OPINION:
ANALYSIS/OPINION:
A fantastical remark by Hillary Clinton went virtually unnoticed last week, especially by the mainstream media. By Monday, when President Obama let Ferguson, Missouri, burn to the ground by failing to deploy national guard troops to the city ripped by racial strife, the remark had been long forgotten.
But not here. At a black-tie event at the posh Mandarin Oriental Hotel in New York on Friday, the multimillionaire former first lady said something spectacular about the president’s executive order to grant amnesty to some 5 million illegal aliens.
“We should all remember that this is about peoples’ lives. This is about, I would venture to guess, the people who served us tonight, who prepared our food tonight,” and those who perform construction jobs, she said to applause. “These are the lives of people who are, in many instances, longtime residents and workers who have not only raised children, but made contributions.”
Yes, the former Secretary of State, whose last job required the utmost skill in diplomacy, said that the dozens of food servers and chefs at the exclusive hotel all had illegally sneaked into America (tossing in all construction workers for good measure). Yes, Hillary just assumed that her Hispanic waiter, filling and refilling her wine glass, bringing her a delightful chocolate treat after she gorged on a five-course meal, was an illegal who scaled the fence by Laredo, Texas, and now lives with 17 relatives in an overpriced apartment in Brooklyn.
The remark was stunning. The tin-earred Hillary had, in front of hundreds of one-percenters, also charged that the Mandarin Oriental Hotel employed illegals, which (in case everyone has forgotten) is a crime. The hotel, needless to say, was none too happy.
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“Mandarin Oriental, New York does not knowingly employ illegal and/or undocumented immigrants,” the hotel said, using a euphemism for “illegal aliens” (immigrants to America are, by definition, legally admitted into the country). “We require all employees to provide proof of their eligibility to legally work in the U.S.,” said Tammy Peters, a spokesperson for the hotel, in an email to the Weekly Standard. “All wait staff and catering staff are employed through our hotel and we do not use outside contractors for such services.”
Awwwwkward. But what was more interesting was the assumptions the former top diplomat made not just about the wait staff at the hotel, but all Hispanics. In her speech she referred to those she believed the Obama executive order would help: waiters and cooks and construction workers, of course, but also fruit pickers and maids.
The message was clear, and twofold: People who work in those occupations are most likely illegal aliens; and, worse, Hispanics can probably only handle those kinds of jobs (she didn’t mention how the new order would help, say, Hispanic executives and engineers and entrepreneurs).
Mitt Romney, a one-percenter with four houses worth some $18 million, blew his presidential aspirations when he said at a financier’s Boca Raton mansion “there are 47 percent who are with [Mr. Obama], who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.”
And Hillary, who claimed she and husband Bill were “dead broke” when they left the White House, is this presidential cycle’s Romney. She flies around the world in a $40 million Gulfstream jet and demands the presidential suite when giving speeches (for which she gets a quarter of a million dollars). She has an extensive rider of demands as well: she insists on being “the only person on the stage during her remarks,” and bars anyone from taping them. During book signings, no personalized autographs — and certainly no pictures.
Like Mr. Romney, she owns some nice homes, including a $5 million mansion in Washington, D.C. But she doesn’t believe herself to be “truly well off” because she and Bubba “pay ordinary income tax.” And she insists that she has the commoner’s touch, understands the plight of the American worker — so much so that she wants to be president.
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Perhaps she will run; maybe she will win. But Hispanics who might support her now know that she see them all as probably illegal aliens, capable of working only in kitchens or construction site on fruit orchards. Still, she’s happy they’re serving her — and she’ll no doubt want them to continue their life of servitude once she’s in the White House.
• Joseph Curl covered the White House and politics for The Washington Times. He can be reached at josephcurl@gmail.com and on Twitter @josephcurl.
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