Throw Away the "Hillary in 2016" Paraphernalia

I believe Hillary Clinton when she says that she "won't run for president again."

Logically, of course, and barring unforeseen earth-shaking events, President Obama will be the sole Democratic candidate in the 2012 presidential race. That certainty is even more so after Obama's startling win of the credibility-infusing Nobel Peace Prize.

And the 2016 presidential election is eons away in political terms. By 2016, the U.S. and the world will be far different places... places we can't even anticipate today.

By 2016, Bill and Hillary Clinton will strictly be the stuff of American history textbooks: Bill as the smart, young president who took office 23 years earlier, and Hillary as the dynamic woman who, almost a decade earlier, was the first serious female contender for the White House.

But more importantly, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton looks happy these days. Really happy, and healthier, too. Able to easily laugh, even at her own ambitions.

I fully believe her when she told NBC's Ann Curry:

"You know, I am not one of these people who feel's like I have to have my face in the front of the newspaper or on the TV every moment of the day... Now, maybe that is a woman's thing. Maybe I am totally secure and feel absolutely no need to go running around in order for people to see what I am doing... that doesn't mean it all has to be me, me, me all the time. I like lifting people up."

Frankly, even Hillary isn't so ultra-ambitious as to forget the frazzling scrutiny and rabid sexism of the 2008 primary races and media coverage. Or to forget the blistering agony of $21 million in campaign debts.

If and when she "retires" from public office, Hillary Clinton will undoubtedly join her husband in overseeing the interesting and genuinely extraordinary work now done around the world by the William J. Clinton Foundation.

So throw away your "Hillary in 2012" campaign buttons, t-shirts and bumper stickers. And while you're at it, toss your "Hillary in 2016" paraphernalia into the garbage, too.

You probably won't be using them. Probably...

But one can still hold out a little unrealistic hope :)

(Photo #1 taken on Oct 2, 2009 with Secretary General Ihsanoglu of the Organization of the Islamic Conference: Mark Wilson/Getty Images. Photo #2 taken on Sept 30, 2009 with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: Mario Tama/Getty Images.)