Firstly, to my fellow Obama supporters:

I am one of you. I support Sen. Obama wholeheartedly, and I believe that he will make a good President, if elected. However, we are not helping our candidate out at the moment. As a matter of fact, we are hurting his chances of winning in November every time we make a ridiculous statement online, and every time we attack a supporter of Sen. Clinton. Does it go on on both sides? Sure. But it is especially prevalent amongst us. I do not know if it is because of our relatively young average age, or if it is because of the nature of our candidate, but either way, it is wrong and it must stop. I am no one special or important to listen to, but I do feel that it is important that we come to this realization so that we can change it and try and fix the damage that we have caused. Our candidate can not heal the party by himself if nominated, because of all the tearing apart we have done ourselves.

There are a number of things that have got to go, or we will kill our candidate's chances of winning the White House by driving out members of the Democratic Party from supporting us. We cannot win without Sen. Clinton and her supporters, and likewise, they cannot win without us.

1. We must STOP sexist comments and accusations of racism when we are addressing Sen. Clinton or her supporters. This is not cool. "Racist" is not a word you throw around, especially after all the good the Clintons have done for African-Americans in this country during their term of office. Likewise, we must stop ridiculous and disgusting comments targeting Sen. Clinton because of her gender. "Psycho ex-girlfriend" is not an acceptable description of the work Sen. Clinton has done, and any sort of comment that is derrogratory and based on gender inferiority is absolutely unacceptable. I do not welcome those of you who make these types of comments into the Democratic fold. You do not belong here. We are the party that takes the high road.

2. We must become more respectful in general. Politics, especially in the Democratic Party, is supposed to be an intelligent discussion of ideas, strategies, and issues. It is not a name-calling festival. Sen. Clinton has done a lot of work for the Democratic Party, a lot of very good work, and she is to be respected. If you don't like her ideas on issues, then fine, but don't make baseless slanders because she is a formidable candidate opposing Sen. Obama at the moment. Do not get angry and violent with Sen. Clinton supporters. Show some ettiquette--don't be so condescending. Your opinion is worth much less than anyone else's if the opinion only serves to create hostility and anger. We risk throwing people who made this party what it is today out of this party, and they do not deserve that.

3. Realize that we are all Democrats first and foremost, not Obamacrats, and that we are certainly not the only members of the Democratic Party. There are some Independents and Republicans in our fold, and we welcome you as much as anyone, but Sen. Obama is a Democratic candidate, and as a supporter, Democratic ideals should be respected. We are not better than Sen. Clinton or her supporters in any way, and what she has done for this country deserves respect, not animosity. This "Creative Class" BS has got to stop. There is no way we will win with the attitude that we are the only important people in the Democratic Party, because if we think that way, then we will be the ONLY people in the Democratic Party--and that's not a good thing.

4. Do not disrespect Sen. Clinton's record. She has done a lot, as previously stated numerous times, on minority rights, the health care front, and even national security. There is a way of criticizing things objectively without completely dismissing them or accusing them of being less than anything they really are. Many of us act as if Sen. Clinton has done nothing to deserve our respect, and that she has never done a thing for this country. That is ignorant, and makes me feel ashamed to be an Obama supporter at times.

5. Don't listen to and repeat anything that Donna Brazile, Chris Matthews, or Keith Olbermann says, at least not 'til after this election. They are hurting relations in this party as much as we are, and if we accept much of their hateful, idiotic, and occassionally sexist speech as truth or a talking point, then it only serves to double the negative impact in our party.

6. Quit calling for her to drop out. She has earned the right to run as long as she wishes. She is a Democrat, and she is a fighter who wants the nomination as much as we do. We are not entitled to it, and we have to fight for it as well, just like everyone else. When it ends, it ends. Try and come to a compromise or a conclusion about Michigan and Florida instead. We should not support the disenfranchisement of voters in any way, even if it does benefit us somehow. It does not benefit the party, or Obama's chances against McCain in November. Until Sen. Clinton wins the nomination or leaves the race on her own accord, we need to shut up and stop trying to force her and her supporters out of this race and the party. It is unwarranted and makes us look like idiots, which we certainly do act like sometimes.

Those are the things we have to stop doing. There are probably more, but at least this is a start. Politics is a civil thing. Don't get involved so much in drinking the Kool-Aid so many of us have, and fall into some strange cultish behavior. This is a discussion about who is going to lead America and the Democratic Party, not a rock concert or a game. I encourage my fellow Obama supporters, whether guilty of anything or not, to make an effort to apologize to Clinton supporters who have been dissuaded by our actions, and to back that apology up with changes in our actions. If we do not do this, then our apologies are meaningless and do not deserve to be accepted.

Stop the madness. Please.

Secondly, to the supporters of Sen. Clinton:

This is my own apology. I know that I have offended a few, not on purpose, but I have in the past, and I regret making the statements which did come across as offensive. I have no interest in sexism, or in 'purging' you from our party. I am ashamed at some of my fellow supporters who think this is necessary. I wish I could apologize for them, but sadly, I cannot. It hurts me whenever I hear a fellow Obama supporter wave you off as something unimportant, or disrespect or even attack you and your candidate. It is wrong, and I recognize that, and apologize for it as best as I can. I cannot control the actions of other supporters, and certainly not Sen. Obama himself, but I can control my own and will try to make amends as best as possible. I hope this does not come across as anything less than a sincere and humble apology. This is speaking for me only, as BTD is fond of saying.

I know that I probably can't do a whole lot here by writing it. Not many people will read this diary, but I hope that maybe I can at least affect one or two people by the words I type. I feel it is important that we Obama supporters change our actions and words, and if we truly want party unity, to take the first step and quit acting the way we do towards Clinton supporters. We have already lost many from the Democratic Party, who will either not vote or vote for Sen. McCain in the fall. This makes me sad, but I do not want to lose any more. However, if we as supporters do not change our actions, then we deserve no less but to suffer a humiliating defeat at the hands of the people who we pushed out of the party during this primary process.

Hope that everyone has a good day, and that the progressive movement is not stemmed in any way from this long and arduous process we have endured. At the end of the day, we are all (or should be) still Democrats and progressives, and hopefully we can get back to those notions of advancing America, and a civil discussion between our two candidates.