Why Not Hillary?

I had a very brief conversation with someone I respect a great deal who, like me, isn't quite sure who she's voting for. But unlike me she's leaning toward Hillary. She seemed equally shocked that if I were to vote my true conscience it would be Kucinich, but since I believe the primary is my one opportunity to vote for the person whose beliefs most overlap with mine, more and more I might just "throw my vote away," a phrase I reject since I'm voting my conscience.

Anyway, I could probably muster excitement for any of the Democratic candidates. Except Hillary. And I rather like her as my U.S. Senator. I just don't want her as my president.

I haven't been perusing the political blogs the way I used to, but I assume that the reasons behind my lack of enthusiasm aren't unique:

- If Hillary's not running to the left in the primary to woo voters, she's really not liberal at all. That's fine. But I am liberal, so we disagree a lot on issues. She won't apologize for her Iraq War vote, and she's dangerously hawkish about Iran. This scares me.

- Hillary's political machine is deeply entrenched in the money that keeps our electoral system corrupted by greedy corporations. Fair elections require freedom from outside influence, particularly money. Hillary is more beholden to donors than any other Democratic candidate. Naturally, I've got a link to a Nation article, if you want some details.

- I don't think she can win. Neither can Kucinich, so clearly I don't consider that a real reason for not supporting her. But no one's undecided about Hillary. People like her or dislike her, sometimes intensely. There's not a lot of room to win over the undecideds.

Gloria Steinem made her case for Hillary in Tuesday's New York Times. She states that Hillary is seen as divisive by her gender while Barack is seen as unifying by his race. Fair enough. Or unfair enough, really. Good point is what I mean.

But that doesn't make up for what I see as the non-gender-related reasons I can't get excited about Hillary as presidential candidate.

Don't get me wrong: I would vote for her--many times if they let me--in the general election against any of the much scarier Republican candidates.