Why NOT Hillary? Please read and heed before It’s too late…

By: Leonard Carrier, DI In-house Historian and Philosopher:

Guy Saperstein recently posted an article on AlterNet in which he outlined his reasons for thinking that Hillary Clinton might not be the best choice of Democratic candidates in a general election ("Hillary Clinton Might Be the Least Electable Democrat," Dec.7). Among the reasons Saperstein listed, in addition to those involving the baggage she carries from her husband's tenure in office, was that people might not be ready to vote for a woman as president.

Now I would dearly love to see a woman as president, but someone like Barbara Boxer, not Hillary Clinton. Here are my reasons for saying so.

What worked for Bill Clinton will not work for Hillary. Bill veered to the right on social and economic issues, and so he outflanked Newt Gingrich and the Republican revolutionaries. Hillary's veering to the right in voting for the war, accepting corporation money, and cozying up to the likes of Rupert Murdoch runs her into a wall. The Bush administration is so far to the right, that there's no more room for the type of maneuvering that Bill was so adept at. Hillary's present positions--on the war, on Iran, on globalism--do not distinguish her from moderate Republicans. Therefore, if she runs against someone like Giuliani or Romney, voters would be likely to pick the real Republican over the faux Democrat. Before meeting Bill, Hillary was a Goldwater Republican. One wonders how much a leopard can change its spots--or how much Bill taught her in the art of camouflage.

Hillary is smart, and Hillary is ambitious and crafty. She has even convinced some people that she has more experience than the other Democratic candidates, which, of course, is false, because her only real experience is in the Senate where she voted to support Bush's wars. We should not count under "experience" her aborted attempt at health-care reform in Bill Clinton's first term.

Hillary might just win a general election, but it would be a long shot. The best thing she could do for the Democratic Party and for the country would be to retire from the race. That would ensure a landslide victory for whomever the Democratic nominee is. Will she do that? Fat chance.

Len Carrier