Enough.
Enough with the PUMAs and the Clintons and Carville and CNN.
Enough with the concern, the consternation, the hand wringing.
We are ready to take back the White House and our country.
We are united.
I don't have television, so I am spared the apparently incessant interviews with and stories about what some seem to think is the biggest threat to America -- the disgruntled Clinton voters.
Well, let me tell you something. I was a Clinton voter. I stood in line in the freezing rain for two hours to hear her speak. I wore my Hillary sticker on my raincoat all over town. I proudly displayed my Hillary bumper sticker on my car (where it remains, thank you very much).
I wrote about my desire to see Hillary and Barack on the ticket together (with Hillary at the top, of course). I felt so strongly about it that I wrote about it twice.
But...
In April, it was becoming increasingly clear that Obama would win the nomination. And damn it, I did did my best to get on board.
And since then, I have done my best to support Obama, to encourage unity, to urge my fellow Clinton supporters to support our nominee. I have written about the difference between Clinton supporters and Clinton "supporters."
I congratulated Obama and his supporters on June 3, when he officially received enough delegates for the nomination.
And I am not an anomaly. I am one of millions of Clinton supporters who have done the same.
We know the score. We know the stakes. And we have no delusions about what a McCain presidency would mean for us -- for the women and men who supported Clinton because we want to end the war, improve education, finally get decent health care for every American, and, oh yeah, protect women's reproductive freedom.
Heck, I even offered three reasons why I'm voting for Obama:
One: John McCain.
As I wrote the other day, Obama is better than McCain. I know that seems obvious. Of course he's better than McCain. Everyone knows that, right?
Well, it's a damn good reason for me.
Two: He beat Hillary Clinton.
The fact that Obama -- the virtually unknown self-described skinny black guy with a funny name -- was able to beat the great and almighty Clinton machine -- complete with rich and powerful donors, celebrated strategists, and, oh yes, a former two-term president -- says something significant about Obama, something I've been reluctant to admit.
He is really smart. Really, really smart.
Three: He'll be a decent president, and that's good enough for me.
Not much of a bar, I know, but after eight years of what historians pretty much unanimously agree is the worst president in American history, I think it's a good standard.
So. What's my point?
It's simple. I'm not alone. I'm not a minority. I'm a woman who supported Hillary Clinton in the primaries because I liked her, felt inspired by her, and desperately wanted this year to be the year that we shattered the glass ceiling.
But it was not to be.
And as Hillary herself has said -- and Michelle Obama acknowledged last night -- we still put 18 million cracks in that ceiling. And that's a damn good start.
This party is not divided. This party is as united as I've ever seen it since I started voting in 1996. We are going to send a Democrat to the White House -- with more than 50% of the vote.
We are going to change this country. We are going to fix this country.
I know, I know -- the polls. The polls say our party is divided. The polls say that I, and my fellow Clinton supporters, are not ready to support Obama.
But you know what I have to say about the polls:
Fuck the polls.
If the polls were right, we'd be watching Hillary Clinton face off against Rudy Giuliani.
So please, please stop the concern. Stop worrying. Stop believing everything you see on TV. In fact, stop watching TV. There is no real information on TV anyway.
Because this party, and this country, does want change. This party, and this country, is ready for change. Begging for change. Desperate for change. And, as I've said before, and will say again:
We're going to win big. Really big. We're going to chase out the Republicans who haven't yet jumped ship with the other dozens who are retiring. And we're going to sweep this country with an undeniable, fillibuster-proof message:
Fuck you and your hundred years of war.
The PUMAs -- all sixty of them -- don't represent me. They don't represent Hillary. They don't represent anything except Republican desperation.
And this year, Republican desperation will not win the White House.
So say it loud, and say it proud:
Yes We Can.