Hillary Clinton 2.0

Here she comes again. Hillary Clinton is once more in it to win it, this time entering the presidential race with the Democratic nomination all but locked down.

Eight years the wiser, hopefully, Clinton seeks the White House at a time when the U.S. must break with Obamism to end the paralysis that has stopped government from delivering for workingand middle-class Americans.

Clinton’s challenge will be to connect with voters on a gut level while offering policy proposals longer on pragmatism than on easy economic populism. She embarks on this nowor-never mission with both the blessing and the curse of essentially running unopposed for her party’s nod.

Spared a contest from the left, Clinton should be positioned to espouse the centrism that comes more natually to her than attempts at sounding the firebrand. Pulling the party’s middle to her rather than being pulled in by the gravity of its activist base will be the route to general election and governing mandates.

The downside to a nomination stroll is that Clinton will bypass the sharpening rigors of the primary trail while combating the notion that she’s the standard bearer because . . . just because.

Reportedly, Clinton will try to dispel an aura of inevitability and close a perceived empathy gap by going the extra mile in listening to voters, much as she did on the listening tour that helped her win New York’s U.S. Senate seat.

Fine — but reintroduction of the most well known figure in American politics, from her time as first lady straight through to her grandmotherhood, will go only so far. More important, Clinton’s vast experience, demonstrated competence and toughness should enable her to explain how she would raise standards of living and, not incidentally, reassert U.S. strength abroad.

Across the political spectrum, including among Republicans, there is universal recognition that American fortunes have slipped substantially — except for the wealthy.

Although workers have become more productive, inflation-adjusted incomes are roughly $3,600 lower than when George W. Bush took office and $2,100 lower than when Obama did. At the same time, income inequality has worsened: The top 1 percent enjoyed 23% of all income in 2012, more than doubling their share since 1994.

In his first two years in office, Obama championed a spending plan in the teeth of the Great Recession and then waged the epic Obamacare battle. Ever since, lackluster job creation and economic growth have plagued the country, reinforced by Washington’s partisan gridlock.

Clinton’s grasp of policy successes and failures suit her to running on a platform designed to spark growth rather than reflect ideological purity.

While many of her programs will match Obama’s — for example, infrastructure spending, comprehensive immigration reform and a minimum wage hike — a forceful campaign would engender hope Clinton would produce results that have eluded him.

Given her service as secretary of state, Clinton is a rarity among presidential contenders for being up-to-speed on domestic issues while being even more well versed in foreign affairs. Here, though, she’s weighed down by Obama’s baggage.

Because he led from behind, so did she as the Middle East fractured, Iran marched toward nuclear weaponry, Russia bullied Ukraine and ISIS ran wild in Syria and Iraq. She will have that record to defend as, it is hoped, she speaks candidly about her differences with the President.

Already, Clinton has said she urged Obama to take stronger action than he did in Syria. More trenchantly, referring to one of the President’s foreign affairs guidelines, she said, “Great nations need organizing principles, and ‘Don’t do stupid stuff’ is not an organizing principle.”

A key question that demands answer now that her candidacy is declared: Where does Clinton stand on Obama’s tentative Iranian nuke deal?

The 2016 Democratic presidential nomination is not Clinton’s to lose because, with a juggernaut of a campaign machine and gargantuan fundraising, there is virtually no way that she will lose it.

Her test will be to rally a party remade in her image to then be matched against the best the Republicans have to offer.