Opinion: Hillary Clinton gives up on another White House run, ‘probably’

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With so much attention focused on the hot Illinois guy’s lead in the presidential polls and tomorrow night’s final debate on that glacial moraine called Long Island, Sen. Hillary Clinton slipped one by most of us this morning.

In two TV interviews, both taped yesterday and both billed today as ‘Exclusive’ (it’s TV, what can we say?), she talked about her political future. Here’s what we learned:

There is ‘zero’ chance of her accepting a Supreme Court seat, she told Fox News. ‘I have no interest in that.’

Ah, but what about another White House run someday? Gotta be tempting. To come so close this time. What are the chances of that? ‘Probably close to zero.’

What??!! A Clinton not angling for the White House? What’s it been, like 20 years? Wait, how old is Chelsea? (28)

‘There’s an old saying,’ Clinton added. ‘Bloom where you’re planted.’

Must be a new old saying ‘cause it sure wasn’t operative for the 18 months before Sen. Clinton surrendered to Barack Obama last June after investing, what, $13.1 million of her family’s easily-earned cash and many times that amount in other people’s money in her unsuccessful presidential campaign.

‘I’m not seeking any other position than to be the best senator from New York that I can be,’ she also said.

To be honest, while you’re out there so often on the campaign trail living up to your promise to work for the Democratic nominee’s election, whoever it might be, is probably not the best time to announce you’re pondering a presidential campaign in 2012 if this freshman senator blows it in the last three weeks, or waiting until 2016 if he doesn’t.

But ‘probably close to zero’ probably leaves about as close to zero wiggle room as is possible in a modern politician’s vocabulary archived on the Internet.

But what about Senate majority leader, a job that Nevada’s grumpy Harry Reid holds and has said he intends to keep holding because, to be very honest, there’s not much to do back home? And it’s so sandy there.

‘Oh,’ Clinton replied, ‘probably zero.’

She said instead she’s really looking forward to being a senator during an Obama administration.

Yeh, and then she offered the Fox News reporter a chance to buy the Brooklyn Bridge.

To hear Clinton talk in a video about lingering sexism in American politics and society, including toward Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, click on the Read more line below.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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