I thought that was a howler, too.
I think that when people have somebody they really hate in office (i.e., Obama), they look upon former unlikeable candidates with fondness simply because anything looks better than what they have now.
If she got out there and ran, I suspect she wouldn’t be popular at all; furthermore, she is tainted by her association with Obama and her failure to establish any kind of coherent foreign policy approach. She is clearly powerless in the administration, much more so than any previous SOS, and I think it would be hard for her to explain this away.
Precisely what you said !