Vote was probably against installation of yet another dynasty in White House

Mrs Hillary Clinton (right), the 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, gives her concession speech in New York City on November 9, 2016. She blames FBI boss James Comey for her loss. PHOTO | JEWEL SAMAD | AFP.

What you need to know:

  • The Clintons first rose to national power in 1993, when Bill was elected to the White House. Before then, he had been governor of Arkansas, from 1979 to 1981, and 1983 to 1992. Hillary served as Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, and before then she had been New York senator from 2001 to 2009.

  • In a way, therefore, the better part of the Clintons’ adult lives has been spent in the national limelight, and with none of them now actively involved in American politics, or in positions of power, the end of their dynasty seems nigh.

  • After the Harrisons, Rockefellers, Roosevelts, Kennedys and Bushes, Americans were beginning to question the place of family dynasties in their electoral cycle.

A few minutes after sending her campaign manager to her supporters’ party on Wednesday morning to tell them that “it’s not over”, Hillary Clinton reached for her phone and called Donald Trump to concede defeat.

With 276 electoral votes in Mr Trump’s bag against her 218, she had lost the race, and that call was more than just a concession, as it marked the frustrating, painful end to the presidential aspirations of the wife of one of America’s most popular presidents in history, Bill Clinton.

Hillary, aged 69, had lost the bid for the White House for the second time, and definitely the last.

“This team has so much to be proud of,” she tweeted her supporters on Tuesday morning as the results trickled in, with early projections calling it in Trump’s favour. “Whatever happens tonight, thank you for everything.”

When the election was finally called, pundits immediately started predicting the end of the Clintons’ dynasty.

Even though the Federal Bureau of Investigations had found no grounds for criminal charges after a probe into her use of a private email server rather than a government system while she was secretary of state, USA Today reported that “the issue allowed critics to raise doubts about her integrity”.

'CORRUPT SYSTEM'

Trump has used the emails scandal to accuse the Clintons of representing a corrupt political system in Washington, which he vows he will sweep clean.

The Clintons first rose to national power in 1993, when Bill was elected to the White House. Before then, he had been governor of Arkansas, from 1979 to 1981, and 1983 to 1992. Hillary served as Secretary of State from 2009 to 2013, and before then she had been New York senator from 2001 to 2009.

In a way, therefore, the better part of the Clintons’ adult lives has been spent in the national limelight, and with none of them now actively involved in American politics, or in positions of power, the end of their dynasty seems nigh.

It has been coming a long way, though. In May last year, former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley stirred a conversation in the US when, during an interview on ABC’s This Week, he questioned the wisdom in having “crowns” and political dynasties.

“Let’s be honest here,” he said, “the presidency is not some crown to be passed between two families. It is an awesome and sacred trust to be earned and exercised on behalf of the American people.”

After the Harrisons, Rockefellers, Roosevelts, Kennedys and Bushes, Americans were beginning to question the place of family dynasties in their electoral cycle. And so, if Tuesday’s vote was not against the immigration policies of the Democrats, or the foreign ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton, it was probably against the installation of yet another dynasty in the White House.