How many times and in how many ways does Bill Clinton have to say "I will do whatever Barack Obama asks me to do on his behalf" before Obama supporters realize that Clinton is letting Obama, the presumptive nominee, make the decision about whether or not Obama wants Clinton to campaign for him? Instead, what is reported is that Clinton offers "half-hearted support." Right.

I am sure that if President Clinton took the initiative to campaign for and support Obama *without* Obama's express approval, we would hear instead that the Clintons don't know their place, can't stop campaigning, or have some ulterior motive - that Bill is trying to sandbag Obama's chances so that his wife can be the nominee.

Both Clintons really are in a double bind here - seemingly nothing they do or say is reported without an armchair psychoanalysis about "what they really meant." I think President Clinton is taking the right tack by stepping back - after all that has happened in the campaign, Obama is the person who has to take a public stand here. Many of Obama's supporters (such as this blog's author) seem determined to color anything the Clintons do as expressly anti-Obama. I wish I knew what the Clintons or Obama could do to stop such destructive interpretation of innocuous statements, and would be interested to hear this blog's author opine on what those acts might be. We all need to come together in November, but slanted articles like this one aren't likely to help achieve the "unity" that will be needed to defeat McCain.