Imagine where she would be now. A leader in the Senate, thinking seriously about challenging a damaged President Obama in 2012, that’s where.

And she’d be getting tons of encouragement. She’d be free to join and even lead the chorus of outraged Dems and turned-off independents.

Instead, she’s checkmated herself. By hitching her wagon to the shooting star Obama was in 2008, she effectively took herself out of the next presidential election…

In a perverse way, Obama’s myriad failures actually hurt her more than they hurt him. He could still find redemption through re-election, while she’s left with two unappealing choices. Both smack of political dead ends.