Some in the Senate, which reconvenes this week, are wondering whether Hillary Clinton’s homecoming will be happy or if her rifts with some of her Democratic colleagues over her primary bid will linger on.
Clinton’s allies deny there is a vengeful bone in the defeated candidate’s body, but some on Capitol Hill took note when a report surfaced recently that the Clintons have compiled lists of those who did not support her failed candidacy.
Those on the reputed list include members of Congress such as House Majority Whip James Clyburn, who said he was not concerned about how the Clintons feel about him for backing Obama.
As for being among their “A-list” offenders, the South Carolina lawmaker answered, “Well, I guess I’ve arrived.”
The Clintons are supposedly angry in particular at Democratic women who turned their backs on Clinton, among them Sens. Claire McCaskill and Amy Klobuchar.
One top Hill aide said she was disturbed by Clinton’s perception that every woman in the party should have backed her.
“That is like saying every African American member should be backing Obama,” the aide said.
Clinton’s campaign chairman, Terry McAuliffe, confirmed the scorekeeping to the New York Times but said the Clintons were not out for revenge, but were being politically practical. “You have to keep track of this,” he told the paper.
Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Texas, one of a handful of black lawmakers to back Clinton, said, “I have not heard her utter a word of anger,” about those who picked Obama. She attributed the existence of a list kept by the Clintons to “rumor and innuendo.”
Clinton has not indicated when she will return to work. Her Senate spokesman, Philippe Reines, said she was “enjoying some well-deserved R & R with her family,” and would be back in the Senate “before you know it.”
Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat who backed Clinton, pointed to her ability to work closely and amicably with Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, one of the managers of the impeachment trial against her husband.
“That is the way she would treat any senator,” said Nelson. “What’s done is done. Let’s move on.”
But Clinton might have a harder time hiding her bruised ego in the face of 16 fellow Senate Democrats who endorsed Obama.
For betrayals committed by those whom she was close to, said Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf, “those feelings will take years to dissipate.”
But Sheinkopf, who advised Bill Clinton in the bid for his second term, does not believe the Clintons are keeping lists. It is much less formal, he believes.
“Everyone remembers people who hurt them in public life and everyone remembers those who help them,” Sheinkopf said. “You tend to help those who helped you and hurt those who hurt you. There is nothing new or unusual about this.”
