When Hilary Rodham Clinton is finally forced off the campaign trail after her last ditch attempts to become President of the United States, the question is what awaits her. Will it be Senate Majority leader, eventual New York Governor, Supreme Court Justice?

Well, according to a very sobering article from Time Magazine, what awaits her as a Senator is much less glamorous and much more pedestrian.

Many have speculated that Clinton, as a sort of consolation prize on the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue, might make a good Majority Leader. But those doing the speculating clearly don’t understand the way the Senate works. Not only is majority leader actually a tedious, behind-the-scenes managerial position, but the current holder of that position, Harry Reid of Nevada, is a lot more popular in his party than outsiders realize, and his chief deputies, Dick Durbin and Charles Schumer, have their own ambitions. Senators want a leader they can call at any hour with complaints — in other words they want a referee, not a superstar. “The Senate needs to work on an hourly basis, a lot of labor-intensive work, and it’s a major shift when you’ve been operating at a certain altitude to come back and get involved in the nuts and bolts of the Senate literally 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and that’s what [being Majority Leader] involves,” said Senator Chris Dodd, who himself recently returned from the presidential field and is one of the 17 who endorsed Barack Obama.
-Can Hillary Readjust to the Senate?, Time Magazine, 28 May 2008

The article is quite a story. It reminds of words about the losers of the general election from an article in the Guardian newspaper a few months back. This is something for Hillary to think about because she is going home to DC soon.