I’ve always liked Hillary Clinton. I’ve defended her honor in conversation many times in the face of unreasonable criticism. She’s always struck me as seriously smart, and able to somehow overcome all the crap that’s slung at her and still manage to be an effective public servant.

Sure, she’s ambitious and triangulating (especially when it comes to the war, which really kind of bothers me), but both of those qualities are kind of par-for-the-course when it comes to politicians, so such things don’t concern me greatly.

While I’ve decided to hitch my wagon to the Obama train this cycle, I’ve always said, and still continue believe, that Senator Clinton would be a perfectly suitable and effective president, should she win the Democratic nomination. Both she and Senator Obama are both amazingly preferable to the alternative.

I’m not really a fan of her means to getting herself into the Oval Office, however. In the last couple of days, Senator Clinton has been working this line (or variations thereof) into her stump speech and interviews:

“I have a lifetime of experience that I will bring to the White House. I know Senator McCain has a lifetime of experience that he will bring to the White House. And Senator Obama has a speech he gave in 2002.”

I understand that closely contested primary elections are going to get a little ugly, with candidates themselves from the competition, which can get kind of personal (and sometimes petty), particularly when there are negligible differneces in policy between the candidates.

However, propping up the other party’s nominee over one of your rivals for your party’s nomination is never a good idea.

Even with Clinton coming off of a couple of big wins on Tuesday, there’s no sense of inevitability about who’s going to take the nomination (mathematically, in the confusing business of proportional and super- delegates, Barry’s got a slight edge, but Hills is far from out of contention at this point). In the short term, this tactic might make a few Pennsylvania voters doubt Obama’s credentials (though, friends and family in PA who are registered Democrats, I hope it won’t!), but thinking long term, how does this help out the Party’s chances in the general election?

Short answer? It doesn’t.

Depending on who wins the nomination, you’ve given the other guy either:

1. a line about how highly the Democratic nominee rates McCain’s experience
2. a line about how the democratic nominee is so bad, even his rival prefers McCain

Sure, Senator Clinton wants to win – both of them do; however, while it’s important to do all you can to come out on top, you can’t do it at the cost of flushing the party’s chances in the general election. The opposition is going to throw enough at the Democratic nominee as it is, there’s no need to hand them additional ammunition.