By any reasonable criteria, Hillary Clinton has to be the overwhelming favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination. But she seems intent on blowing it.

In last night’s debate, for example, she came across as a Washington insider, a staunch defender of the status quo, skeptical of radical change.

Where Barack Obama said “yes we can,” Hillary is telling us why we can’t.

America has heard enough of that. Americans want change. And they want it now.

Yes, we all know Hillary got beat up pretty bad when she tried to do a health care makeover back in the Nineties. Yes, we know President Obama couldn’t get Medicare for all even with a majority in both houses of Congress.

But does that mean we should give up? Does that mean America is so different from every other developed nation that single-payer, universal health care is out of reach here?

And do we have to handle the big banks with kid gloves? Are they so entrenched that cleaning up their fraudulent practices must be done with an intricate array of policy tweaks?

In short, does that mean we should put up with the system we have, face the reality that Republicans are just too tough, too big, too bad to let us create the country we want?

Sorry Hillary. I’m just not buying it.

And I doubt the majority of Democratic voters will buy it.

Listen, I know you are smart as a whip – “wicked smart,” as Bill put it. I know you have the experience and brainpower to keep us safe in a dangerous and confusing world.  I know you have a good heart and have fought your entire life for the downtrodden and abandoned.

I think you would be a great president.

But don’t tell us you’ve been so beaten down by the “vast right-wing conspiracy” that you’re accepting half-a-loaf instead of fighting to take over the bakery.

That message won’t fire up your base and send them rushing to the polls in November.

It’s time to change your tune.