You have to be on another planet for the past few years to not know that Senator Hillary Clinton will be running for President of the United States in 2008. All of the signs have been there: the bad non-denials, the support from her husband and former President, the fundraising letters to New York voters that don’t even mention New York in them. The writing is on the wall and you can all read the tea leaves (feel free to add whatever useful cliche you find most appropriate).
One problem I have with the process is using a position in the United States Senate as a stepping stone. Let’s all step back for a moment. Hillary is not even from New York, but moved there to get residential status to run (similar to what Vice President Dick Cheney did in 2000 – switching his residency to Wyoming so he could be on the same ticket as Texas resident George Bush).
Who needs constitutional protections when you have the very efficient United States Post Office?
Amazing how different clauses in Article I compete and contradict each other.
The United States Senate was fashioned after the British House of Lords. Apparently, there were some aspects of the British government that our Founding Fathers liked and a bicameral legislature was one of them. Before the Seventeenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1913, the Senate was literally a Good Old Boys Club, elites that were chosen by state legislatures, not the people. This is not exactly a county freeholder seat we’re talking about here, and what does every Senator see when they look in the mirror? A future President, which makes the even larger point.
How are politicians going to be of, for and by the people when they are constantly eyeing their next job? Seeking promotion in business is one thing, but government is about rulemaking and legislating, not maximizing a corporate bottom line for investors (that was the original intent anyway).
If Hillary does not genuinely want to serve her entire term as Senator, she should step aside and let someone committed to New York do it. Their citizens deserve more than just another opportunistic person looking out for their own self-interests (Al Sharpton, anyone).