George H. W. Bush left office to be followed by two terms of Bill Clinton. He in turn was followed by two terms of Bush's son. If those two terms of the son are followed by the election of Clinton's wife, I don't see where that's a good thing for this country. It ceases to be a fluke and grows into a pattern. It's dynasticism.

I'm not a supporter of Clinton running in 2008, not because I don't think she's qualified to be President (she is, and I think she's done a good job as my Senator), or because I disagree with her politics (I agree with some of her stances and disagree with others), but because I don't believe she can win. The time is near when a woman can win the Presidency, but it's hard to tell whether it has quite arrived yet. Still, whether it has or not, a woman with the baggage that Hillary brings with her (a large bloc of rapid anti-Clintonistas) certainly will not win -- and I don't believe we can afford to lose in 2008.

The point that Marshall makes has entered into my thinking as well -- with so much of our poltical, social and economic culture currently running against the values we reached as a result of the Reformation, the American and French Revolutions, the Age of Reason and the Enlightenment, it would be very dangerous to take another step down the path of dynasticism, which would help to make even more permanent our continuing division into the rich, powerful elite and the have-not rabble.

If I thought she could win, and was the best chance we had of winning, that would be another story, and might tip the scales enough for me to support her, but I don't believe, at this moment, that either is the case. We have better candidates available to us (where "better" isn't a value judgement about ability -- it's about winning the damn election), and we should go with our best shot.

Update: Chris Bowers explores why the liberal blogosphere doesn't like Hillary. Me -- I like her, I voted for her, and if it turns out that she's the Democratic candidate in 2008

Update (2/5): Ths post ends abruptly, but I'm not sure if I didn't finish it, or if some other factor (a Blogspot burp?) swallowed what I wrote. I don't recall now what I specifically said or was going to say, but it was probably along the lines that if Hillary is the candidate, I will, of course, support her enthusiastically.