We're All On The Same Team Folks!

I've been having a number of conversations with Democrat friends who are avidly supporting Obama's race for the nomination. I respect that and have said before that while I support Hillary Clinton I have nothing but praise for Senator Obama and will support him if he wins the nomination. What I find puzzling is that some of my fellow Democrats are not just supporting Obama but are actually opposing Clinton.

So what's the deal? Why does someone have to be anti one of these candidates to be pro the other? Their platforms are practically identical. Come on people!! You can like one of these candidates more than the other but you have got to end active opposition to the other.

In the case of those Democrats who actively oppose Hillary let's look at two of the objections:

Hillary voted for the war

Well to begin with, no she didn't. She voted to authorize the president to use force which is not even close to voting "for" the war. Some will never forgive Hillary for voting to authorize the use of force. Well, fine. I respect that. She voted to give a loaded gun to a president who clearly has terrible judgment. That was a bad move and let me just say that I'm on the public record as opposing the war before it began. However, even I can understand and agree with the arguments to authorize the president to use force. Authorization is NOT the same as pulling the trigger. THAT was no one's fault but Bush's and there's no denying that. None of us liked Bush before he got us into this mess but we didn't necessarily think his incompetence was really this gross and that he would actually likely go down in history as the worst president ever. Hindsight is 20/20. In my opinion, the vote to authorize force wasn't the sin. The sin wasn't to trust the president with the gun. The sin was to trust THIS president with the gun. Authorizing force isn't the same as using it. If you can't forgive her I can respect that. But we're on the same team!! She wants to end this war and she will if elected. If you want to end the war you can't actually oppose Clinton.

Hillary will do anything to get elected

This argument baffles me. This is national politics. It's the roughest sport in the world. Look at it this way: Hillary is advancing an agenda we all generally agree with. If she can win this uphill battle and get elected that says an awful lot about her ability to get stuff done and we would all be better off if she were President and were advancing our agenda with this same tenacity, determination, drive and courage. I'm not saying Obama isn't just as strong in all of those areas but I am saying we don't know if he is. He has not been tested and tried and we have not seen his metal in the same way we've seen Hillary's. We all know what she's made of. We want those qualities in our President. Given the unprecedented situation at home and abroad the next President will inherit, we need a cunning, strong, tried and tested President at the helm! She's not ripping the party apart. The party is united around the agenda of both of these candidates and the debate should be about which of them will be more effective at executing the agenda. She's putting up one hell of a fight and it's one more reason why she'd be an effective President.

The party is divided between two very good and strong candidates. You do not have to oppose one to support the other so knock that off! We're all on the same team.

Comments

[HeevenSteven]

We're all on the same team??? Does Hillary know this???

[efranklin]

I want to agree with you Mike, but dusting over the slime that continues to be emitted by Camp Clinton is a little overwhelming. "Hillary is advancing an agenda we all generally agree with." You mean the agenda to somehow definitively prove that Barack Obama can not win? That sounds more like a tactic, then a set of principles.

[jvarga]

I appreciate your post as you're actually being rational and levelheaded (many of us are not :P). So I'll ask you this, as it is one of the stumbling blocks for me being able to vote for Senator Clinton.

There was a bill in the Senate to ban the use of cluster bombs in civilian areas (not a total ban). She voted against this ban. Why? I have yet to see an explanation, but before I can consider giving someone my support in an election I need to know why they favor the indiscriminate murder of non-combatants over the course of several generations (the reality of cluster bombs).

[Mickeleh]

McCready, if you have any cred with the Clintons, please tell them to act like we're all on the same team.

[LeftRight]

Mr. McReady,

Thank you for your support if Senator Obama wins the nomination. I am an Obama supporter, and I will ALSO support Senator Clinton if SHE wins the nod.

I must say, however, that what I'm seeing are more Clinton supporters who are AGAINST Obama, rather than Obama supporters who are AGAINST Clinton....

[compassionone]

Dude, your really don't get it.. Clintons drove the hammer to create the division first week in Feb.

A democrat who is against Clinton would likely feel that way because they hate her approach to politics.

It is not about disagreement over policy issues and indellectual differences. She focuses on "gotcha" or manufactures potential problems Obama might face rather than what is actually a problem. We are tired of that, its condescending.

When has Hillary ever acted like on the same team? For about 2 minutes during a debate 3 months ago.

Its too bad about Bill Clinton. I use to respect him. He has really tainted himself to try to boast his wife. I honor him for that, but it kind of sad. When he was campaigning for himself he could make even taking poison enjoyable. But now he is campaigning for a weaker candidate than himself and his hands are tied.

Bill would have voted for Obama if his wife were not running.

[Softnsweet]

I agree with compassionone, You really don't get it at all. Hillary drove the hammer to create the division. I would have voted for Hillary if Obama losted, but I will guarantee you that Hillary will not be POTUS. Who would vote for a woman that has done what she has done to a fellow democrat. I will also make one more guarantee, She just gave the nomination to Obama. I was watching the debate last night with 20 undecided voters and they came away from the debate, Obama supporters.

When a man is down you don't kick them. Clearly, they wanted Obama, and thats fine,but Hillary kicked at him as much as she could. On the other hand, when Obama had the chance to kick Hillary , HE PASSED. This man looked more Presidential then I have ever seen him.

[compassionone]

I would like that we be more united even though our differences.

One of the complaints by Clinton camp is that he won't be able to take a beating by the Republican attack machine.

What do you expect Obama to do when someone from his own party comes at him with the same force and aggression...he will turn it back on on her.

He never talked down to her like she did. He always showed dignity and respect even while taking a beating over trivial Gotcha issues.

But then Clinton people say he fights dirty. Hmmm. Are they just saying that because he wasn't a push over like some of the previous democratic candidates.

[dclar]

The "no she didn't vote for the war" is a huge cop-out. As if anyone thought Bush wouldn't resort to military action against Iraq.

It seriously doesn't help your candidate when you try and play this shell game with her voting record.

[BadChristian]

"She voted to give a loaded gun to a president who clearly has terrible judgment."

No she didn't.

If you want to be exact about what she voted for, it's MUCH closer to say she voted for the war, than to say she gave him a loaded gun.

She voted to Authorize the Use of Military Force.

Use Military Force, was, at that time, still understood as the "Powell Doctrine"... Wasn't it? Overwhelming force?

[patrice37]

No, Mike, we're not on the same team. I'm not going to tell you what I think of your candidate, since that would not be nice. But after voting for Democratic candidates for 36 years, I see that the DLC has rendered this exercise pointless. It's not just that your girl is now campaigning for John McCain; it's that our Democratic "leaders" are doing nothing to stop it. They haven't stopped the war, either, and certainly they haven't stopped their own rapacious K Street patrons. Definitely not my team.

[BitJam]

Hillary Clinton, March 3, 2008:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I think that I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Your defense of her vote for war is a joke. If she was fooled by Bush into giving him authority to attack Iraq in 2002, then why in hell did she vote in 2007 to give him the green-light to attack Iran? Does she have a learning disability? No. Of course not. Both votes for war were calculated political decisions to position herself for the general presidential election in 2008.

The problem was not just her 2002 vote for war. The problem was that for over 5 years she refused to admit her vote was a mistake. Like every every important issue she has had to deal with, she wants to take both sides. We've suffered through over 7 years with a president who lies to us about war in the Mideast. Why would we want another 4 more?

[atomicprince]

I agree with you. I am a Obama supporter but I wish Hillary and her campaign would think the same way as you do.

[Kishadawn]

I'm an Obama supporter and I agree.