Hillary's Lively Hibernation

The former First Lady/Secretary of State may be out of the news, but she’s not lolling around on a hammock to catch up on summer reading.

Hillary Clinton’s hibernation includes time in New York and Washington offices, working on Obama-years memoirs and traveling around the country giving speeches at $200,000 each, arranged by the same agent who wheels out Dick Cheney at $75,000 a pop.

Clinton, who turns 66 in October, is politically at an awkward age, not officially running for anything in 2016 but doing just what she would if she were.

Her $8 million book deal with Simon and Schuster will be a platform next year for setting the record straight on Benghazi and other Issa smears, while taking a victory lap on 60 Minutes et al to remind supporters why they admire her just as GOP presidential hopefuls turn up the volume for their nasty primary fights.

This tome will have no Monica Lewinsky bombshells like its predecessor, but there will be enough inside stuff about nailing bin Laden and other Obama foreign policy goodies to remind voters of Clinton’s crucial role in all of them while maintaining her distance from any new embarrassments like Eric Snowden that arise between now and then.

Meanwhile the GOP smear machine is tuning up just in case. A spokesman for a “politically conservative action committee” says it’s too early to send operatives to Mrs. Clinton’s speeches, but they are watching from a distance “to monitor whether she’s hobnobbing with investment bankers in New York City that might seem like favoritism down the line.”

It won’t be long before the Koch brothers spring for the price of tickets, but meanwhile Hillary Clinton will be smiling all the way to the banks to deposit her speech gratuities and book royalty checks. She may even run into her husband on the way.