# What did Hillary accomplish as Secretary of State? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [August 13, 2015, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734 "2015-08-13T13:10:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Oedipus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Oedipus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oedipus)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/1 "2015-08-13T13:10:20Z")
title ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/2 "2015-08-13T13:36:03Z")
She was very successful at hobnobbing with the foreign elite. So don’t say she did nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/3 "2015-08-13T13:39:21Z")
> [@Oedipus](#): > > title Google. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/4 "2015-08-13T13:57:09Z")
Benghazi. You already knew that, right? ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Parker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/35a633/32.png) [@Richard\_Parker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Parker)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/5 "2015-08-13T13:58:05Z")
> **[Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Rodham_Clinton%27s_tenure_as_Secretary_of_State)** > > Hillary Clinton served as the 67th United States Secretary of State, under President Barack Obama, from 2009 to 2013, overseeing the department that conducted the foreign policy of Barack Obama. > She was preceded in office by Condoleezza Rice, and succeeded by John Kerry. She is also the only former First Lady of the United States to become a member of the United States Cabinet. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2015, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/6 "2015-08-13T14:49:15Z")
We had a “reset” with Russia. I saw her present the button to someone! ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/7 "2015-08-14T04:27:23Z")
She successfully managed to not have any internationally-recognized state declare war on the United States. That’s the chief diplomat’s main goal, right? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/8 "2015-08-14T06:15:47Z")
More importantly, can a case be made that she was better than Madelaine Albright or Warren Christopher? She has a resume, but was she particularly exceptional either as a Senator or SecState? I’ve seen no particular evidence that she was anything out of the ordinary to justify her elevation to the Presidency. ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/9 "2015-08-14T10:24:49Z")
Well, while in office, she managed to keep her emails safe from the prying eyes of the government. Seems they want to view them now however. ---
**Author:** ![davida03801](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5e925/32.png) [@davida03801](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davida03801)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/10 "2015-08-14T10:37:03Z")
Well, while in office, she managed to keep her emails safe from the prying eyes of the government. Seems they want to view them now however. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/11 "2015-08-14T10:54:27Z")
I was going to start typing out things but really, just look at the link unless you’re one of those people who prefer a “Clinton was useless” strawman. > [@Richard\_Parker](#): > > [Hillary Clinton's tenure as Secretary of State - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Rodham_Clinton%27s_tenure_as_Secretary_of_State) She did a lot, and she was one of the hardest-working SoS’s we’ve had. Personal opinions about what constitutes an “accomplishment” will of course vary. No views as to whether she was better than Albright or Christopher, although I consider her more effective at her role than Powell, Rice or Kerry were/are. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/12 "2015-08-14T11:12:39Z")
Kerry just got started. But I do have one accomplishment I can give her: she stiffened Obama’s spine. Heck, she WAS Obama’s spine. It seems to have gone missing since Kerry replaced her. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/13 "2015-08-14T13:06:18Z")
She didn’t go to the UN and lie about another nation’s WMDs, so she’s up on Colin Powell. Four years without starting a war is better than the US historic average. ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/14 "2015-08-14T13:12:28Z")
You mean didn’t start a war with US casuallties. We’re bombing a lot more countries now than we did under Bush, and done regime change of a longtime US enemy to boot. Am I to assume that your only beef with GWB was ground troops? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/15 "2015-08-14T13:15:48Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > You mean didn’t start a war with US casuallties. We’re bombing a lot more countries now than we did under Bush, and done regime change of a longtime US enemy to boot. > > Am I to assume that your only beef with GWB was ground troops? You say this as if US casualties weren’t _literally the worst thing about all these stupid wars_. Yes, they avoided a war with US casualties – thereby avoiding the _worst stupid mistake_ that W and Cheney made. That’s a big difference – the biggest, in fact – that you always gloss over for some reason. Are dead American soldiers really not a big deal to you? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/16 "2015-08-14T13:20:06Z")
They are. But maybe I’m just more liberal than you where it counts, because I care about the effects of our wars on the people of the countries were “saving”. And frankly I’m surprised that they matter so little to many liberals that it’s as if there wasn’t even a war at all to them. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/17 "2015-08-14T14:08:53Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > They are. But maybe I’m just more liberal than you where it counts, because I care about the effects of our wars on the people of the countries were “saving”. And frankly I’m surprised that they matter so little to many liberals that it’s as if there wasn’t even a war at all to them. The effects of our war in Iraq was disastrous for most Iraqis. For Afghanistan and Libya it seems to be much more mixed, and I don’t know whether it was more positive than negative (but I’d lean negative). So what’s your point? These wars seem to have been bad for everyone except the groups that gained power in the vacuums that were created. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/18 "2015-08-14T14:31:45Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > I was going to start typing out things but really, just look at the link unless you’re one of those people who prefer a “Clinton was useless” strawman. > > She did a lot, and she was one of the hardest-working SoS’s we’ve had. Personal opinions about what constitutes an “accomplishment” will of course vary. > > No views as to whether she was better than Albright or Christopher, although I consider her more effective at her role than Powell, Rice or Kerry were/are. Long, slightly interesting article, which I assume was primarily created by her operatives/fans. Summing it all up, she accomplished nothing. It’s not like other SoSs were very accomplished either, but it’s hardly the kind of thing to call on as experience that makes her presidential material. But she can say “I didn’t fuck anything up really bad”. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/19 "2015-08-14T18:21:05Z")
Clinton spent most of her tenure restoring relationships destroyed by the greedy and bloodthirsty, neocon republicans. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734/20 "2015-08-14T18:55:04Z")
Just ftr, the last Secretary of State to be elected President was James Buchanan. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-did-hillary-accomplish-as-secretary-of-state/727734.md?page=2)