Hillary Clinton May Have Alienated Herself From Her Colleagues

 Hillary Clinton has some work to do with her colleagues in the senate who feel as though she stayed in the race too long and hurt the party. When she returns to the senate she could find it a little more unfriendly than when she left it to run for president. I say this because of a couple of stories that I have read recently.

 Hillary Clinton triumphantly announced to all that would listen that she would accept the vice president nomination, stepping on what should have been Barack Obama’s moment in the sun. She became the story on a day that should have belonged to Barack Obama. This was met with a less than enthusiastic response from Democrats in the senate.

 Now Democrats are already letting it be known that there is not going to be a special leadership role for Hillary when she returns to the senate. The thing is, she hasn’t even asked for a special position, but this shows us what the Democrats are thinking. They are thinking that Hillary is looking for something.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s (D-N.Y.) imminent return to the Senate does not mean she will be greeted with a newly created position within her conference’s leadership, Democratic leaders said Thursday.

Clinton has not sought a special leadership position and has made clear that she is open to being Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) vice presidential nominee. If she does not get chosen for the No. 2 spot, some have speculated that Democratic leaders might carve out a special position within the leadership as a way to appease her supporters and bring the party together.

 Hillary Clinton wants something, that is a given. She stayed in the race until this point to accrue political capital and she intends to spend it. The responses on these two issues by the Democrats show me that they are not willing to just take her back with no hard feelings. The Clinton’s are used to getting what they want and the anointed one is still reeling from her projected primary loss, now it appears that Democrats are tiring of the Clinton machine. Democrat senators appear no longer willing to just appease the Clinton’s any more, they have a brand new, shiny toy, and that toy is Barack Obama.

 I believe that these two stories reveal a rift between Hillary and the rest of the Democrats. I feel that they are holding a grudge against Hillary for not dropping out of the race once it was apparent that she could not catch Obama. Democrats will hold her fully responsible if McCain pulls off the miracle and wins in November.

 The Clinton’s are a couple of bullies, and that is another reason she stayed in the race so long, she felt if she bullied Obama long enough he would wilt. And he did wilt coming down the stretch, his showing in the last ten primaries show that. She just waited too long to start the bullying for it to pay off. But she managed to hurt Obama and if this ends up costing the Democrats in November they will turn to Hillary Clinton with eyes glaring and teeth sharpened.

 She has tarnished her image among Democrats and they now see her in the same way Republicans do, as a manipulating, self-centered, egotistical elitist. Only now she may have damaged one of their own and they begrudge her for it.

 Life in the senate may be tough for Hillary when she returns.