If Al Gore Doesn't Jump In...Then I Will Vote for Hillary in the California Primary.

[David Zephyr]

"I will vote my heart in the primary." How many times have I heard that said? How many elections did I say it myself? Countless is the answer.

This primary I want to vote both my heart and my head because both my heart and head tell me that an early unified party behind a candidate is instrumental to the real chore at hand: winning the Executive Branch back in 2008. And I do respect those who disagree.

Al Gore, gets the heart and head nod easily because I hold him in high regard personally and because I know he can win in 2008 because he already did in 2000.

Hillary, on the other hand is a far-distant second choice for me because it's where the head leads more than the heart. Still, I can not ignore the stark fact that her campaign throughout 2007 has been one of admirable discipline in organization and in tone. Hillary, as a candidate, is ready to compete against the Republicans and has proven that to me, month after month now avoiding the many sophomoric mistakes her Democratic opponents continue to make even until now.

And Hillary Clinton, if one looks at her life in totality and objectively squares her commitment to liberal causes from an early age with her obvious preference to working within the "system", any fair conclusion would be that she is a progressive, albeit an "establishment" progressive.

Hillary will appoint progressive women and men to the Supreme Court of the United States as her husband did. That's not something to minimize, my fellow lefties. Her appointments will be with us the rest of our lives. That's a very big deal, by the way. That weighs on my "heart" a lot now.

She will work within "the system" to move America toward universal health care in a pragmatic way that has a realistic chance of being achieved in this corporate-protected society we inhabit. Insuring all American children and working class men and women who are stuck between the ebb and flow of job security and too young for Medicare's protection is not a small step toward the not-for-profit system I prefer and have lived with overseas. It's a gigantic step in the right direction and that also puts weight on the balance in my "heart."

She will stand with minorities who have suffered oppression and, like her husband did, expand opportunities for minorities. John Lewis and Charlie Rangel are not naive and when they endorse her, that speaks to my "heart", too. A lot.

Hillary has publicly pledged to permit gays and lesbian Americans to serve openly in our Armed Forces. That will be used against her in 2008. But she's made no bones about it, she intends to do so. That wins my "heart".

Immigrants will not be bashed under a Hillary Administration and she will work to bring the undocumented who are here into the sunlight of legal status and eventually citizenship should they choose. That wins my "heart".

I could go on and on, but the big one, of course, is still her vote for the Iraqi War Resolution. It was a mistake. Any of my hundreds of posts back in those days here will show how upset I was at Hillary, John Kerry, John Edwards and the majority of our "establishment Democrats". But John Kerry and John Edwards and Hillary Clinton did not order the military invasion of Iraq, nor would they ever had done so. Some may choose to believe otherwise because it fits their anger, but its a false belief.

Do I wish that Hillary had stood with Al Gore against the war? Of course. I wish that John Kerry and John Edwards and Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd and Joe Biden had, too. Of course, Dennis Kucinich and Barack Obama opposed the war, but truth be told, it was really only Dennis who had to choose to vote for the IWR or against it. So Dennis, is the only candidate who "proved" his talk with his walk on the war. But then again, Dennis opposed a woman's right to choose for many years, didn't he? Years that Hillary was in the trenches fighting for that cause. I know that Dennis correctly now stands against government intervention into a woman's reproductive choices. It's the totality of Dennis' public service that I admire. But my head knows he can't win though my heart wishes it were not so.

So, for me it all comes back to how I see the totality of Hillary Clinton's life in public service, one of working --- yes within the system --- toward achieving progressive ideals and weighing that against the very ugly reality of another Republican sitting in the Oval Office for yet another four to eight years.

If Gore runs, I'm there.

If not, I'm with Hillary...heart and head. Why, because although she may be part of the establishment, she is on our side.