This is my own thinking. I think we have a lot of people who have either never reformed or have not made amends in denial. They cannot admit that they goofed up their own lives and seek absolution on the false basis that "everybody does it." They have been divorced, passed over for promotions in affirmative action enviornments and otherwise deprived of their due. Like Hilary they feel entitled to wealth and power because they got high SAT scores. I know someone like that, my ex.
My parents were very liberal anti war types during the Vietnam war but today are quite conservative. My mother says that the anti war equation just didn't add up any more and she had nothing to show for past protests aside from a gap in her education and career.