“She’s trapped between a sitting president whose job she wanted and an ex-president to whom she’s married. That’s a snapshot of her situation in August of ’09.

“There are moments, like in Africa, where you have to wonder how she’s looking at the job. Is her heart in it? Is the world and the president and the way the system’s set up conspiring against her?” Miller added.

Several insiders said there was also a sense that the former first lady was on edge because her husband was in Las Vegas celebrating his 63rd birthday a week early.