Why so much discord between the supporters of two candidates who virtually share the same platform?

[jpgray]

So tell me, Clinton & Obama folks--is it character? Past political history? Rhetoric? Electability? What? In terms of their current stances they are close to identical. There are differences between the two in the areas I mention above, but since they stand more or less together on every plank, how do you justify your entrenched antipathy for one another?

I'm not saying that it's necessarily stupid or ridiculous, I just don't understand it.

[jenmito]

1. Yes, yes, yes, and yes...

The Clintons play dirty, stoop as low as they need to to (try to) win, lie, have a history of being polarizing figures and triangulating their positions, and the Repubs. are salivating at the chance to run against them.

Obama is fresh and new, with good judgement, who doesn't want to continue the old time partisan politics, who is inspiring and unifying.

[Zuiderelle]

2. Donnie McClurkin and Kirbyjon Caldwell; Obama's emphatic decription of himself as proudly Christian.

A couple of reasons I won't be happy if Obama is our nominee. You are correct, they stand basically on the same boards, in most ways, but the few ways they differ mean a lot to me.

(Though I agree that the amount of discord I've seen here lately is unwarranted, no matter what their positions. I think most Obama supporters would vote for Clinton in the GE, as most Clinton supporters would vote for him, myself included, no matter how obscene the noise gets in here.)

[jpgray]

3. I can't stand Obama. His pandering and platitudes are disgusting to me

Though I can see why he believes they will serve him well in our political atmosphere. I can't stand Hillary either, for slightly different reasons. Mostly my antipathy for her is based on the old establishment policy for influence/money quid pro quo she represents and her triangulation strategy that is very similar to Obama's, only with less Obama-style oblique pandering to religious groups and conservatives. I can also see why she believes her strategy will serve her well in this atmosphere.

I just don't like how readily the two sides are whipped up into real hatred of each other. I don't hate supporters of either candidate--some of each are people I deeply respect :D--and I will vote for either Obama or Clinton in the GE. The stakes are extremely high this cycle, which tends to radicalize people--I just wish some attention would be paid to the similarities of their platforms rather than the differences of their strategy. I don't blame anyone for taking issue with Obama's pandering or Clinton's attack strategy, I just wish that didn't define all interaction between the two camps.