They may have campaigned together in a town called Unity, but “unity” is not exactly the word that best describes the Democratic Party right now.

True, Hillary Clinton has been out there urging her supporters to vote for and give money to Barack Obama.

True, Barack Obama seems to be Clinton’s new press secretary–hardly a day goes by when he doesn’t utter some glowing remarks about his former rival for the nomination.

And, true, there they both were yesterday, campaigning together like the best of friends.

BUT….

But, the fact is, it is proving much more difficult convincing Clinton and Obama supporters to make nice with one another than it seems to be to get the candidate and ex-candidate to do so?

Mixed in that crowd the other day in Unity, were Hillary supporters who say they will not vote for Obama no matter what Hillary tells them to do. In fact, they say they might vote for John McCain.

Clearly, much repair work needs to be done. There are many–mostly Hillary supporters–who feel strongly that Obama can only really bring his party together if he selects Clinton as his running mate. I think they are correct.

Yet, the most recent polls show Obama now with a commanding lead over McCain, which means he may feel even less of a need to have Hillary’s help winning in November.

That would be a mistake. Obama does need Clinton and the ticket needs both of them on it to assure a win in the general election.

Any other choice would be seen clearly as a runner-up–someone selected because he or she poseses less a threat to Obama’s healthy ego than Hillary Clinton represents.

Time is running out before the Denver convention the end of August. It’s just about that time when Obama needs to let voters know exactly what and who they are voting for.

Meantime, Obama plans on visiting the Middle East and Europe before the convention—to try and get the very experience in foreign affairs Clinton has and he does not.