Patience, Diligence and Holding Our Ground.

There's a lot of tension and frustration and yes, bitterness among many here, most of whom wanted Obama to win, some of whom did not.  Either way, this was an essentially moral but empty victory for Clinton, as the delegate math by which a nominee comes remains barely shifted.  And her lead decreased from Ohio.  That makes people from every camp frustrated.

As an Obama supporter, I can sympathize with most of this, have felt much of it, and relate to what's nagging at those not believing in the hope.

But we're going to have to be more than empathetic.  We have to keep our feet planted and watch ourselves, for the stakes are high.  If we screw this up now we might spend months dealing with the damage.

Others have been able to elucidate the pain that some of the more active Clinton supporters are feeling.  A female presidency has officially been a political goal for 40 years, although in reality our short memories and even shorter patience might have us forget that the struggle against the glass ceiling and the White House is even older.

There were murmurs in the 50s for Eleanor to run, even though the deck was stacked against her.  Here was a party leader, a diplomat, a humanitarian and stateswoman.  Ultimately, she didn't try for a nomination. And until the 70s the majority of office-holding women at the federal level were the widows of deceased politicos.

If Clinton doesn't reach office by 2012 many of the feminists of our social revolution will not live to see a female presidency, barring some scenario with Condi or Sibelius as a VP.  That is a heavy pain in the heart, but one pain out of pathologies in the national body.

But that day is coming.

Jim Neal, openly gay North Carolina senatorial candidate, has been quietly dismissed as "not serious", like so many minoriry and populist candidates before, by the Beltway cool kids.  He will almost surely lose the nomination to Kay Hagan, who faces an uphill election against incumbent Liddy Dole.  Another political wife.

There's some hope with Colorado Congressional candidate Jared Polis, an honorable man, veteran, openly gay.  But this will be another fight on their turf, and it doesn't erase the fact that openly gay men and women have been shut out disproportionately.

There will be a day, and I may even see it, when we will have a gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender president.  And it won't be such a big deal anymore.

We may reach that ceiling for black people this year, but it came with heavy sacrifices, the mockery of Jesse Jackson (twice) and the complete disrespect of Obama's senate predecessor, Carol Moseley Braun.

We have to remember that there aren't that many viable presidential elections really, effectively every 8 years sometimes.  We are getting towards a more equitable society in terms of racial and gender-group definitions.  Class and privilege remain a different category.

The ghosts we have to confront are more than our feelings about viable black or female candidates, and a lot about our increasing short attention spans, intolerance for differing views and lack of perspective.