Congratulations Barack Obama on a very hard won campaign.

Here is the way many of us Hillary supporters see it.

Most of us know that the right thing to do is to support the Democratic Nominee, and that Obama would be a far better choice for the country and the world than John McCain. Yet we hate the feeling of injustice that lingers from the mudslinging that has happened, fueled by the media and supported by many on the blogosphere.

Most of us are soul searching to try to overcome our feeling that this process wasn't fair, but we want a democratic candidate for president. Most of us generally like  Barack Obama, but some of us feel that this was not the best choice.

This is expressly not about either candidate. I do support one, but this is about all of us Democrats.

I am very proud to be a Democrat these days, but the divisions are worrying me.  Whether or not anyone wants to admit it, some people are supporting their candidate for very base reasons.

Right now we have the "CLASS CARD" being played.

An election is all about choosing one candidate to exclude others, and eventually exclude one other, from holding a political office.  In our system, that also means choosing a political party to run the executive branch of our government.  This binary choice naturally brings out every distinction imaginable in order to rally voters to a particular side.  And because of this, every card in the deck is being played, and will continue to be played.

By the time we actually get to policy and judgment and strategy and governance, we are already hugely tainted the passions and the name calling and accusations.

All this mess is very human. and very difficult to work around.

The real shame in all of this is that despite the obvious and ludicrous distinctions of race and gender and class, either high-minded or low minded, there is an election to be won, and these issues are dividing one party only right now.

OTHER CARDS................

For some, it is voting for the first woman for President.  For some it is voting for the first African American.  Oh, the denials and the justifications are huge and complicated, but there it is.  

Worse, some in their hear of hearts, are voting against the first woman candidate, or against the first African American candidate.

Further, some of the divisions are not based (thankfully) in race or gender.  But they still might be based in educational level or class distinction.  This is at least an oldie but a baddie, but it further splits people who weren't split by the other aforementioned distinctions, and still has very little to do with the job at hand, getting a Democrat in the White House.  Nor does it have ANYTHING to do with the overal inclusiveness of the Democratic platform.

Supporting Barack does not make anyone a sexist. Supporting Hillary does not make anyone a racist.

Supporting either candidate does not make anyone more/less intelligent or stupid.  There are feminists who support Barack, there are minority activists who support Hillary.  Furthermore are bigots of every stripe in all factions of all political parties or distinctions.

We obviously all have preferences and opinions about our candidates and the values we believe they stand for.

How about a discussion of why we want our preferred candidate to win?  Health care?  The economy?  Domestic policies and programs?  Foreign policy? Trade agreements?

How about working to elect a candidate for what we want to elect them for?