My plea to Obama & Clinton: "Stop It!"

This is going to be a long campaign… not for the candidates so much as for we the voters.

We are barely months into a race that has started WAY too early, and already we have two contenders barking at each other and slinging mud over the opinions of someone who, in all honesty, shouldn’t matter when speaking about the next President of the United States.

David Geffen is not a politician, David Geffen is not a political strategist… his political dealings are only as a donor. He’s in the entertainment business… so why should we be putting so much stock into what he says?

Plus, seeing as how this is the United States, Geffen is entitled to his opinion, and it should not be taken as anything but one person’s opinion…

Instead, it’s turned into a battle with the campaigns of Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) trading accusations of nasty politics.

The root issue is that the Clinton campaign is demanding that the Obama campaign not only give back Geffen's $2,300 contribution, but also denounces the comments made by Geffen, who once backed Bill Clinton but now supports Obama, in a New York Times articles where he said "Everybody in politics lies," and added that Bill and Hillary “do it with such ease, it's troubling.”

Uh… correct me if I’m wrong, but people are entitled to change their minds about something… and people are also entitled to voice their own opinion about something… something Geffen pointed out when he released a statement that said “My comments, which were quoted accurately by Maureen Dowd, reflect solely my personal beliefs regarding the Clintons.”

Granted, what Geffen said was harsh… but I’m not quite sure why a candidate should apologize for something said by a campaign donor (something that Obama himself questioned)

If Ms. Clinton expects this of Obama’s campaign… then shouldn’t her campaign do the same?

Recently Sen. Clinton won the support of South Carolina state Senator Robert Ford. Ford is on the record as saying that if Obama were to win the nomination; he would drag down the rest of the Democratic Party “because he's black.”

Where’s Hillary’s crusade against obnoxious stinging quotations now?

Bear in mind I am not throwing support behind either candidate yet… it’s still too early for that… but I am on the side of Obama’s campaign on this issue. Making someone apologize for something a campaign donor said is wrong…wrong and, quite frankly, pretty damn stupid.

I’ve said it before on this blog. Rather than throw mud and insults at each other the Democratic party needs to unite itself as one entity and come out against one enemy and one enemy only; the republican nominee… and “President” Bush, but that’s a given.

If that doesn’t work, maybe we could feed off the voyeuristic reality-show tendencies our nation has become enveloped in and arrange a steel-cage match… winner takes all.