Don't Run Hillary

So, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) is clearing her schedule to prepare for a possible presidential run in 2008. I voted for her to represent us in New York for the next six years, not two. I will NOT vote for her for president in 2008. 2012? Maybe, but definitely not 2008.

Now, I can understand why she might decide that 2008 is a safer bet to run than 2012. If she were to run in 2008 and win, Democratic Governor Eliot Spitzer woul replace her in the Senate. If she postpones running until 2012, then her party has to worry about having two seats to fill - Governor of NY (though Spitzer may get re-elected) and her vacated seat. So I can see why 2008 would ne more appealing to her than 2012.

Too bad. We re-elected her to serve for six years and some of us feel we have the right to expect her to do so. I know that the polls say that I'm in the minority on this, but that won't change my mind. In fact, it is my fervent hope that I and the rest of the minority can persuade the majority to reconsider. This is no game.

We are talking about the very people (in this case one of a pair from one hundred such people in the entire world) who will represent our interests (theoretically) when it comes to national matters. This is an important job. Lives are affected by what these people do and do not do. Our lives. And I, for one, am finding that it offends me when a politician I helped elect to a certain-length term decides to not fulfill that term because a presidential election is looming. Senator Clinton was asked all the time if she was running for president in '08, and all the time said that she was focused on getting re-elected first and "not looking past the next election". People who understand how these things work behind the scenes (not me) say that she has been laying the groundwork all throughout her first term to do run for president in two years. Well, I don't get to see those "behind the scenes" things, so I'll go by her public comments. She promised she hadn't looked at it yet. For now, I'll ignore the apparent contradiction in those stories and take her at her public word. She still shouldn't run. But she should also come clean and tell the truth. Was this her plan since 2000?

Look, I don't want to be left feeling like a idiot if she runs in 2008 and we lose a good senator. I will feel used and so will all of you. If she's as good a choice for president as some think she is (I don't), then she would have been able to run without being a current US Senator. But she chose to re-apply for that job and I expect her to fulfill her term. She has no moral right to bail out on us and run for president.

Senator Clinton: Either resign from the Senate right now and announce your 2008 presidential ambitions, or announce right now that you are not running in '08. Either or, but not both.