QUOTE OF THE DAY - AT 10:09 A.M. ET:  From Glenn Kessler of the Washington Post, on Hillary Clinton:

By all accounts, she is the consummate team player and is often the best-briefed, most prepared person in the room. President Obama's aides say he values her advice and appreciates her dedication, dampening speculation that he and his erstwhile rival would not work well together.

But after eight months in office, Clinton, 61, sometimes seems torn between her inclination to lead and her need to function effectively within the administration, creating a certain tension between her aspirations and her status.

And...

The portrait that emerges from interviews and from the observation of Clinton's early tenure is one of an intensely political figure who wants to remain above the fray of day-to-day diplomacy and to work well with her fellow Cabinet members, but who also wants to stand alone from time to time.

COMMENT:  They key question is how long she stays.  Does she want to be tainted by Obama's appeasement policies, or does she believe in them?  Does she still want to be president, knowing that she'll be 68 in 2016?

Hillary thinks about Hillary.  And Bill occasionally thinks about Hillary, among younger others. 

My own sense is that Hillary still wants to be president, and will do what is needed to get there in 2016, or even 2012 if Obama chooses not to run again.  She may well want to place herself in a position where the party "owes" her the nomination, and where Obama will not stand in her way.  For all we know, and this is pure speculation, she may have made that deal with the president when she agree to take her current job.

She remains the most fascinating player in Washington, with both talent and several planeloads of baggage.  Watch her.

September 19, 2009