Articles and comments about Hilary Clinton’s low profile, and lack of visibility are appearing more frequently in the media, and not without good reason.

Every other Secretary of State that I can think of was very high profile and travelled with their President on almost every overseas trip, but Obama is keeping Hilary almost cloistered, and if he does give her a job then it’s one that will damage her politically.

Before being appointed Secretary of State, Hilary was known to be very pro-Israel, but the only high profile job that she has so far been was given was to heavily criticize its settlement’s policy and demand that it stop building new ones and tear down existing ones.

According to CBS News Hilary won 54% of the Jewish vote during the primaries compared to Obama’s 43%, so causing Hilary to alienate herself from the Jewish vote would be the politically shrewd if he fears her.

May’s opinion polls gave Hilary a 71% approval rating, compared to 65% for Obama, so a strategy of keeping her out of the public’s eye and damaging her whenever possible would make a lot of sense if things start to look iffy for 2012.

The way that Hilary is presently being handled in some ways mirrors Bibi Netanyahu’s handling of Avigdor Lieberman, but the reasons for such handling are very different.

Bibi knows that Lieberman is perceived by Obama and most European heads of state as extremely right wing, and Lieberman doesn’t mince his words and could therefore spell trouble.

Netanyahu therefore uses Ehud Barak who is the head of the left leaning Labor party to cover the United States, and has Lieberman deal with the Russians. Lieberman also gets to do European trips because he is the head of Israel’s biggest coalition party and Bibi sees Europe as far less important anyway.

Obama is at -8 in today’s Rasmussen poll and he has a very bumpy road ahead of him with the upcoming health reform and many other issues too. Unemployment might hit 14% this year and many Americans believe that Obama’s policies are burying the country so deep under debt that it may never recover.

Sarah Palin just took a big gamble and 71% of Republicans now say they would vote for her for president.

Tapping Hilary to be Secretary of State was a brilliant move, but if Obama overplays his hand and continues to keep her cloistered then her situation will eventually become untenable and she may be forced to resign and then we might find ourselves having to choose between Hilary and Palin in 2012.

Updated August 5, 2009

According to a just released Rasmussen opinion poll, if America were to elect a female president in the near future, it would be Hillary Clinton.

In a hypothetical match-up between the two most formidable female candidates in their respective parties, Clinton would defeat former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin 51% to 39%.

What is perhaps even more interesting, is that Clinton would defeat Obama by six points, 48% to 42%.

Women overwhelmingly favor Clinton over Palin, 59% to 32% whereas most men favor the GOP ex-governor by eight points, 48% to 40%.

Palin would get 71% of the Republican vote, and Clinton would capture 81% of Democrats.

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