Let Me Attack Both Democratic Candidates In The Spirit Of Unity

These are little things, but they're gnawing at me, and they are symbols of what Democrats have to get beyond.

First, here's Barack Obama making excuses for his potential loss in Kentucky.

He acknowledged that he’s trying to “reverse a lot of misconceptions” about his background. He is a Christian, although some e-mail chains have said he is a Muslim.

“Part of it is because there have been these e-mails that have been sent out very systematically, presumably by various political opponents, although I don’t know who,” he said. “And there are a lot of voters who get their news from Fox News. Fox has been pumping up rumors about my religious beliefs or my patriotism or what have you since the beginning of the campaign.”

Good thing you didn't legitimize Fox as a news network by going on their air multiple times in the past few w- oh, wait. Well, at least when you went on you went after them for trying to destroy your reputation and pushed back hard at their- oh, wait again.

I could do this all day.

Then there's this story about how the Clinton and Obama teams are planning a merger down the road as we reach the end of primary season, and it includes this quote from a Clinton backer:

(Fundraiser Mark) Aronchick said that in his own discussions, he emphasized the need for the senator from Illinois to stop describing Clinton and her backers as representing the politics of the past.

"They need to understand how corrosive that has been among her supporters," Aronchick said. "For this to work, they need to correct any impression that he thinks we represent the old ways of doing things or Washington Beltway ways of doing things."

But you do. The fact that you're a bundler who's raised a million dollars for Hillary's campaign identifies you with the old ways of doing things. The Internet is making you obsolete, or at least less able to compete.

If Democrats try to keep accommodating old-school power brokers like this, and if they keep reinforcing right-wing smear machines by running to them whenever the going gets tough, this could be a closer election than it needs to be.