The Guardian is reporting that Hlllary Clinton has accepted the Secretary of State gig. The New York Times is reporting that Bill is still tangled in the vetting process. So it's hard to say where the negotiations stand. But an overwhelming amount of the commentary has been about what the position means for Clinton's assumed presidential ambitions. So here's my addition to the genre: Nothing. It may even mean that she's given up on those ambitions.Presuming that Hillary Clinton will remain one of, if not the, central actors in Democratic life from the year 2000 to the year 2016 displays a certain poverty of imagination about the path of Democratic politics. With every passing day, her singular political position erodes. In 2004, she would have won the nomination in a walk. By 2008, there was a new politician who better tapped into that particular moment in the party's life. By 2016, there will be many politicians like that, most of whose names we don't know. It's very hard to imagine that eight years in the future, the party will want to move back to Clinton. Indeed, if Obama fails in governance and loses in 2012, there will be a new politician articulating a theory of relevance to that failure, and that moment. If he succeeds, then the party will look to a more logical successor -- not his predecessor. That said, the question of what she wants to spend the next eight years doing is a good one. She won't be Ted Kennedy. She doesn't have the time. Doesn't have the time to build the relationships, or ascend to chair the committees. Kennedy had decades to build his legislative power and top the seniority system. His power is not just personal, it is procedural. He chairs the HELP Committee. Clinton does not. And Kennedy became Kennedy in the aftermath of Carter's collapse. Kennedy lost, but Carter was vanquished months later. The Democratic Party had no leaders, and he could step into the breach. That's not true today. Obama has at least four years of leadership. So maybe Clinton simply feels like she will do more good, and have more fun, as Secretary of State. And maybe, when that ends, she looks forward to having a couple of years to live her life. Her own life.Image used under a CC license from VictoryNH. CLINTON AND 2016.
The Guardian is reporting that Hlllary Clinton has accepted the Secretary of State gig. The New York Times is reporting that Bill is still tangled in the vetting process. So it's hard to say where the negotiations stand. But an overwhelming amount of the commentary has been about what the position means for Clinton's assumed presidential ambitions. So here's my addition to the genre: Nothing. It may even mean that she's given up on those ambitions.Presuming that Hillary Clinton will remain one of, if not the, central actors in Democratic life from the year 2000 to the year 2016 displays a certain poverty of imagination about the path of Democratic politics. With every passing day, her singular political position erodes. In 2004, she would have won the nomination in a walk. By 2008, there was a new politician who better tapped into that particular moment in the party's life. By 2016, there will be many politicians like that, most of whose names we don't know. It's very hard to imagine that eight years in the future, the party will want to move back to Clinton. Indeed, if Obama fails in governance and loses in 2012, there will be a new politician articulating a theory of relevance to that failure, and that moment. If he succeeds, then the party will look to a more logical successor -- not his predecessor. That said, the question of what she wants to spend the next eight years doing is a good one. She won't be Ted Kennedy. She doesn't have the time. Doesn't have the time to build the relationships, or ascend to chair the committees. Kennedy had decades to build his legislative power and top the seniority system. His power is not just personal, it is procedural. He chairs the HELP Committee. Clinton does not. And Kennedy became Kennedy in the aftermath of Carter's collapse. Kennedy lost, but Carter was vanquished months later. The Democratic Party had no leaders, and he could step into the breach. That's not true today. Obama has at least four years of leadership. So maybe Clinton simply feels like she will do more good, and have more fun, as Secretary of State. And maybe, when that ends, she looks forward to having a couple of years to live her life. Her own life.Image used under a CC license from VictoryNH. 
