"....but SHE started it...."

The Democrats could take a lesson from USC football coach Pete Carroll, whose success is based on breeding healthy competition within all levels of his organization.

He has, for instance, seven or eight outstanding running backs, each of whom could start for most Top 25 teams. As they compete against one another, they bring out the best in one another. That's why Pete Carroll's team is a top national title contender for about the sixth year in a row. The tailbacks don't beat each other up and they don't trip each other or spread nasty rumors about none another -- they just bring out the best in one another.

Ronald Reagan promoted a similar ethos when he spoke of an 11th commandment: "Thou shall not speak ill of another Republican." His advice was ignored to an unusual extent by Mitt Romney and his talk-radio crowd this spring as they attempted to undercut John McCain, but Republicans are sufficiently organized to overcome their own previous claims that McCain would "destroy the soul of the party."

But something worse is happening among Dems. They have presented the nation with two interesting, credible options: A man who represents hope and a woman who represents experience. The latter is intent on exploding the former's credibility, out of her own desperate need for power. I say this as a longtime defender of her and her husband, as someone who was puzzled by how angrily Republicans accused them of being power hungry. Now I see that it's true.

The only saving grace is that, if Obama can't convince his own party that his brand of hope will be efficacious, he may as well lose now. Hillary is indeed testing his battle-worthiness. Still, she and Bill truly bother me now.