Qualifications

The December, 1998 issue of Vogue Magazine featured a, “glamour shot” photo of Hillary Clinton on its cover.  It is a beautiful picture.  Still in the White House, but already planning a Senatorial run in New York, she is featured in a black, off the shoulder dress against a red background.  The hair is perfect, the makeup is professionally lacquered, the face and waist narrowed with Photoshop precision.   You would have to look at my last colonoscopy to find a picture of me that was that carefully prepared.
            Hillary has now rolled out a slick campaign that will lead to the inevitable nomination and perhaps even election.  [In the words of H. L. Mencken, “No one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.”]  I would like to look briefly at her qualifications.
            She was Secretary of State.   Why? 
Obama had been her only real barrier to the Presidential nomination and as tough a fight as she put up, she couldn’t battle the fawning minions of the press and their romantic vision of a President with a Kenyan father.  Yet, her popularity was immense and Obama loved the theater of making her his First in Command.   
She became Secretary of State because she was a Presidential candidate.  Why?
            Clinton ran for President because she is a visible character who occupied the senatorial seat of a very large state.  Lots of senators run for office.  Sixteen have made it to the Presidency, three of them (Warren G. Harding, JFK, and Obama) making the jump directly from one office to the other. 
She was a Presidential candidate because she was a senator.  Why?
            In 1998, the immensely popular Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, announced his retirement.  A large number of Democrats were sure the Republicans would run Mayor Rudy Giuliani for the seat and they wanted a big name to oppose him.  They encouraged Hillary to run.  She quickly bought a home in Chappaqua, just north of New York City and ran successfully, not against Giuliani, but a Congressman who was nobody’s household name. 
She was offered a senatorial seat.  Why?
            That brings us back to that Vogue cover, and the events of 1998.  The Bill Clinton/Monica Lewinsky scandal broke in January of 1998.  The President and his 22 year old intern had sex some 9 times in the White House during the years from 1995-1997.  By July of 1998 Monica had turned over a semen stained dress for DNA examination and Bill had to fess up, forcing Hillary into the role of wronged but stalwart wife.
            In the end, having every Democrat (and nine Republicans) in the senate vote against a verdict of guilty the President retained office, though, “innocent” was not the word anyone would use.
            It was at this point that the feminist wing of the Democratic Party decided that Hillary deserved a reward.  Since Hillary sees herself as a political animal, the dues for Bill’s bad behavior was a fat, federal seat. 
            She was offered New York.  Why?  Because Bill cheated on her, not for the first time, but in a mighty public way.
Hillary is the Presidential nominee for 2016 because she was Secretary of State; because she was Senator; because her husband cheated on her.
Is she smart?  Probably.  Educated? Obviously.  Hard working?  Most likely.  But I have just described millions of American women.  Are they all qualified to be President?  No!  Smart, educated and hardworking do not make you Presidential material. I want a woman who is not riding in to office on her husband’s philandering coattails. 
Look for substance and keep the faith.  

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