Hillary Clinton isn't 'just like us'

In America, we prefer our leaders to be like us. We ask, do they understand the problems of people like me? So Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton stepped in a political puddle last week while trying to show the state she served as a U.S. senator from 2001 to 2009 that she’s a true New Yorker like the rest of us living here.

Entering a subway station with her entourage, Clinton had to swipe her MetroCard five times before it would work. Her puzzled awkwardness was painfully visible. (Tabloids and comedians took note.) Clearly, she had never used a card like this of any kind. Once on the subway, she marveled that it was a wonderful way to travel: “I love it. … It’s just the best way to get around.” Yes, Madame Secretary. It’s like commuting on a train of winged chariots. New Yorkers do it for fun. Especially the Brooklyn G train. Try that one.

But of course Hillary Clinton—former first lady of Arkansas, former first lady of the United States, former U.S. senator, former secretary of state, and twice a leading candidate for the U.S. presidency—is not like the rest of us, and her mistake was in trying to prove she was. In 1979 she moved into the governor’s mansion in Little Rock with her newly elected husband and has not had to fly below the clouds socially since.

In all fairness, there is reason we provide chauffeured black limousines to high government officials for getting around a city like New York or Washington: security and productivity. Her time has been far too valuable for her to spend it jammed among commuters on the D.C. Metro.

We expect the people to whom we entrust the leadership of this vast republic and world superpower to live a somewhat separated life with the help of efficient supports. Nonetheless, especially in these days of the highly interventionist regulatory state where there is no aspect of our lives that government cannot and does not attempt to manage, it is important that those who run our lives, who think they know better than we do about what’s good for us (like whether we should buy health insurance), be directly familiar with the terrain and challenges we face every day. Government leaders should not only be aware of the burdens they impose when they impose them, but also be able to sympathize with us, having walked in our shoes. A candidate’s “up from poverty” personal story means something.

Christ is our model. Of course, God became flesh to die in our place, but the incarnation even on its own demonstrated God’s sympathy. Jesus could “sympathize with our weaknesses” because he was “tempted as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). A good minister of Christ has contended with studies, workplaces, neighbors, young families, and family budgets. So it appeals to Iowans that one of their senators, Chuck Grassley, drives a tractor when he’s home. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida turned accusations of irresponsibility with student loan debt into a positive: “Like most Americans, I know what it’s like for money to be a limited resource and to have to manage it accordingly.”

Perhaps it’s unrealistic to expect anyone with the experience required for the presidency to be “down to earth” and “just like us.” Maybe the best we can ask for is evidence of humility.