The Democrats need a good slather of Neosporin ointment

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Over the past two weeks, I descended back into the life of a political junkie. I'm sneaking in-and-out of blogs like Jack and Jill Politics to get a quick hit. I'm glued to news channels like never before. And I'm getting my economic chops ready with Robert Reich.

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Sidebar: To GC (one of the first readers to notice this problem and start planning a serious intervention)..... is there any hope for me?

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Right now, Hillary Clinton supporters are raw with anger and disappointment over the outcome of the Democratic primary elections. And honestly... I am SO NOT HATING ON THEM FOR THAT. The race was relatively closer than Obama supporters like to admit.

Face it. Obama supporters maintained a vocal presence through the entire process. Blogs, including mine, nicknamed Hillary everything from Hillbilly to Ice Queen. And whenever we decided to strike again with our pens, we found the worst pictures of Hillary we could find to feature on our blogs. And perhaps the thing that stung the most, a large number of Obama supporters made no bones about staying home or voting outside the party if Hillary won the nomination.

So after this long, bitter, history-making contest, we Obama supporters land on the winning side. And for me, too much blog buzz is directed at telling Hillary supporters to GET OVER IT.

Let us not forget a few things:

• Both candidates were poised to break historical barriers, so supporters on both sides were understandably and unabashedly PASSIONATE about the race.

• That passion had a loooooooong time to simmer and overflow since the Democratic primary extended all the way into June.

• Although Obama supporters called foul on race with justification, some of the accusations were borderline.

• Obama supporters quickly ignored and sometimes ridiculed sexism, a potentially real factor in Hillary's campaign, while making demands that race be addressed.

• And while I think Obama ran a superior campaign compared to Hillary, neither have much control over their supporters, the armchair politicians, like you and I. And too many times I had fun delivering my (sometimes classless) armchair commentary in a fashion that Obama would not have approved. (Didn't you?)

The bickering successfully opened a wound down the middle of the Democratic party, and the sides may as well be named The Hatfields and the McCoys. But the Democrats require a unified party to win in November. As of today, that big bleeding cut down the middle of the party represents a potentially fatal flaw for the general election. And as the following comment to a Huffington Post article pleads, Obama supporters owe the Hillary camp some time to heal:

 

JusMe828: Please, everyone...just give Hillary the time she deserves to disect the past 16 months. If you feel she doesn't deserve respect for anything else...please give her that. She's entitled to it. If this primary race had went the opposite direction, I'm sure you would expect the same respect for your candidate.

I am a die-hard democrat first....Hillary supporter second, even though my heart aches. Just give Hillary and me, along with her other millions of supporters time to digest the defeat. We'll be there for the party in November. Please stop the bashing!!!!!!!!!

So I pledge to become the good winner that Obama would expect of classy supporters. My job is to work to heal that open wound. I just think a little Neosporin is necessary to speed the healing process, because we only have 5 months left in the campaign to make history.

Comments

[GC]

no not really

[rawdawgbuffalo]

he will do that
make history
as long as he keep dem gloves on

[DP]

Good post and good points. On to November.

[Hawa]

@ GC: LOL

@RawDawg: I heard Obama showed dem gloves against Lieberman on the Senate floor. Then again, some would say it's time to take the gloves off. hehe

@DP: Thanks for stopping by. I have never been so excited about a general election in my LIFE. The anticipation is crazy.

[BluJewel]

I need a mental health break from all the political drama before I'm ready to rejoin for the next 5 months.

I was once a Hilary supporter, but she's failed to live up to the things I used to find favorable about her. I understand that sometimes you have to step out and step on others to get what you want, but there are more appropriate ways of doing that.

Barack is a good man who's shown that he's very much a man who says what he means and means what he says, but he, too, has delved into the ugly box to make his points known. That's something that had me take away some of his cool points.

Overall, I'm very happy for the historical moves that are in effect right now. I truly hope that Barack Obama is the next president; not because he's a black man, but simply because he's potentially the best man for the job. His color is a side issue to me; I just want to see change effected and a nation rise above it's previous shortcomings.

Love!

[Kid Funkadelic]

I have news for you , those are not Hillary supporters.They say that Sen.Obama said sexist and racist things , yea right.That they will vote for McPain if Hillary not on there.Go to NoQuarter and see how fake they are.They're sockpuppets. It's the same 4 people that talk to each other.BTW, this site was started by an ex-CIA agent.If you knew all the stuff they're planning you would be shocked.

[Hawa]

@Blu: Hey girl! I started this race expecting to support Hillary Clinton. Like you, I experienced disappointments with her campaign and found that she didn't live-up to my expectations.

And when it got really ugly, I perceived that she and I were out of synch morally. And face it... with so many similarities from a policy perspective (and McCain being a total non-choice), I was free to cast a vote on character.

@KidFunkadelic: I agree with the foundation of your comment... many of the Hillary "supporters" really support a white America. Face it... if they were true supporters, they'd follow her support to Barack Obama. And voting based on her color is just as bad as those who voted "black" for Barack...

I found my way to no quarter usa.net and placed a bookmark. I can already see that I have some interesting reading ahead. Thanks for the tip...