Your candidate's campaign has called my candidate a sexist, elitist, naive, neophyte who doesn't have the experience to be President, but she's willing to accept that he's not a Muslim, and because my candidate won, you all need hugs and kisses because Barack Obama dared to win the nomination.

A candidate who has steadily refused the low road, even as his patriotism was questioned, even as past acquaintances and associates of no particular closeness were held up as scandals in the making. If Senator Clinton were going to repeat the same outrages that have been done to her and her husband in the past, she should at least have recalled how ineffective they proved.

Even as her supporters combed his words for supposed sexism, claimed he wouldn't even be in the running if he weren't black, and absurdly asserted that he gave her the finger on national television, he did not pounce on her "misstatements", did not call her a liar, and simply took at face value that she was tired when she repeated factually incorrect statements several times.

When he was attacked in the media, the Clintons told him "if you can't take the heat..." When she was attacked in the media, the Clintons said they had never seen such a relentless assault.

Exit poll after exit poll after exit poll say that significantly more people felt that her attacks were unfair than his were, even in states that she won. Call this a result of media bias if you must, but it's how people feel!

And as the primaries come to a close, when his tenacity and grace under fire have kept his momentum going while his campaign's superior planning has won him the nomination, you expect him to apologize for the "terrible injustice" that he somehow perpetrated by winning?

I just think of Chris Rock saying, "What do you want, a cookie?"

It is damned hard to pull myself back from that mindset.

It is damned hard to hear her reference Bobby Kennedy's assassination and not think the worst.

I probably don't succeed as often as I should, and I apologize for that. I realize that the majority of Clinton supporters here and across the nation are probably going to vote for Obama in November. I realize that Clinton herself will work to make this a reality, and the occasional bouts of paranoia that occasionally lead Obama supporters to question this are just an aftereffect of a long and difficult struggle.

The campaign has been brutal. Both candidates have been bloodied by each other, bloodied by their own mistakes, bloodied by Republicans who are hoping to distract themselves from their lack of enthusiasm for their own candidate and bloodied by a media circling like sharks at the smell of blood.

None of that matters now.

Every single issue that Hillary Clinton has championed throughout the primary season will be far better off in the hands of a President Obama than those of President McCain.

The nation will be safer, better educated, have better health care, better judicial appointees, have cleaner air and water and be more respected in the world community under a President Obama than a President McCain.

The Hundred Years War will end sooner. No Child Left Behind will be replaced by a national education agenda that's name isn't a sad Orwellian joke. The environmental standards and regulations that have languished for the past eight years will be enforced. A health care plan better than "don't get sick" will become the national standard.

I've supported Barack Obama's candidacy for nearly 18 months now, but I freely admit that ALL of the above would likewise be true under a President Clinton. At this point, I can't imagine a scenario for her becoming the nominee that I wouldn't find absolutely loathsome, but in the end, the singular duty I have to my country supersedes my personal feelings towards the candidates.

If you genuinely believe Barack Obama will not work to end the war in Iraq as quickly as possible, will not ensure a fairer tax system then we've seen under George W. Bush, will not fight to create a better health care system, a better educational system, a cleaner environment...

If you believe that, I think you're crazy, but at least you have a reason. But if your reason to not want to vote for Barack Obama in November is "he said," "his campaign said," "a supporter on a blog said," and the like, then I suggest you follow the advice of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, a Clinton supporter:

Hey, you can be disappointed, you can be ticked off. Take a week or ten days to vent, and then get back on board -- we have to win.

If you can't bring yourself to work for Obama, there's certain to be a Democratic candidate in your state or your district for Senate, House, the State Legislature, Mayor, someone you feel is worthy of your time and energy. Someone who your city, state or country will be better off with in office next year than the candidate with the R after their name. Spend a little time there. It doesn't have to be a lot. One Saturday afternoon, even. While you're there, ask the volunteers or staffers or even the candidate if he or she is available who they'll be voting for in November.

It'll get easier, and America will be better for it.