Perhaps Mrs. Clinton should start invoking her husband's name when she
criticizes CEOs for their golden parachutes, as they flee sinking companies
or layoff employees. Too bad Mr. Clinton wasn't among those testifying
before a Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing last week
about huge salaries and bonuses paid to corporate CEOs, while their
employees suffer layoffs.
In a related story, USA Today reports archivists at the Clinton Presidential
Library are blocking release of hundreds of pages of White House papers
related to pardons approved by the former president. These include clemency
documents for the fugitive commodities trader Marc Rich.
There are the familiar explanations - there always are with the Clintons -
about why they can't be more forthcoming with documents and records. When
asked about her tax returns during a recent debate, Mrs. Clinton said she
hadn't gotten it done yet because she's "a little busy right now." The
question was not about the 2007 return, but those from previous years.
Surely those earlier returns are available, or have they been misplaced like
disappearing documents at the Rose Law Firm, which magically materialized in
the White House residence after Ken Starr and a Senate committee subpoenaed
them?
As for the documents at the Clinton Presidential Library, both Clintons say
they have asked the library to release materials as quickly as possible. But
when the Clintons' agent, former Deputy White House Counsel Bruce Lindsey,
chooses not to review the withheld documents, it makes one question their
sincerity.
This game of they hide while everyone else seeks is familiar to all Clinton
observers. Barack Obama should take advantage of the questions of character
that have always been asked of the Clintons and the public doubts about
their honesty and sincerity in anything that does not promote their
personal, political and financial interests.