Justice Hillary

Unless you've been under a rock for the last two days, you now know that Hillary is quitting/conceding/congratulating, and because she's a Clinton and Clinton's don't quit, it is highly likely that she was either threatened with something, or she was promised something.

Since I doubt that Hillary is scared of much, I'm going to go with an assumption that she was promised something. Other than a keynote at the convention that is, the big speech is a given. VP? That's doubtful. I don't think she wants to play second fiddle if Obama wins, and she certainly doesn't want to be anywhere near the wreckage if Obama loses.

But this speculation is interesting:

If Obama were to promise Clinton the first court vacancy, her supporters would actually have a stronger incentive to support him for president than they would if she were going to be vice president. Given the Supreme Court's delicate liberal-conservative balance, she would play a major role in charting the country's future; there is no guarantee that a Clinton vice presidency would achieve such importance.

For nearly a year and a half, Clinton has been fighting a bruising battle. Many appointees and officials from her husband's administration have turned their backs on her; she has lost the support of friends she had every reason to believe would stand by her. She has campaigned tirelessly only to discover that, according to polls, more than half the populace mistrusts her. Yes, she can still hope for 2012 or 2016, but why trust that she will be viewed differently next time around? (A recent CNN "quick poll" found that nearly 70 percent of respondents believed someone other than Clinton would be the first female president.)

From the Democratic point of view it has a nice angle in that it removes her from contention permanently, and a Democratic senate would be likely to confirm one of their own, so I don't see a problem there. On the crackpot theory scale, I would have to rate this one as scary close to possible.