OBAMA AND THE CLINTONS: POSSIBLE FUTURES

Headline of a post at Down with Tyranny:

AT WHAT POINT DO THE CLINTONS ENDORSE OBAMA AND START WORKING ON SAVING THEIR BRAND?

Oh, they could have another ten or twenty years in the public eye; my guess is that they think Hill can be senator for life (probably true) and Bill's celebrity will endure, and so the brand will take care of itself.

Hillary's not going to drop out until it's inevitable that she won't win. I just don't know what happens then. It's easy to imagine the Obama camp thinking it's strategically better not to be associated with the Clintons, while the Clintons are happy not to lift a finger for the guy beyond pro forma shows of support.

What I wonder about is an Obama presidency, if it happens. Would Senator Clinton be President Obama's ally in Congress? Or would she decide to be to him what Pat Moynihan and Bob Kerrey were to her husband -- would she be, in other words, a frequent critic, someone the press can always count on for a quotably nasty intraparty verbal attack?

Obama may win the election and enter the White House on a wave of goodwill, but he's still a Democrat and the press is still the press -- it will constantly be on the lookout for people who can cut him off at the knees, just as it was the last time a Democrat became president, with a special eagerness to find party mates abandoning him on this or that issue. The irony, of course, is that sniping at President Obama would give the Clintons the respect within the chattering classes that they've never had. I hope Hillary resists the temptation, but if he wins, it'll be there.

*****

Headline at BuzzFlash:

... Hillary, Don't Destroy the Democratic Party, Please. Take a Seat on the Supreme Court in an Obama Presidency (How Does Chief Justice Sound?) Or Become the Majority Leader of the Senate, And Let's Move On. We Need to Get the Republicans Out of the White House.

Hillary Clinton as a Supreme Court nominee? For the love of God, no. What could possibly be more of a rallying point for the GOP? Making an appointment like this would be like deliberately cutting yourself in shark-infested waters. Hey, BuzzFlash, I don't think there's the slightest chance of this -- and a good thing, too.

(BuzzFlash editor Mark Karlin's unconvincing argument for a Hillary Clinton Supreme Court appointment is here.)