The Queen's Sense Of Entitlement

One thing I’m sick of is talk about how to appease Hillary after she officially loses the Democratic presidential nomination to Obama. The more ridiculous have floated the idea of offering her the job of vice president. Others have thrown out the idea of Senate Majority Leader Clinton, or Supreme Court Justice Clinton. People seem to be under the impression that there is a consolation prize for second place in this race. People, especially hardcore Hillary supporters, seem to think she is owed some special prize, some special appointment for all her trouble of dragging the Democratic Party through the mud for the last few months. I suppose this is an improvement, since up until quite recently she seemed to think she was the heir apparent to the White House thrown, as if that title was owed to her. She seems to have a real problem with her sense of entitlement, whether she is up or down, she thinks she is owed something special. Some of her more loyal supporters seem to believe that if Obama and the rest of the Democratic Party doesn’t pay tribute to her greatness in the form of the vice presidency or some other high-status position of power there will be hell to pay, as if Hillary is a returning champion with an army of white blue collar workers and older women ready to cross the Rubicon and destroy the Party if she isn’t satisfactorily placated.

Listen, the Party owes her nothing. McCain and the Republicans owe her bunches, but the Democrats not so much. Since Obama’s 12 in a row winning streak it has been obvious to everyone paying attention that there was no way she was going to be able to win this thing, yet she continued to side with the Republicans and attack Obama, our nominee. She endorsed McCain over Obama multiple times, saying McCain is ready to be Commander-in-Chief, while Obama has apparently yet to cross that magical threshold. And more recently she has even attacked Democratic members of Congress, the very people she supposedly has the divine right to lead upon her return to the Senate, for not supporting her Republican gas tax pander scheme/$10 billion handout to oil companies. Hillary has been the champion of the right, of McCain and Limbaugh and the rest of them. They are awed by how comfortably she wields right wing attacks against Democrats. If McCain somehow wins in November, which I don’t think is likely, he can be sure he owes it all to Hillary Clinton. So now we are supposed to reward her with the vice presidency? Or Senate Majority Leader? Or Supreme Court Justice? We might as well appoint Joe Lieberman to those positions.

But let’s take a look at our options here.

First, the vice presidency, the most ridiculous idea out there. First and foremost, she is not the sort of person who plays second fiddle to anyone, let alone someone she has repeatedly accused of being inexperienced and naïve, and a thousand other outrageous claims. Second, contrary to popular belief, she brings nothing to the ticket. Her supporters (and thus the media) constantly talk about Obama’s non-existent white problem, and suggest that he needs Hillary to bring in white blue collar vote in November, as if she is the standard bearer of that demographic. She is much closer to Marie Antoinette than the small town champion she pretends to be out on the campaign trail. In fact, having her on the ticket would push more people away than it would bring in given how the right responds to her. Having her on the ticket would guarantee a united and invigorated Republican Party come November. No, she would be the absolute worst choice for VP, and you can read a detailed explanation of why she would be a horrible choice for VP on my blog post about the nightmare ticket.

And what about the Supreme Court? Fine, except she isn’t a scholar, isn’t qualified, and failed the bar, even though 95% of Yale Law graduates pass the bar, she was in the bottom 5% who failed it. After failing the bar she jumped on Bill’s coattails and road them throughout his entire political career, eventually winning her a seat in the Senate in a state she didn’t belong to, not because she had any experience, but because of who she married. And now she is supposedly qualified to sit on the Supreme Court just because she came in second place in her party’s presidential primary? I don’t think so.

And then there is the position of Senate Majority Leader, currently held by Sen. Harry Reid. Well, let’s just ask Sen. Reid about what he thinks about Hillary deserving his job as a consolation prize:

I do this job the best I can, with the full support of my senators. I feel very comfortable with where I've gotten.
Keep in mind also, a senator coming back who's run for president is not a very unique one. Senator John Kerry ran, he's back. Chris Dodd ran, he's back. Joe Biden ran, he's back.
Those senators have been plenty busy since returning from the campaign trail. … Senator Clinton has some very fine committee assignments.

Hm, good point Harry, why is Hillary owed your job just because she ran a horrible campaign and spent months attacking her own party? Is it because she is more qualified than you? Let’s see, what did Harry Reid have to do to get to where he is now? He was the governor of Nevada for four years. Then, he spent two terms in the US House of Representatives. Then he served in the Senate for 20 years, including two years as Majority Whip. But apparently Hillary deserves to be Senate Majority Leader because she was married to a president, got elected to the Senate after carpetbagging her way into New York with no legitimate experience, then served a term in the Senate and ran a failed campaign for her party’s presidential nomination. Yeah, I guess that is more important than 24 years in the US Congress and four years of executive experience. Step aside Reid, Hillary is entitled to your job, and maybe your wife too, if Hillary wants her. We must all bow down to Hillary and give her whatever she wants, because her and some of her supporters think she deserves a special consolation prize not afforded to anyone else, just because of who she is (or who she is married to).

No, I'm sorry, she isn't owed anything. She hasn't done anything to deserve any special treatment or favors or rewards. She ran a nasty, divisive campaign, propelled by her own self-interest and hunger for power and fame, without any care for how much she hurt her own party or the future of the country. She lied, she played on fear, she played on racism, she played in gender, she used every Republican tactic in the book, and all against her own party, not the enemies. And now she deserves a special reward for that? She deserves to jump to the front of the line and take the jobs of people who have actually worked for decades to get where they are, tirelessly supporting and protecting the party? No, I'm sorry, that isn't how it works. She is waiting to be carried over the Rubicon, but she doesn't have an army with her. She likes to believe that she has a lot more power than she really does, but in the end all she really has is a false sense of entitlement, that permeates everything she does.

Maybe if I saw her just once put the good of others above herself, maybe then I would believe that one day maybe, just maybe, she might deserve something more than where she finds herself currently.

Update (5/26): A New York Times article today outlines what Hillary faces upon her return to the Senate, and echoes my position on Senate Majority Leader:

But talk outside the Senate of Mrs. Clinton becoming majority leader is considered truly fanciful within the Senate, where it has also provoked unspoken irritation at the image of Democrats waiting for Mrs. Clinton to swoop in off the campaign to guide her waiting colleagues. Not to mention the fact that Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the current leader, does not seem to be going anywhere.

[...]

Even if Mr. Reid were to change plans, others who have been tending the Senate’s business while their colleagues seek the presidency might have something to say about that majority leader job. They include Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat, and Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, a supporter of Mrs. Clinton who is for the second time running the Senate Democratic campaign committee.

Translation: Hillary has an annoying sense of entitlement about her (probably comes from years of riding on Bill's coattails and now she doesn't understand why she has to work for things now), and there are plenty of people more experienced and more deserving of all of the positions than her. While idiot pundits and many of her loyal supporters don't seem to have a very good grasp of reality (see VP position), others in the Party aren't having any of this BS.