A message from an Edwards supporter to Clinton supporters. [View All]

[GaYellowDawg]

I'm sorry.

I understand.

I get it.

You see, all of us who are Edwards supporters love our candidate. We all would still rather have him as nominee than anyone else. We think he's a wonderful man with an incredible spouse. We think he's a man who has been tested by poverty, by tragedy, and has come through with an incredible amount of compassion and humanity. We think he could teach this country what it is to think of others again. Anyone else, frankly, always felt like a distant second. Anyone else felt like settling.

We Edwards supporters could sit around and talk all day about how our candidate got shortchanged. How unfair it was that the national media always seemed to marginalize him. How his best ideas always seemed to be trumpeted by the "leading" candidates days later. And so forth and so on. But the bottom line, unfortunately, was that our candidate simply didn't get the delegates he needed. So, grudgingly, we came back to the party.

It's a bitter pill to swallow. We understand. You don't think we loved our candidate any less than you love yours, did you? Some of us talked about not coming back. We all eventually did. Some of us even got disappointed a second time after coming back as Clinton supporters. I can guarantee you, though, that virtually all of us Edwards supporters will be back for the general election, because we recognize that the differences among Democratic candidates are very heavily outweighed by the differences between any of our candidates and McCain.

Who amongst you would threaten to vote for George W. Bush again? Or to threaten to stay home and not vote against him? I wouldn't think that of any of you. That's precisely what you're doing when you say you can't vote for Barack Obama, because John McCain has rubberstamped the Bush administration for eight years, and is in too deep to extricate himself (even if he wanted to, which I don't believe for a second). Sure, he might be a little less combative and in your face about it, but make no mistake: the policies will remain identical. Imagine, if you will, that somehow the Republicans had managed to get the two term limit removed and W was running for office again. That is what a McCain candidacy represents.

When you hear people talking about corporate candidates and how the parties aren't different, etc., etc., remember this: the same kind of rhetoric was spread about Gore during the 2000 election by Ralph Nader and the Green Party. I think 99% of you would agree that this country would have been substantially better off had Gore been elected eight years ago, and you can disregard the other 1% as utter fools. In the same respect, this country will be dramatically better off four years from now with Obama at the helm than it would McCain. It would have been dramatically better off with Clinton at the helm than it would McCain.

Here's some advice: take a little time off. Don't watch Hardball or other political shows for a couple of days. Learn how to breathe again. And then come back. We Democrats are passionate, fiery people who battle bitterly amongst ourselves. Person for person, we might obliterate the opposition, but unless we patch up our differences, against a unified opponent we eventually, inevitably, will fall. If you cannot bring yourself to vote for Obama, if you love yourself, if you love your children, if you love your grandchildren, if you love your country, it is your obligation to at least vote against four more years of Bush.

If for no other reason, you need to vote for Obama and leave so little doubt that Republicans cannot risk stealing another presidential election.

And Obama supporters: think of how you would feel had a flood of superdelegates come to Clinton's support. Think of how angry and bitter you would feel. If you care about a unified party, and care about whether we keep McBush out of office in November, you need to stop criticizing Hillary Clinton and her supporters from this moment. Do you think our nominee would turn a single vote away? I don't, but you risk precisely that by going after Hillary. Do you think Obama's message of unification is consistent with mocking or downgrading Hillary or her supporters? Be gracious winners, as you admire your candidate for being, and do your utmost to make a very difficult decision for Hillary Clinton supporters an easier one. As you expect Clinton supporters to swallow their pride and vote for Obama, it has now become your responsibility to swallow your own pride and do the things you need to do such that Hillary supporters can come out of the booth in November happy for having voted Democratic. If you take this as your opportunity to rub it in, any satisfaction you feel will be outweighed by yet another failed Democratic presidential nominee in November. The Democratic Party needs Hillary Clinton and all of her supporters. Recognize it, and act accordingly.

It is time for unity. I do not speak of Republican lockstep unity, but of the realization that despite our fierce in-family fighting, the foe outside the walls is much more dangerous, and our differences must take second place to putting the enemy down.