At Wal-Mart, Clinton didn't upset any carts

The L.A. Times reports:

At a Democratic presidential debate last month, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton described Wal-Mart, the world's largest retail company, as a "mixed blessing." She spoke from experience.

From 1986 to 1992, Clinton was a member of its board of directors, carefully navigating through a spate of internal policy concerns that now weigh on Wal-Mart's corporate image.

Former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. board members and executives recall Clinton as a politically nimble insider who cautiously tried to nudge the company toward hiring more female executives and environmentally friendly practices, to limited effect, while remaining silent as Wal-Mart pursued anti-union strategies.

Four times a year, Clinton would leave Little Rock, driven by Arkansas state troopers and sometimes accompanied by her husband, then-Gov. Bill Clinton, for a three-hour ride to Bentonville, the northwest Arkansas company town that sprouted up around Wal-Mart's headquarters.

Imagine that.