Secretaries of State have profiles that are secondary only to that of the President himself, which is why undoubtedly, Hillary jumped at the chance to nab the post. Yet she's been curiously low-key over the past year. I can think of only one occasion where Hillary was front and center.

I don't know whether that's her idea, or President Obama's, but it sure has been serendipitous for one of the most admired women in America. No one has seen hide nor hair of her since the attempted bombing of flight 253, in spite of the fact that the State department is heavily implicated in the conga line of incompetence exhibited by the Obama administration. Yet by virtue of our being acclimated to her absence, we do not unduly wonder why we have not seen her interrogated by a reluctant media.

She can easily keep her head down for another year, but then she has a choice to make--will she challenge Obama for their party's nomination in 2012, in imitation of Ted Kennedy?

I'd be surprised if this isn't an active topic of discussion among Democrat power-brokers who are regarding the Obama administration's slow motion face plant with trepidation. There are some very large agendas at stake and these are not people satisfied to allow nature to take its course.

With Obama looking more and more like a one-termer, Hillary stock is an obvious hedge bet. She was extremely competitive in the primaries, has high favorables and has a reputation for competence (deserved or not...).

Hillary make be well-disposed towards taking the risk. If Obama runs and loses, it might well be another eight years before she gets another chance, and she'll be in her early seventies at that point. Its tough for a man to run at that age, much less a woman, and a decade gives rise to a whole new crop of pretenders to the throne. Challenging Obama for the nomination in 2012 might be her last, best chance to try to win the big chair.

Won't that be interesting...