Still4Hill

Wherever she is and whatever she is doing, Hillary Clinton cannot be unaware of wildly disparate activities in her absence.  Nature abhors a vacuum, so various and sundry are filling in the blanks.

Among the more serious efforts are the Super PACs that have formed.  The most prominent of them, Ready for Hillary, hired a communications director,  as Ruby Cramer  of Buzzfeed reports.

Hillary Clinton PAC Staffs Up

Former Ohio Democratic Party communications director Seth Bringman joins “Ready for Hillary,” a source tells BuzzFeed. The first major outside group gets serious about 2016. posted on February 26, 2013 at 8:46am EST

Ruby Cramer BuzzFeed Staff

Image by Matt Rourke / Getty Images

The “Ready for Hillary” political action committee, founded late last month in support of Secretary Hillary Clinton’s possible bid for the presidency in 2016, has made its first major hire and is gearing up to expand further, a source familiar with the group tells BuzzFeed.

Seth Bringman, who served as communications director of the Ohio Democratic Party from 2009 to 2012, has joined “Ready for Hillary” in the same capacity.

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On the wild fringy margins are the myriad Twitter accounts claiming to be Hillary Clinton in some form or incarnation.  One tribute account tells us right up front that it is a parody and Hillary at Home harmlessly tweets imagined activities and meals.   Another,  lacking the blue check mark associated with legitimate celebrity Twitter accounts, calls itself “VerifiedClinton” and tweets in her name (bordering on the illegal unless it truly is HRC testing the social nets waters before unmasking herself).  That account is also associated with a decidedly anemic  “official blog” with a handful of entries all dated November 10, 2012, a half-a$$ed piece of work so atypical of anything HRC would ever do as to be laughable.  That Twitter account is strongly endorsed and promoted by the Vote_Hillary Twitter account associated with GlobalYouthJustice on Twitter and probably the work of one person behind that account and its associated blog.

Then there are the supporters Facebook pages and groups intended as organizational centers for those who will jump on board the train at a word from Hillary.  There is no pretense at these pages.  Members simply post news articles,  particularly those related to 2016 speculation and polls.

So while she is quietly hibernating,  tornadic activity surrounds her in ways that are unprecedented.   The climate in her absence is approaching critical mass,  but Hillary continues her doctor-ordered rest and recovery most silently.  We do not know whether she is paying attention to any of this.  What we do know is, as reported here,  she has signed with the New York based Harry Walker Agency to deliver speeches for up to $200,000 per.   This amounts to more per speech (when she charges, because she will not be charging for all of them, and she will donate the proceeds for some)  than she was paid per year as Secretary of State.

Long time Hillary loyalists will remember that in December 2008, as a condition of her confirmation, she agreed to a pay cut for her cabinet post from the $191,300 that was paid to Condi Rice, to Rice’s pre-raise salary rate of $186,600.  The reason for that was a Constitutional clause saying that if a member of Congress voted for an increase such as that for Secretary of State (and HRC did vote in favor of Condi’s raise) that Congress member may not then assume that post at that pay rate.

So the bottom line is that after four years on the plane and working like a dynamo, she gets to sit back and write some speeches that she will deliver from time to time for more money per appearance than she was paid per year as Secretary of State.  She is free to continue her work for women and girls either through the Clinton Foundation or one of her own should she chose.  She is the most recognizable person in the world living with one of the most powerful men who annually outshines the U.N. General Assembly with his Clinton Global Initiative and accomplishes amazing good without the annoyance of term limits.

Should she wish to give up this comfort zone, board a plane once again, and spend two years campaigning her heart out in order to face a probable eight years (including another campaign) doing the world’s hardest job, there certainly is plenty of support out there.  It will not be a cakewalk or coronation as many have predicted.  She knows how hard and nasty it will become, and we have seen that the knives are already out.  If, on the other hand,  her 40 plus years of very hard work are enough public service for her,  people who really love her will understand.

For now, while she remains quietly hidden,  long-time readers here can enjoy some satisfaction that she will be well-paid while able to enjoy quality time with her family and friends.  She sacrificed a great deal of that time as Secretary of State in service to her country.