Kamm/GettyHillary Clinton, who fell short against President Obama in 2008, has insisted she won't run for the White House again.

Over Labor Day weekend, in between failed fishing excursions and burgers, my friends and I played a popular party game: Guess the likely 2012 presidential field.

We tossed around the usual suspects - Mike Huckabee, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty - and we agreed that if things don't get considerably better over the next two years, any one of them could give President Obama a run for his money.

But for my friends - three thirtysomething left-of-center moderates who voted for Obama in 2008 - only one name would make them consider pulling the lever for someone else: Hillary Clinton.

It's a ridiculous prospect. Clinton has insisted she will not run again. She's been a loyal soldier for Obama, and challenging an incumbent doesn't usually work out too well for the challenger.

Still, the unlikely prospect of a Clinton-Obama faceoff got me thinking. Maybe she could run. And more to the point, maybe she should run.

Sure, I'm a Republican who can hardly be trusted to offer objective advice to Democrats I've long lambasted. But believe me when I tell you, two years of Obama has even me seeing Clinton in a much different light than in 2008, when I thought the only thing worse than a new President named Obama was another one named Clinton.

My friends aren't the only ones who think that Clinton should reconsider her vow not to run again. A dentist from Chicago has paid for a slew of Hillary for President ads that tout her as "one of the most admired women in our nation's history."

Even though I disagree vehemently with her political world-view, he's right. Just as I've taken issue with some of the liberal attacks against Sarah Palin, I challenge conservatives to acknowledge that Hillary is exactly the kind of woman - accomplished, intelligent, successful and self-made - that we should encourage our daughters to look up to.

Since becoming secretary of state, she's stayed out of the political weeds, doing serious work with diligence while most other cabinet members - Janet Napolitano, Eric Holder, Timothy Geithner, Kathleen Sebelius - have been tarnished by their involvement in unpopular and controversial political fights over health care and the economic stimulus package.

While many on the right have been successfully using Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Obama for archery practice, Clinton is one of the few big-name Democrats who doesn't have her fingerprints on any of the left's domestic failures.

And more than merely staying out of trouble, she's even had some key victories. She was instrumental in persuading Obama to send more troops into Afghanistan, defeating Vice President Biden in an internal debate on the matter. She convinced 33 other governments to toughen their position on allowing Cuba back into the Organization of American States. She saved the signing of the historic Turkish-Armenian accord.

And now she has a chance - albeit a slim one - to make history by helping forge  a compromise between Israelis and Palestinians. Even if she fails, Clinton will likely remain a sober politician who avoids the divisive rhetoric upon which so many on both sides of the spectrum seem hopelessly dependent.

To be clear, I'll most likely vote Republican in 2012. But Obama's lackluster performance has suddenly made Clinton an attractive option for frustrated Democrats and independents. Add to that group of disaffecteds Clinton's famously rabid supporters, and we might start seeing Clinton 2012 bumper stickers soon. And just imagine if she runs as an independent.

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