She's earned it

This narrative has been promulgated in many ways, from straightforwardly accusing her of feeling entitled to casting her as an imperious queen who expects a “coronation.”

There has, quite frankly, never been any merit to these accusations. Not against a candidate who fought a long, hard primary battle in 2008, then immediately got to work helping her rival get elected, then served in his cabinet, then ran another long, hard primary battle eight years later.

The way Clinton has campaigned throughout this general election should, at long last, put to rest any notion of an uppity woman who feels “entitled” to have the nation’s highest office handed to her.

She is the most qualified candidate ever to seek the presidency, and she is unparalleled in her command of issues both foreign and domestic. She has gathered a colossal amount of experience, and she has done her homework.

She has campaigned relentlessly, making speeches until her voice nearly gave out, and drove herself to exhaustion making appearances even when she had pneumonia.

She has gone on a listening tour, held large rallies, done intimate town halls, met with small groups of people at their businesses, at schools, at community organizations, at places of worship.

She has met with, and talked to, and listened to, and taken selfies with countless people across the country. She has shaken thousands of hands, heard thousands of personal stories, written notes to people she has met, inquired about how to help those in need.

She has said, over and over, that she will be a president for the people who vote for her, and for the people who do not.

She has told her supporters, again and again, that she does not take their support, their donations, and their votes for granted.

She has, in sum, worked for every single vote.

That is not a candidate who feels “entitled” to anything. That is a candidate who knows she has to work for the office she seeks, and has done everything she can to earn it.

What “entitlement” looks like is a candidate who has never served a day in public office, has zero command of the issues, makes no effort to reach out or speak to half the country, has no idea what he is even doing, and yet thinks he is qualified to be the president — and brays ceaselessly about how the election must be “rigged” if he does not win.

That is entitlement.

Hillary Clinton has not behaved like a person who is entitled. She has behaved like a person who is trying to earn it.

And she certainly has.