Hillary Clinton found a job: Chancellor of Queen's University, Belfast

Hillary Clinton is welcoming in the new year with a new job – she has been appointed chancellor of Queen’s University, Belfast (QUB). The appointment is effective immediately and it’s a five-year gig.

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She’s the first woman to do the job so we can look forward to future speeches about how she broke the glass ceiling at the university. Hillary loves a good humblebrag. It’s mostly a ceremonial position, though, so she won’t be responsible for actual leadership. Given her disastrous time as Secretary of State, the last job to which she was appointed, that is good news for the future of the university.

Clinton will preside at graduation ceremonies. Hillary will also be an ambassador for the university abroad. She will really like traveling on the dime of the university. Remember, she set a record for the total miles traveled by a U.S. secretary of state during her time in the Obama administration. Hillary will also be a “sounding board” and offer guidance. She received an honorary doctorate from the university in October 2018.

Mr Stephen Prenter, Pro-Chancellor and Chair of Senate, the University’s governing body, said: “I am delighted that Queen’s has chosen Hillary Clinton to be its new Chancellor. Secretary Clinton has made a considerable contribution to Northern Ireland and as an internationally recognised leader will be an incredible advocate for Queen’s and an inspirational role model for the Queen’s community.”

In turn, Hillary expressed her pleasure in accepting the position.

Accepting the position, Secretary Clinton, said: “It is a great privilege to become the Chancellor of Queen’s University, a place I have great fondness for and have grown a strong relationship with over the years. The University is making waves internationally for its research and impact and I am proud to be an ambassador and help grow its reputation for excellence.”

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I do wonder what exactly her “considerable contribution to Northern Ireland” is to which the Pro-Chancellor refers. Like the rest of Hillary’s political career, without which she would not receive appointments like this one, she rode the coattails of her husband, the former president. Does that sound harsh? It really isn’t. From the beginning of her professional career, she practiced law in Arkansas with the Rose Law Firm in Little Rock and became a rainmaker. With her husband as attorney general and then governor of the state, that was an easy call. She was the firm’s first female associate. She defended major corporations which would be a disqualifier in today’s Democrat Party. Both she and her husband have erased that part of her career when they re-tell her biography. Instead, her work in advocacy for children is highlighted. From there she was Bill’s co-president (Two for the price of one!) and the rest is history.

Clinton, according to the announcement, “made a considerable contribution to the Northern Ireland Peace Process” as First Lady, which is news to me. Bill Clinton famously traveled to Belfast as part of a UK official tour in November 1995. He was the first US president to visit Northern Ireland. He justified the historic stop as a way to encourage the peace process at the time. Bill Clinton strained the relationship between the UK and the US when he granted the Sinn Féin leader a visa the previous year. Clinton had then shaken Gerry Adams’ hand at a St Patrick’s Day lunch on Capitol Hill in March 1995. That was all very controversial at the time. Perhaps it is a reference to Hillary spending a day meeting with community leaders and then switching on the Christmas lights in Belfast during that trip.

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Hillary Rodham Clinton is an internationally recognised public servant with almost five decades in public service as an advocate, attorney, First Lady, Senator and Secretary of State. Secretary Clinton has developed strong links with Queen’s University and Northern Ireland. As Secretary of State, she focused on economic development to underpin the emergence of a strong and competitive Northern Ireland and, during her time as First Lady, made a considerable contribution to the Northern Ireland Peace Process. With her long-standing commitment to peace, stability and economic regeneration, she is a strong advocate for Northern Ireland and an inspirational role model for the Queen’s community.

It’s a coup for the university to get someone with Hillary’s resume as chancellor. Regardless of her lack of any truly notable success in her former positions, on paper her resume is impressive. We can brace ourselves for her additional opportunities to bash President Trump overseas and disparage his voters along the way. Perhaps she can arrange to be out of the country when Trump wins re-election in November. She can commiserate with all the other leftists overseas when that happens.

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Ed Morrissey 10:00 PM | November 20, 2024
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