Sentence:  Mrs. Clinton's Senate tenure, however, also demonstrated the risks of overcompensation: Not wanting to give Republicans fodder to portray her as soft on defense, she authorized President Bush to use force in Iraq and handed Mr. Obama a political <WSD>cudgel</WSD> to use against her. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Anything that can be used as a threat to force one's will on another.