Senator, you need to lighten up. As one of your supporters, I’m telling you, this all looks silly.

I understand that no one really understands what it means to “act presidential” any more, especially after seven-plus years of George Bush. The tap-dancing War President is completely out-of-touch. But, Senator, you must start acting presidential. Stay above all of the nonsense. The majority of voters could care less whether Hillary Clinton or one of her supporters hurt your feelings. The majority of voters could care whether one of your staffers had to resign because of the “monster” comment, or Geraldine has to resign because of her stupidity.

The Geraldine Ferraro story was nonsense. You should have let it go. From now on, you have to let these petty things go.

You say you’re ready. Sir, we’re ready. We’re ready for leadership. We’re ready for someone who is capable of seeing to the heart of the big issues, someone who is not distracted by the small stuff. We’re ready for a leader who can rise above. You’ve already inspired us. Now start leading, and stop falling for the bait.

This is the point in an election when the voters start getting fed up. When candidates are at each others’ throats, we write them off. Blagojevich never recovered in Illinois. He’s held in extremely low esteem.

What was he thinking? That we’d love him because he could run a brutal campaign?

Geraldine quit. She allowed herself to get bogged down in the nonsense. Samantha Power resigned from your campaign after calling Clinton “a monster.”

Big deal.

Senator, give it a break. We’re not at all interested in whether you can go tit-for-tat with Hillary Clinton. We desperately need a President who can see to the heart of the issues, who can see with clarity what is really at stake, and make clear decisions, define sound policy.

Leadership is not demonstrated in the playground brawl.