Will she, won’t she?

In hindsight, others were more astute and said it was only a matter of time before Sonia Gandhi made her political debut either because ambition drove her or because old Congress warhorses, driven to their wits’ end, would thrust power upon her. The way the Congress has played it eversince her emergence, it would seem just about everyone from Dalits to women to the minorities to the disenchanted-with-coalitions has awaited the return of a Nehru-Gandhi.

With Hillary there are a few similarities and many differences. The Clinton legacy, so soon after the impeachment trial, is not what a candidate for the Senate would automatically claim. On the other hand, she appeals more or less to the same coalition of interests that supported Bill Clinton through his Monica days and came out in opinion poll after opinion poll saying they liked what he was doing for the country. According to Democratic Party sources, “Labor folks and money folks” are pushing for Hillary. She would win the votes of women, Hispanics, African Americans and New York City.

That’s pretty much everybody, one would have to say, outside of the Bible belt. Which leads to the question whether she has her eye on Capitol Hill or something bigger. But then again, if she’s thinking of the White House, she will have to considerCalifornia which believes it is way ahead of the rest of the country in its thinking and is also where Diane Feinstein comes from.

One way or another, an awful lot of folks would be disappointed if Hillary were to say, no thanks, there’s work for me among the world’s children. In her own career, Hillary’s biggest assets would be her steely nerves and the spectacular political skills of her husband. Not that she cannot boast of her own political acumen. As for her Bofors — the Whitewater land deal and commodities trading in Arkansas — anyone who has survived the Starr Chamber is not likely to flinch at the prospect of those issues being revived. The question in the end is whether she thinks the prize is worth being put through the wringer again.

And what is the prize? Power in her own right? Maybe. The much greater prize, one worth fighting for, would be for Hillary Rodham Clinton, not the combative and supportive wife and mother everyone has seen but the person with ideas and goals of her own for hercountry. A bonus would be being able to continue the fight against “right-wing conspiracies”.