It's not about you.
Sorry!
Barack Obama already has your vote.
What is important now is how to woo people who supported Sen. Clinton and make sure that they vote for the Democratic nominee in November.
Your open letters and diaries "analyzing" Clinton supporters are abusive.
Your Hill Hag blogs are abusive.
Your OH MY GAWD HILLARY SUPPORTER IN MELTDOWN posts are abusive.
If ya want Barack Obama to be president, just ...
Cut.
It.
Out.
I believe that there are certain issues and a certain tone of voice that supporters of Barack Obama can use to help Clinton supporters feel good about voting for a different candidate in November.
Notice how some very familiar faces and popular bloggers are not writing diaries here anymore? I ain't going to mention any names, but some of your very favorite issues-oriented folks are rare visitors to this site anymore.
It is impossible to get a single word into the discussion here, the anti-Hillary orgy of hatred is so strong.
It seems like I've written this diary before -- and I have -- but you are doing your candidate a tremendous disservice.
I am starting to feel sick in my stomach every time I hear the name Barack Obama and I kind of like him!
Imagine the antipathy in the heart of a dedicated Clinton supporter who has a less pragmatic outlook on our process.
So, I'm going to reiterate ...
If you want to address Clinton supporters here in an open letter, try some of the following things:
Talk about how Barack Obama is going to score for them on issues that these people have identified as important. Remind them of how good he is going to be for women's reproductive choices. Remind them of how good he is going to be for the family. Remind them of how good he is going to be for the economy.
Suggest to them that if they don't really like Obama, they can go to the polls in November and vote "for the Democrat" and feel good about doing it. Ask them to remember that they are not just voting for a candidate -- they are bringing a whole party to power in the executive branch -- and that many of Obama's advisors are going to be the same ones that Clinton would have had.
Remind them that the next president will most likely appoint one or two new Supreme Court justices.
And tell them that you understand how disappointed they were. Tell them that if Sen. Clinton was the nominee, you would have voted for her, too.
Clinton supporters are going to have a lot of complaints about how she was treated during the primaries. Whether you think these complaints were valid or not, you can offer an acknowledgement of these feelings. You can say something like, "I understand that you think that. However, that is about the process and the process is ending. What is important is making sure that we elect a Democrat in November, so we can make some progress on our issues."
Just sayin'.
To bring up my initial point again:
Barack Obama already has your vote.
If you want to address Clinton supporters using this gigantic megaphone, y'all honestly need to figure out why you are doing it first. Screeching, damning and condemning them for making a different choice during their states' primaries or caucuses ...
Why are you doing this?
If you want to help Obama, you will use your diaries to try to achieve some sort of rapprochement between camps, however small.