Why I Will NOT Be Endorsing Senator Hillary Clinton

Last night, I was sitting in my living room in Tulsa, OK talking with a friend and the conversation turned to politics (not an unusual turn for talk in my house these days). I asked my friend what her thoughts on Hillary's chances are, and her answer sums up my greatest political fear: she said, "Hillary will come very close to winning the White House, but in the end she will fail." That fear was underscored by a recent Zogby poll that showed Hillary vulnerable if not outright defeated by five of the clowns that currently make up the Republican field of presidential contenders. Sure, I voted for John Kerry in 2004, and I voted for Michael Dukakis in 1988, and I did so with the trepidation that comes with the almost certain knowledge that I was NOT voting for the person who would win the race. Although I have not forgotten about the voting poll shenanigans in Ohio that likely tipped the scales to Dubya in 2004, and of course, I am as convinced as I was that November night in 2000 as I drove home in Albuquerque, NM and cheered out loud into the night when Florida was called for Al Gore, that Mr. Gore's presidency was stolen out from under him and more importantly out from under the American people. But I am worried. In a country that has announced over and over again that they would prefer a Democratic leader over a Republican leader, why is Hillary the name that is on the tip of every wealthy GOPer's tongue as the candidate that they claim to fear the most?

I have suspected that the GOP has been planning a campaign against Ms. Clinton since she began to hint that she might seek the oval office. Karl Rove has already strategerized himself a plan to defeat Hillary, and I don't think that the rhetoric will seem new or fresh. Rove's plan is simply to recycle some old critical lines that will, I fear, appeal to all of those Republicans who hate the Clintons with a passion heretofore reserved for Satan, condoms, and Islamofascists.

I know that I am not pointing out anything that hasn't been whispered in every Democratic Committee Meeting since Hillary threw her hat in the ring, but I am predicting a much closer race if Hillary is the Democratic nominee, and I just don't know how much this tired old political heart of mine can bear. Why don't we nominate somebody like Governor Richardson, whose resume alone would be fun to watch the Republicans try to challenge? Or Barack Obama, who I'd love to see get the nod, just to watch all the redneck Republicans squirm as they try to run against a person of color without playing the race card (and you and I both know that the party of Macaca and Trent Lott and Bob Jones University can't get through an entire election cycle without putting their pale white foot in between their thin little lips =).

I have, up to this point, hedged my bets. I have sent checks to Obama, Edwards, Clinton, Richardson and even Dodd, when he stood up in the Senate against the egregious FISA bill that was poised to slip through the Congress and would have undoubtedly been signed by the president. The FISA bill is a horrendous piece of legislation that would have carved up a few more of our ever-shrinking civil liberties. But I vow, as of today, that I will not send another dime to Hillary Clinton - no matter how clever her marketing ploys are. I want a real change in Washington D.C., and as much as I admire Bill Clinton and miss his leadership, Bill is not running again, it is his wife Hillary who would be our nominee and I fear another presidential also-ran.

Those of you who have been reading this blog over the last several months, may wonder if my lack of enthusiasm for Hillary Clinton can be traced to her refusal to attend "Prez on the Rez." I must answer that charge with a Clintonian "yes and no." I understand that campaigns make calculated choices everyday about which events will yield better results, and I also understand that Hillary's choice to not attend "POTR" was made by her and her staff at one time and reflected Hillary's priorities at the moment, which may not be her priorities a few months later. Still, I also know that when Hillary declined our invitation to join "POTR," the event immediately became a lower priority for Obama and John Edwards. She was, afterall, the leader at that point in the race and her choices influenced the choices of the other candidates.

So I, like a dog, do not readily forget slights such as Hillary's cold shoulder toward Indian Country, but that is not the primary reason I am not onboard her wagon. It is her stance on Iraq, her recent vote for the Lieberman/Kyl amendment, her inability to take a stand and then stand her ground, all of these reasons and personality characteristics that Hillary has displayed have me waiting on the sidelines until the Oklahoma primary vote on February 5, 2008, and I'm hoping that at that point in time, my vote will still make a difference.

See Frank Rich's Op-ed Piece in today's NYTimes: Who's Afraid of Barack Obama?