Peter Roff of US News and World Report is writing that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may be positioning herself for a 2012 primary challenge to Barack Obama, despite her denial of interest in running again for President of the United States. From Roff’s report:

She is not, unsurprisingly, speaking publicly about her intentions beyond saying, as she told PBS’s Tavis Smiley in an interview that airs Wednesday night, that she is “absolutely not interested” in running again for president of the United States. But in the same interview Clinton also allows that her current job is a difficult and time-consuming one and that, while she is honored to have it, she cannot see herself serving in the same post in a second Obama administration.

The ongoing decline in the president’s approval ratings has more than a few Democrats concerned.

The chatter has increased in recent days about Clinton leaving the cabinet sometime in the first term, likely over some matter of principle, so that she can position herself to challenge Obama in 2012. Perhaps it is just wishful thinking on the part of those Democrats who have already grown tired of Obama… Clinton can still mobilize the political infrastructure necessary to mount an effective challenge to the sitting president.

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