Is Senator Clinton "withholding" most of her important White House First Lady papers until 2012? Her opponents say she is. It sure looks like she is. But her campaign has a different spin. What is it? "Three Iowa supporters of another candidate, Senator Barack Obama, of Illinois, sent Mrs. Clinton, of New York, a letter Saturday, urging that she expedite the release of documents, to “be as open as possible with the American people.” In a 2002 letter from Mr. Clinton to the National Archives, which controls his papers, Mr. Clinton wrote that documents including communication between the two Clintons “should generally be considered for withholding” until 2012. Experts on presidential papers, as well as advisers to Mrs. Clinton, say that “withholding” in that context did not mean the papers would be kept under wraps indefinitely. Rather, the word is a legal term in the Presidential Records Act requesting that the papers be subjected to review. The advisers emphasized that the papers involving the couple would likely be released once they were reviewed. In interviews recently, lawyers and experts on presidential papers said it was not unusual for a president to want a close review of documents that might have personal or political dimensions."
My take? Don't get sucked in by this argument. Yes, technically (and the Clintons love to make arguments like this) "withholding" papers doesn't mean they'll be closed off to the public forever. It means they have to be reviewed before being released. But make no mistake: it takes a long time to review millions of papers. It can take years. The Clintons knew that, and know that, and Bill Clinton had to know that when he wrote his 2002 paper asking that the First Lady's papers be withheld and, thus, reviewed.
This is Clinton campaign spin, trying to befog the truth.
