When did I become an enemy to the Democratic party? I’ve been a member of this party since I first registered to vote at the age of 18. I am pro-choice, pro-gay rights, pro-gun control, a progressive and a Green. In my first presidential election, I voted for Mike Dukakis and there hasn’t been a single Republican candidate that I’ve even been tempted to consider voting for. I’ve worked for the political campaigns of Al Gore and John Kerry. I opposed the war in Iraq from Day One and have protested numerous times against it. I protested at the Republican National Convention in NY when GWB was running for a second term.

Yet in the past six months, I’ve been called a racist, a whiner, a hypocrite and quite a few things even less pleasant. I’ve been told that I no longer have a place in the Democratic party. Why? Because I believed at the start, and still do, that Hillary Clinton was a better choice to be our candidate for president.

That doesn’t meant that I don’t think Obama has his virtues or that I thought he would be an abysmal failure as a candidate or as a president. I really dolike him. I think he has a great deal to offer the party and has wonderful leadership qualities. I just happened to think that at this point in time, that Clinton had as much, if not more to offer. I thought that her policy ideas were more practical and more clearly thought out. I disagreed with her about voting to give Bush authorization for the war in Iraq (and do not excuse her for her vote in that), but I did think that she had a more reasoned concept of how to withdraw outselves from that mess without plunging the entire region in chaos. I thought her plans for reforming our health care system was more carefully considered and much more expansive than Obama’s. And yes, as a woman I did like the idea of seeing a woman in the highest level of office. I won’t deny that.

If anything, what was turning me off from Obama was not the candidate himself so much, but the comments of so many of his followers. That I was told that I could “get on the bus or stay behind”. That my support wasn’t wanted or needed if I thought that Clinton was the stronger candidate, and that Obama would win without us. I was deeply troubled by the comments made by his former minister and others who made racist and sexist comments about Clinton. Suddenly all of the work that I had contributed for the party, the years of voting for strong progressive candidates and the work I had done for these causes meant nothing because if I voted for Clinton, I should no longer consider myself a Democrat.

I was troubled that the slightest misstatement made by either Sen. Clinton or her husband was painted as racist. When she made the comment pointing out the role that government played in the civil rights push, it was construed that she was trying to downplay the role that black leaders had played. When commenting on the length of the primary season and she very reasonably pointed out that there was historical president of primaries being decided very late either due to highly competitive races or tragic circumstances, she was accused of hinting that Obama would be assassinated if elected. I was deeply bothered by the way the successes of the Clinton Administration were discounted or dismissed in the zeal to pave the way for Obama’s nomination. Some of Obama’s supporters did not seem to just want their candidate to win; they wanted to utterly destroy the opponent who dared to keep up the race against him. People didn’t have to reject Clinton because they disagreed with her policies or even simply because they liked Obama better for whatever reason. No, they had to portray her as the immoral demonic beast. It was unnecessary and debases the very real importance of the issues at stake in this election.

Clinton is not a perfect candidate and she had major faults, as does Obama. I’m not blind to that fact. Nor am I so delusional as to say that I will stay home on Election Day or vote for McCain or do anything else that might give the Republicans any advantage in winning the White House. I just don’t think I’m wrong to say that I would like some other reason to vote for Obama other than just to keep McCain from winning. No, he doesn’t have to have Clinton on the ticket – actually for her benefit, I think she would do much better back in the Senate. But what I would like is to be treated with more respect and less destain by members of my own party. Some of the vitrol being spewed is unbecoming of our party and people need to remember that perhaps the only thing despised more than a sore loser is a bad winner. The collective victory dance on the corpse of Clinton’s campaign not warranted or needed at this time.

Our party has had the equivalent of a big family argument. The matter has been settled and now the family has to come back together. To Obama’s supporters I would make this plea – don’t keep pushing me away. Like it or not, Obama will not be able to win without Clinton’s supporters. Obama’s victory in the primaries was by a nose and he, and by extension you, cannot afford to discount half of the party if you do plan to win. So please, let’s take a deep breath and tone down the rhetoric. We might have minor disagreements, but we are still a family.