"Heart of a Champion"

Alegre offers a wonderful post following last Tuesday's primary vote on why she supports Hillary Clinton.

We had a rough day yesterday to be sure. I finally called it a day around 1am and as I was clearing out the dishes hubby left in the sink (sigh, again) I paused for a minute - leaned on the sink and thought... how in the HELL does Hillary keep on going in the face of the hate, the anger, the unfair media coverage, the sexism, and - tonight especially – this latest disappointment?

What drives this sister with the heart of a lioness?

Getting back into the White House?
Nooooo. She’s been there before.

Receiving more adulation and love from the MSM & the press (Tweety & Russert)? Hardly!

Maybe it has something to do with the fact that she is the very definition of a public servant. She sees how much work there is to be done and she knows she’s the one person who’ll actually get results. She’s got a long history of public service and sticking up for those without a voice.


Over the summer I attended a state-wide meeting of volunteers, and a woman from Hillary’s staff mentioned something that really stuck with me. She said they were getting Hillary ready for a debate and there was this briefing book full of the things she’d accomplished in her career. That book was 312 pages long (single spaced)!

No I won’t list everything here, but take a look at a few little known facts about her record...

As a law student Hillary worked to identify children who were victims of abuse and neglect and volunteered at the New Haven Legal Services offices. Her first job out of law school was going door-to-door with the Children's Defense Fund to find out why children weren’t enrolled in public schools. Her findings prompted Congress to pass laws ensuring that kids with disabilities were accommodated and taught in our public schools (setting up programs in which my son and countless others have benefited enormously).

When Reagan was President, Hillary was Chairman of the Legal Services corporation - legal services for the poor. In a head-to-head battle with the President, she successfully fought Reagan off when he tried to shift $300 million legal services to defense spending.

In Arkansas Hillary ran the University of Arkansas's legal aid and prison projects; reformed Arkansas' education system; instituted a model parent education program; created new scholarships for single parents; and expanded medical facilities in Arkansas' poorest areas.

As First Lady Hillary helped create the State Children's Health Insurance Program; spearheaded efforts to double child care spending, dramatically expand Head Start, and create Early Head Start; and expanded the federal after school program to a $1 billion formula grant program that reaches every state.

She could have gone back into private life when she and Bill left the White House. It would have been easy and she could have gotten a job that paid a boatload of money with her mind, intellect and background. Any law firm, foundation or University would have jumped at the chance to put her name on their letterhead.

But she didn’t. She wanted to keep doing what she does best – helping folks as a public servant.

But instead she thought "I still have work to do on behalf of the people of this world" and she realized she could continue her work as a Senator from NY. So she put together a campaign staff, rolled up her sleeves, put on her boots and took her message to the people of NY. She even headed up state when the "experts" told her not to bother.

Six years later she ran for and won re-election with 67% of the vote. She could have won re-election without the margin of victory in the City - that's how much the folks upstate (the people she was told to write off) loved, respected and trusted her. And they still do.

She’s done a great job for her state and for the people of this nation from that post...

Hillary created a teacher recruitment program to bring outstanding teachers into low-income communities.
She sponsored legislation to grow childcare funding to $11.2 billion.
She fought off dramatic cuts to Medicaid and SCHIP.
She passed legislation with Lindsay Graham for expanded health services for military families.
She made sure that six million children have health insurance through the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP).
She fought for and won health benefits for our troops in the National Guard and Reserves.
She fought to preserve combat pay for injured National Guard and Reserve soldiers and passed a law establishing health tracking for returning soldiers.
She passed the Kids Car and Safety Act.
She successfully stopped efforts by the FDA to keep Plan B off the market.
She led the effort to get rid of the head of the FDA.
She held the Senate's first committee ever on environmental justice.
She fought to extend unemployment benefits, and won.
She successfully advocated for education reform.
She fought to make abortion safe, legal and rare.
She wrote and secured passage of legislation to assist family caregivers in accessing affordable and high quality respite care.
She fought to make sure the medicines we give our children are safe.
She was the first US Senator to label what was happening in Darfur genocide.
Her work on behalf of the environment and the health of first responders after 9/11 is nothing short of heroic.
She fought for and got enhanced body armor for our troops.
She got the Pentagon to respond to the Congress in terms of planning for Iraq withdrawal. The list goes on.

Alegre ends her post by saying: "I plan to stand by her every step of the way – and I know I won’t be standing alone."

You certainly won't!