I guess I am in agreement with you.

However Hillary has evidently thrown in with Barack. Instead of opposing him, she is going to attempt to help him. Kind of warms my heart that Barack was willing to accept her help.

I am torn. On the one hand I am grateful that Barack is going to have Hillary’s help he will be successful. On the other hand I regret that I do not know who I can turn to if Barack proves himself to be incapable of the extremely difficult job of leadership and turns out to be a disaster.

Perhaps with Hillary’s help I will not need to look for alternatives to Barack. And perhaps if we need change some new stars will emerge?

Hillary got a whole hell of a lot of votes during the primary, and she has some very good lists. Heck, I somehow got added to her email list before Obama’s, and Obama’s PAC people should have had my email address as early as 2005 when I went to an event for Gov. Kaine. Who f*cking cares whether she’s the junior Senator or has less seniority than Kennedy? She has the resources to directly communicate with hundreds of thousands of voters nationwide, and a high enough profile that if she wanted to weigh in on any given day with some thoughts on education or healthcare or piracy in Somalia or militant bases in the NWFP of Pakistan, there would be a bank of cameras and a pool of reporters eagerly taking down every word she said.

Who else can do that in the US Senate? Harry Reid?

As a Senator the voters could have kept sending her back in there.

Nonetheless, she accepted the job.

Which may be an indication that she thinks she can contribute more as Secretary of State and that the domestic issues she campaigned on aren’t as important to her as she led supporters to believe.

And Shawn, I don’t think her serving in the cabinet will advance her causes, especially not the domestic ones. Everyone has to stay in their own lanes.

Actually, I understand that the way around that problem is to reduce the salary. So I think that one will be moot.

It’s called the Saxby fix, and Richard Nixon used it back in the 1970s.

But, there’s a pretty credible argument from one law professor that the Saxby fix doesn’t get around the problem:

http://tinyurl.com/6ntxan

Strictly read, the Emoluments Clause would seem to bar Clinton from serving, but I doubt it will ever come to that.

I’m not thinking about advancing her political career. I’m thinking about her advocacy for the domestic issues that she put forth during her campaign.

There was an article last week that made the point that any effort on her part to take the lead on issues like health care would have been fruitless given that more senior Senators — Ted Kennedy being one — have already taken the lead on that topic.

And the Rice appointment is another reason I’d just as soon Hillary had stayed in the Senate.

One may also think that the appointment of Susan Rice as U.N. ambassador and elevation to cabinet rank may be intended to keep Mrs. Clinton in a gilded but stout cage.

(And 2008 was her only shot at the presidency – she’s 60 already.)

Given how far down in the ranks of seniority she is, and the fact that most of the people in front of her are unlikely to leave the Senate in any manner other than feet first, it’s pretty unlikely that she’d be moving up the leadership ladder anytime soon.

She wouldn’t be able to run in 2012, and she’ll likely be considered too old in 2016.

It’s an Arnie Vinick all over again.