Hillary Clinton looks good in green.  After all, it’s the color of money  -- and envy.  So it’s symbolic that on St Patrick’s Day she left  the quiet woods of Chappaqua   and wandered back  into the noisy political weeds, ready to jumpstart  her sputtering career.  Who’s to say whether in her bucolic post-campaign gambol Hillary came across  any good luck shamrocks or  wee leprechauns?  What’s clear is that the well-heeled former Secretary of State doesn’t have to scramble over rainbows to secure a pot of gold.  The only question now is how she intends to spend her good fortune to feed her insatiable quest for power.

Did anyone really expect Madame Secretary to meander forever?  Even in the wake of her unexpected defeat, Hillary’s professed pining for natural seclusion was, as usual, a lie.  Henry David Thoreau she’s not. Having barely survived ordering a meal at the counter of a roadside Chippotle,  Mrs. Clinton is not the sort who would  cozy up to Mother Nature.  And though her walks in the park supposedly resulted in a resolve to “resist, insist, persist and enlist, ” Hillary is better known for scheming than  for rhyme schemes.

So off she headed to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day  by speaking  at the Society of Irish Women’s annual dinner in Scranton, Pennsylvania.  Like Joe Biden, Hillary has claimed deep roots in that community, and once again she played up her father’s working-man roots, reminding the Irish ladies how he had  once toiled  in the Scranton Lace company before moving to Illinois.

Sporting a bright green scarf and a flattering new hairdo, Hillary  dutifully undertook her latest debut in the Keystone State.  But her heart was many miles north in downtown Manhattan, where the speculation is that she will toss her tam o’ shanter into the November race for mayor of the Big Apple. 

The current occupant of Gracie Mansion reportedly is not all that popular with his urban constituents -- at least not with those who like their streets plowed after a snowstorm.  But even if Bill de Blasio were a model mayor, Hillary has never had the slightest  compunction about horning in on the territory of  other  politicians, even those of her own party.

Perhaps she has been studying recent polls that suggest she’s the only contender with any chance of toppling the present mayor.  A small Quinnipiac University survey showed de Blasio losing to Clinton by 49% to 30%.  Still, it’s early in the political game – and there have been a few other polls that suggest rather strong public disinterest in seeing Hillary back on a ballot.  Rasmussen, for example, posted that 58% don’t want her to run for mayor.

Being in the public limelight has always been crucial to the Clintons.  And right now it is hard to conjure many viable options that would do that for Hillary.  Running for governor of the Empire State seems a rather thankless job, poorly located  in a cold, remote upstate city. And she has already served as US Senator from the State of New York. Some may wonder why Hillary would even consider going back into campaign mode now that she is pushing 70 years of age and has two little grandchildren to spoil.

But for those who grasp the drive and depth of Her Heinous’s ambition, the reason is obvious.    She may at times pretend to be retrospective and even humbled by her loss to Donald Trump.  But such modesty doesn’t suit her  as much as  her brash intent  to find another pathway – the quicker, the better --  back to  the halls of power.  Rather than grooming younger Democrats to challenge the GOP in future elections, Hillary prefers to stare into her magic mirror  where she sees a continual work in progress.  Maybe she is not the “fairest of them all,” but she never doubts that she is the most qualified to four years hence become the First Woman President of the United States. Hillary isn’t giving up on her goal; she’s just moving the goal posts – again!

In the rampant liberal obstructionism against Donald Trump, Hillary senses her means of getting back into the game.  She views the absurd claims about  his collusion with the Russians as a vindication for her unanticipated defeat.  Although some Democrats may still chide her for a lackluster performance on the 2016 campaign trail, that will all but be forgotten by the next presidential election, especially if she, say, were to become the first Hiz Honor to be a her – and if she does a better job than Bill De Blasio, which  wouldn’t seem all that  hard.

The primary challenge for Mrs. Clinton at this point is to maintain a public presence.  Repairing to the woods was just a momentary metaphor.  She has never doubted the value of visibility.  The task  at hand is  to determine  what persona to  project  to  the electorate.

 Initially, Hillary seemed to settle on the pretense of being a peacemaker.   The same vicious partisan who had said she would stand “every step of the way” with the progressive movement of “persistence and resistance” decided instead  to urge a divided country to work together to heal itself.   “I do not believe,” she opined, ” that we can let political divides harden into personal divides.”  (Does this mean she will be friends again with Donald Trump?)

It was strange rhetoric, indeed, coming from someone who throughout her life has launched mean-spirited personal attacks on her political enemies.  But discrepancies from her past have never bothered Hillary. When it’s self-servingly expedient, she can portray herself as  the balm to a troubled world.  Her campaigns have always taken the form of morality plays in which she assumes  a role of high-minded scold, dispensing  advice  to Americans  about how  we should behave.  Eventually,  her future admonition  might be, “If only you had elected me president…” Bottom line:  Hillary will be seeking redemption – and revenge.

The ugly persistence of anti-Trump hatred, however, has enabled  Hillary to shift her persona  from  wise conciliator to  wisecracking critic.   Emboldened by the failure of the Republican Congress to replace Obamacare -- which she called “a victory for all Americans” – Hillary’s self-righteous vitriol is now on full display.  In a recent fiery address to the Professional Businesswomen of California in San Francisco,  Madame Secretary  was in full throttle,  ridiculing  the Trump administration and criticizing the paucity of women in top administrative positions.

Snowflakes on college campuses across the country will be in a flurry of excitement, especially at Wellesley, where she will  deliver a much-anticipated commencement  address to graduates in May.  Except for the handful of students there who belong to the College Republican Club, the news of Hillary’s unexpected defeat was devastating. Her picture had already been scanned for the cover of the forthcoming alumnae magazine.  The euphoric predictions by like-minded journalists, confident that Hillary would win in the greatest landslide since Ronald Reagan, turned out to be faux news

Adding another layer of angst, a group of frat boys from nearby Babson College was accused of “invading ” the Wellesley campus right after the election results were in.    Reportedly, they roared their vehicles along the scenic, winding roads, shouting obscenities and harassing terrified students.

The facts of that regrettable incident appear to be quite different. Only a couple of male students were charged with creating a disturbance and  were  duly  disciplined  by  Babson authorities.  Subsequent police investigations exonerated them of all charges, the most serious of which was shouting ‘Trump! Trump! Trump!” and “Make America Great Again,” hardly  the crime of the century!  But one distraught black student said the “Trump” chant reminded her of the sinister tribal drumbeats of Africa.

If some over-zealous Trump supporters  “vented” on election night, Hillary ‘s minions have been doing the same ever since.  For them, there are no longer any “safe zones”– not even in the recesses of their left-leaning souls – now that Donald J. Trump sits in the White House.

But spirits could be raised now that their heroine is out of the woods and out on the speaking circuit.  Surely they couldn’t have imagined  Hillary giving up the political ghost!  Or being content to write yet another book.  Hillary’s trendier wardrobe and obvious makeover suggest she’s already hired a fashion consultant.  The next interview will be for a ghostwriter.   

Over the long years, Hillary Clinton has amassed as many enemies as friends. Perhaps she figures it’s only a matter of time before the proper group comes out on top.   But right now, every fiber of her reconfigured being screams,  “Bring it on!”  And while the picture of Hillary’s political future may seem blurred, her long-range focus on power has never been more clear.