An open letter to Hillary Clinton

Dear Senator Clinton:
Now that you have formally announced your intention to seek the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination, I feel that it is important to share my views with you as they relate to your electability.
My view is that you will have a very difficult time winning election because you'll need to do it with no more than lukewarm support from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. You will be seen as the lesser of two evils against any Republican candidate.
Why is this so?
It is because you are widely seen as a poll-driven opportunist who will adopt any position that you feel will best resonate with likely voters. You are seen as a D.C. politician who will say anything for a vote, but do anything for a campaign donation- inextricably entwined with corporate interests whose influence in government has effectively silenced the will of the electorate. You have closed the gender gap in a bad way, Senator Clinton, by becoming a power player in the "old boy network", with all the negative baggage that connotes.
Your actions belie your words, Senator Clinton. For example, your support for the illegal, immoral war in Iraq is horrifying to people of conscience, and will likely cost you millions of votes. It validates the perception that you feel 700,000 deaths is acceptable just so long as big-donor oil companies and other war profiteers can continue their trillion dollar raid on our Treasury.
I will accept, Senator Clinton, that deep in your heart that you truly believe in the importance of all the social programs you espouse. In all the years of your public life you have been a leader for womens rights, advocated for sweeping social reform, and gained admirers for your intellect and for your courage in the face of adversity.
However, since gaining public office, you have demonstrated a willingness to compromise with and to accomodate people and corporations whose interests are inimical to the common good, in order to position yourself as a Presidential candidate.
This is more than troubling. Don't you realize that you can't have it both ways?
Have you lost your ideals in your quest for high office, or is the quest for power your only goal?
You see, don't you, that despite what you say, we can no longer be sure where you stand, and that what we see is not inspiring.
Trust, once lost, can rarely be regained, and I fear that you are in trouble because of it.