Bernie folks think they "know" comes fomr sources with a very specific point of view. I'm not saying they are necessarily factually inaccurate, but they are often presented without context, and with a healthy dose of innuendo.

Good luck with your journey!

It tells you a lot about Hillary and why I support her in it.

She has accomplished as much as anyone has.