Kagan to the Supreme Court?

President Obama is going to nominate Solicitor General Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.

I think this is a bad pick. Kagan doesn't strike me as being very progressive. Why in the name of (insert name of your favorite deity here) is he not pushing the envelope on this one? In the next Congress, Obama would have a problem getting the Republicans to approve anyone to the left of Torquemada; this is his last shot for at least two years at getting in a game-changer on the Supreme Court. There are four solid fascist/corporatist conservative votes on the Court as it is; the idea of nominating someone who seems attracted to the idea of "if the President does it, it is per se legal" is something that I find troubling.

I'd like to see a justice who has had to run for a public office, served in the armed forces or who has worked in the private sector; anything that would give a potential justice some first-hand experience in what it means to have to hold down a job in this country. Kagan doesn't seem to be that justice.