Before you go any further, know this: I am an Obama supporter. I worked the man's campaign in Pennsylvania, making phone calls and knocking on doors and recruiting volunteers. I will be working for him during the run-up to Election Day in November.
With that out of the way...read what follows, think about it, then decide for yourself what we should be dong next.
The time for Hillary bashing is over.
The time for autopsies of her campaign is over.
The time to gloat about victory never arrived and never will.
The time to taunt her supporters never happened.
Now, follow me over the fold for the really thoughtful and important stuff.
Is it over? Of course it is.
But if Hillary was the candidate ahead in this nominating race, would YOU want to relinquish all hope of victory for Barack Obama? Of course you wouldn't! You'd want Barack to fight on, to take every last step he could take to keep the hope of victory alive. Because he's a damn fine candidate and you know it!
Mrs. Clinton's supporters are just like us - and you DON'T know that yet.
They want change. They have hope for this country. They hate Bush just as much as we do. They do not want a McCain presidency any more than we do. They're for universal health care. They want this wretched, meat-grinder of a war to end every bit as much as we do.
They are just like us.
They've backed a worthy candidate. They believe in Hillary just as strongly as we believe in Barack. They have their good reasons for this just as we have our good reasons. They've simply chosen a parallel path to the same set of goals.
They are just like us.
The time has come to reach out to our fellow believers; to extend to them the warm and inviting hand of unity against evil; to show these people the respect they deserve for having fought hard for their beliefs - which are also our beliefs.
For Senator Obama will desperately need the support of these people if he is to prevail against John McCain in November. Make no mistake about it - the Republicans do not want either of our candidates to move into what they consider to be THEIR White House, and they are going to wage a hard, filthy, bare-knuckled campaign to keep the Democratic nominee OUT of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
If you truly believe - TRULY BELIEVE - that Barack Obama must be our next president, then you cannot deny that in order to attain that office, he is going to need the help and support of the other half of the Democratic party.
YES, THE OTHER HALF! Don't kid yourselves here, folks. The race for the nomination really is that close. Senator Clinton's supporters are not a quarter, or a third, or even 45% of the Democratic party. They are HALF of us. And without them, we are not nearly as strong against McCain as we will be with them. If both halves of this parallel belief system we call "Change" are to taste victory in November, then we will need each other if we're going to make it all the way to the victory party.
We're as inseparable as green and grass, just like Bush and McCain are as inseparable as shit and stink.
Do you want change? WELL, DO YA? Then you're gonna have to work for it! First, each of us is going to have to find a Hillary supporter and extend the olive branch to them. For some of us have conducted ourselves poorly towards them, and we need to bury the hatchet. We need to walk right up to them, offer our hand in friendship, and say, "You folks did a great job and I thought you had us there a couple of times, but now that this race is over, we have a bigger fight on our hands. Will you please join us?"
And that shouldn't be so very difficult to do. Because after all, they are just like us. They are the other half of us. And we need each other now more than ever before.
It is time to make peace. Start now.
Celtic Merlin