Opinion: So what does Hillary Clinton do on Day One of the rest of her life?

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O.K., what does the newest Democratic ex-candidate for president do this morning on Day One of the rest of her life?

The impatiently awaited hearty endorsement of Barack Obama by Hillary Clinton is over. Finally. You can read her complete speech text here.

She was 45 minutes late for the unity event, very Clintonesque. Just deal with it, folks. She did a good job of delivery. It’s actually a tad more about her than him, which might be expected at the mercy killing of a surefire victorious presidential campaign that changed directions more times than a 13-year-old driving student and still ended up coming pretty close.

Does she really work her pantsuit off for the freshman senator from Illinois this fall, trying to keep her herd of 18 million voters in the Obama corral?

It certainly needs to look that way. It would keep her at the head of the Clinton flock and perhaps earn some street creds for loyalty with Democrats who dislike her. (There are just a few, you know!)

Or does she do what the Clintons appeared to do for -- or to -- the party’s nominee in 2004, John Kerry: Show up to be seen ...

... helping but really let him sink in his own miscues, which just so happened to leave the next presidential round seemingly wide open for Hillary?

(Unless she happened to catch that ’04 Democratic convention speech debut by someone named Obama.)

The year 2008 seems endless already in some ways. But the year 2012 isn’t really all that far away politically speaking, especially if you’ve got $20 million in campaign debt to retire and an awful lot of fences to mend at those interminable Jefferson-Jackson Day dinners, especially among African Americans. (A quick tip: Do it yourself this time. Don’t send Bill.)

Not to mention finding campaign staff who know how to organize caucus states. (Think about it: How different could history be if she or John Edwards had stopped Obama cold that cold night in Iowa and then the next week she scooped up New Hampshire?)

Now that she’s no longer running for president -- for 2008 anyway -- what does a sleep-deprived former first lady who didn’t dodge sniper fire in Bosnia do with herself this morning?

Probably sleep in, first off. She’s due some rest, maybe plenty. Let

those bruised, much-shaken hands heal a bit. But these big league politicos are a different breed. They don’t shut down and tune out like most of us. They have a mind that uncannily sees around corners and always thinks two steps ahead of the one step ahead that normal people feel really good about.

She could go into business for herself, as her husband did so lucratively to pay off his huge legal scandal bills -- and then some. She could do another bestselling book about how she lost, maybe make herself sound a little more human from the start this time. The millions from that last book enabled the loans to her cash-strapped campaign. Otherwise, she’d have been conceding two months ago.

She could go around the world giving speeches like her husband and get paid $100,000 and more for doing in front of an attentive crowd what she’s been doing for free all these months since she sat on her couch -- or a couch -- and said she wanted to have a conversation with us.

As a global pioneer in the gender glass-ceiling-breaking business, she’d no doubt be in big demand all over.

Maybe she could start a healthcare foundation, visit that goofy-looking Syrian dictator for tea like Nancy Pelosi, if President Obama hasn’t already done that, and sometimes say zany things about Israel and Palestine like Jimmy Carter.

Chances are though she’ll stay in politics for now. Once you experience that rush of the playoffs in the big leagues, what would scare the boxer briefs off normal people is everyday exciting to them.

They relish going before a hostile crowd to see if they can turn some around; they can literally see when it happens in the eyes of individual audience members. And they talk about that moment with excitement later.

It’s a kick for these types to go in front of a few million silent faces behind the TV camera and see if they can remember all the talking points from debate prep, hit their opponents’ weaknesses and still get off a spontaneous zinger. It’s an addictive drug. How many years since Joe Biden lost the first time and he still came back for more?

What about being a governor somewhere, say, New York? Big state. She already knows it. Prominent politics. Rinse off some of that Washington insider taint. Demonstrate some executive skills and accomplishments. And Bill would just love Albany.

Americans do prefer chief executives for Chief Executive; it won’t happen this year, but four of the last five presidents have been governors. (And the one exception was a sitting vice president.)

Our colleague Glenn Thrush over at the Swamp also wrote a list of Clinton’s possibilities:

VICE PRESIDENT

PROS: Her popularity with white lunch-bucket voters, Latinos and women gives Obama better chances at winning states like Ohio, Missouri, Michigan, Florida and Texas.

CONS: Many in Obama’s camp think she’s the embodiment of Beltway malaise, plus the watch-your-back-Barack factor and B-I-L-L.

You can read the rest of Glenn’s list right here. But first check out the special repeat illustration just below here. And there’s also a brand-new retrospective photo gallery on Clinton’s campaign here.

--Andrew Malcolm

Photo credits: Stan Honda / AFP / Getty Images; AP / Elise Amendola

To be honest, as The Ticket always is, there’s no real news point to publishing this heroic Chairman Hillary poster again. But we do love it so and felt compelled to share it one last time.