or she spent most of her days reading If You Give a Moose a Muffin to first graders (I prefer the first book in that series, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie), depending on whether you believe the conservative blogosphere or the adherents of Obama-ology.

The release of 11,000 pages of Hillary Clinton's daily schedules while she was First Lady has provided convincing evidence that she and Bill shared Presidential duties during the Clinton years unless you're an Obama-ite in which case the pages prove that she spent her days pouring tea and engaging in small talk with the spouses of other leaders.  If one is inclined to the sort of exhaustive, largely boring research required to pore over the pages, a case can probably be made for both views of HRC.  The minutiae of how Mrs. Clinton spent her days doesn't really matter that much to me.  It is apparent that after the health care debacle the way Hillary spent her days changed - or the way she kept her schedule about the way she spent her days changed - or the way she went about trying to accomplish her goals changed.  My support for Senator Clinton isn't based on what she did at 10 a.m. on a specific Monday morning in the nineties, it is based rather on the way she has lived her life and, most importantly for me, the kind of senator she has been during the eight years since she was first elected.

Still, eight years spent in the White House are definitely not a cypher on one's resume.  These pages prove that Hillary jumped into the deep end of the health care pool only days after President Clinton's inauguration.  Many people - a number of them Democrats - use this (let's call it what it was) failure to disparage Senator Clinton's current health care proposals and to speculate about her inability to accomplish anything in the present arena.  The hard fought campaign is also widely seen as a large portion of the massive, stunning losses in the off year election.  This devastating personal defeat, however, actually bodes well for both the current Clinton health care plan and a Hillary Clinton Presidency. 

Failure often teaches us much more than victory.  Senator Clinton - known as an exhaustive policy wonkette - now also knows that actually getting something done in Washington takes more than simply wanting - no matter how sincerely - to implement change.  In addition, without a doubt the Clintons and their young staff brought more than a touch of arrogance to their jobs.  Having the wind knocked out of you in such a public manner has a way of giving one a little perspective, a little humility, a little respect for the system. 

Somewhat at odds with the Obama-ite mythology that Senator Clinton wandered the halls of the White House straigtening the furniture is the Obama camp's undisguised glee in discovering within the schedule pages that she participated in NAFTA meetings.  Despite the fact that the released documents provide nothing beyond scheduling details, Obama-ology holds that this is proof enough that HRC supported NAFTA.  What went on inside these meetings may yet be revealed and it may come to pass that Hillary was lobbying in support of her husband's position.  I would not find it odd that a First Lady - if called upon by the President - would lobby for an issue which she might have privately opposed; remember, it was his presidency, not hers.  Within an administration once a policy decision has been made, subordinates fall in line; I would image the same holds true within a marriage, even a marriage of equals.

The scheduling diaries also seem to point to a number of ceremonial duties amongst Mrs. Clinton's appointments.   So - if the Obama-ite narrative is to stay unbroken - she rushed from a private NAFTA lobbying session, slipped into a White House phone booth and became, Hillary Clinton, mild mannered First Lady.  Again, a mere listing of times, people and places does not give a full picture of what may have been accomplished during a given period.  I also think it is important to understand the way in which many intelligent women gain their experience: by being part of the background, by developing relationships, by watching the workings of those around them.  Many people of color have also accumulated knowledge in this way.  Unfortunately, often times both women and people of color are passed over for responsible positions because the experience gained in this manner is discounted.

In the final analysis, the schedules of Hillary Clinton's days in the White House tell one little beyond the fact that she is a very energetic woman and one would be wise not to read more into them than that.  After all, looking at George W. Bush's White House schedules would probably lead one to believe that he has accomplished many things in the last seven years, which only goes to show how misleading a schedule can be.