Transitions are hard. This is true whether we're talking about musical composition, novel writing, or human interaction. We tend to be much better at being in one stage or another than we are at the moving between them.
Sometimes we can't figure out how to smoothly transition from one state of being to another and simply stay where we are, or even just jump to the next state without preparation. For some of us, that jumping ahead works really well, but others need more time, more prep work. For some reason, the transitions are the tricky parts, the painful parts, the things that trip us up.
Sometimes we can even get stuck in transition mode, wallowing in the preparation to move on without ever actually getting around to the moving on.
DKos provides ample evidence of the current, human need for transition. The rec list is routinely filled less by diaries with a general election mindset than with calls for unity, outreaches and welcoming to Clinton supporters, self-flagellation and/or chastisement of Obama supporters for sins against Clinton supporters, etc. No doubt the transition period has been elongated by the odd shape and length of this primary season and by the length of time it took for Clinton to actually concede.
But transitioning is a highly individual thing. Some people are ready right now to put the primary behind them, to leap right into the work of putting a Democrat into the White House. Other people need more time to heal before they will be ready to do this. Either way, it's okay. It's not something we, or you, can control. If you're still raw from the primary, it's just a fact, and you should take the time that you need.
And people should stop pushing you to be ready. You'll be ready when your wounds have had time to scab. Only you will know when that is.
But I think this process is not hastened by the constant examination of the events of the primary; in fact, that probably delays the necessary scabbing. And the diaries railing against how badly Obama supporters treating Clinton supporters or Clinton supporters treated Obama supporters, or DKos posters treated everyone but whoever supporters, only exacerbates the discord and prolongs the necessary transition period.
Maybe what we need to be doing is giving everyone their space to make the transition, rather than telling them they need to be ready to help Obama win in November or that they owe some group or other an abject apology. Just give everyone whatever time they need to complete their own personal transition. And then we take whatever time we need to do the same. Anyone who's ready now to start working toward the general election - just do it.
If you feel, however, that you need an apology or x number of diaries begging you to join in, then maybe you haven't completed your transition yet. Not to dismiss your feelings, which I know are very real and justified, but only you can resolve them. For every apology you wring out of unity-hungry DKos posters, there will be angry comments from others (who may not be finished with their own transitions) that will keep your wounds open. There is no path to healing - for any of us - through demanding atonement, because for every injury you feel you've sustained, there are injuries other people feel they've suffered at your hands. Everyone has bled and everyone has been bloodied.
The path to unity lies in recognizing our personal transition needs, in treating our own wounds and washing off the blood of our former opponents. We each have our own peace to make with the primary, and no one can make it for us or force others to make it. We are all responsible for our own feelings and our own behavior.
So take whatever time you need. If you're through the transition and ready to go to work, then show the rest of us the path by walking it. If you're not quite there, hang back and watch and hit the trail when you're ready. If you aren't even close to ready, take a week or two off and forget about politics for a while. Do whatever you need to do to make the jump.
Because the only important thing, ultimately, is keeping McCain out of the White House. And if you don't agree about that, then the transition you're making is well beyond being helped by an apology anyway.