It was the end of the novel Rising Sun by Michael Crichton. The head antagonist, a powerful Japanese corporate executive, had been vanquished and now had to drink the acrid dregs of ignominious defeat. His final punishment consisted of being banished to The Office By the River.

Japanese Corporations parked failed executives in these offices to sequester this individual from any influential role in corporate affairs while preventing the company from enduring the scandal involved in firing the dubious individual. With the impending retirement of Justice Stevens, President Obama can now park Hillary Rodham Clinton in just such a location. It could be the perfect prevent defense athwart a meaningful opponent from emerging in the next Democratic Presidential Primary.

A lifetime appointment to the USSC prevents her from participating in Campaign 2012. It would be politically difficult and inconvenient to turn down such a profound and esteemed “honor.” If she turns this down, the debate punch lines write themselves.

”Let me make this perfectly clear. I may not always have the right answer at 3 A.M., but if that phone rings, and duty calls, I’m also not gonna’ hang up on the American People like some of the candidates here on this podium, tonight.”

So it comes as no surprise that Senator Orrin Hatch has launched a preemptive strike against her. He appeared with Senator Leahy on The Today Show and dropped the following bombshell.

“I heard Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s name today and that would be an interesting person in the mix.” Hatch wouldn’t say whether he’d support Clinton. But he did say “I like Hillary Rodham Clinton” and said he thinks she’s done a good job for Democrats. Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, retorted: “I think she’s done a good job for the country, not just for Democrats.”(HT: New York Daily News)

Senator Clinton would probably sail to Senate confirmation. Her removal from the elective field of battle would benefit several groups of interested individuals. In a potential match-up where buyer’s remorse could play a major factor, the last name Barack Obama wants on a Democratic Primary ballot is that of Hillary Rodham Clinton. As his approval ratings continue to decline, President Obama does not want to have to endure another primary fight like his first one.

Republican Senators would love to appear bipartisan, send Hillary to the court, and avoid having to vote on more ideologically deranged possible Obama appointments. A brief purview of the beliefs espoused by Goodwin Liu, President Obama’s nominee for the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, shows why GOP Senators would sigh in relief at the sight of Former Senator Clinton in the hearing docket. Edward Whelan’s evaluation of Liu’s beliefs shows what we have frightened into expecting from an Obama judicial pick.

Wonder of wonders, Liu’s freewheeling constitutional approach yields a plethora of extreme left-wing results, including his support for the invention of a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage. Also noteworthy is his denunciation of the traditional American principles of “free enterprise,” “private ownership of property,” and “limited government” as “code words for an ideological agenda hostile to environmental, workplace, and consumer protections” (HT: Ethics and Public Policy Center)

By forcing such terrible, ideologically biased choices into judicial positions, the president has given himself a lot of leeway to get more moderate liberals through the Senate approval process with minimal GOP objections. The sad and simple truth here is that Mau-Mauing works wonders. Hillary Rodham Clinton’s complete lack of any time or experience as a Federal Judge will be completely ignored in the process.

Finally, if any Democrat, other than Hillary Clinton, wants a crack at Barack Obama in 2012, this helps them for many of the same reasons as it helps the president. Hillary would suck the oxygen out of any insurgent campaign other than her own. She would give challengers the same problems Edward Kennedy presented to would-be Democratic Party challengers to Jimmy Carter in 1980.

So President Obama faces the slight, but increasing, likelihood of getting challenged for his own party’s re-nomination prior to the 2012 Presidential Election. A serious challenge of this sort has nearly always culminated in the defeat of the incumbent president in prior elections. Hillary Rodham Clinton is the most viable Democratic candidate to inflict such a challenge on President Obama. Justice Stevens is looking to resign his Supreme Court Seat and enjoy his retirement. Putting Hillary Clinton on the USSC would take her out of political circulation – permanently.

Thus, I think the time has come for Barack Obama to retire Mrs. Clinton to her Office by the River. The unfortunate truth is that that office retains a lot of power to go with the prestige. The unfortunate truth is that office is by the Potomac River.

X-Posted At: THE MINORIRT REPORT