destructive of the Democratic Party simply because there would be a substantial, very substantial, block of NO BUSH/CLINTON/BUSH/CLINTON Democrats (and independents who can vote in many states' primaries).  At the same time, there'd be a large number of ultra-partisan Democrats who thought of the Clintons as a brand name they liked.  So, she was always a candidate who was very strong and very weak at the same time, i.e., "polarizing."  

The Democratic Party has been sleepwalking themselves into this dilemma for many, many years.  There was no reason to put his wife in charge of the healthcare initiative back in '93 if they weren't planning for a political career for her and she wasn't going to start at the bottom and she wasn't going to be content with remaining a junior senator.