Hillary in the Senate forever?

Josh Marshall wonders what the next step will be for Hillary, and concludes that she will probably stay in the Senate long-term. I agree, but I want to add a couple of things to Josh's musings. First, some people retire from office to make money. Hillary clearly doesn't need to do that. Even if Bill never makes another dime, the two of them are presumably in good shape.

Second, Hillary is a true wonk. She really seems to enjoy policy discussions, and the Senate is perfect for that. Now that the Dems are in power and probably will be for a while, she has a real chance to pass some significant legislation, particularly if Obama wins. In a year or two, we could be reading articles about Hillary's comeback as a policy geek. That would go a long way to restoring many people's lost faith in her and Bill, including mine. We might even forget her moment lapse of reason when she dismissed economists as not worthy of consideration when developing public policy.

Right now, it looks like she ran for Senate from New York because she wanted a platform from which to run for president. But she's won over a lot of people in NY, and has established a good record for being bipartisan (except on the war). She could really shine in the Senate for a long time. She could easily be there for 10, 20, even 30 years. By which time an intern named Monica may very well fade into history.