Let’s hope the Democrats have the sense to kiss and make up, or at least get a good night’s sleep—preferably in the same bed, but, if necessary, on the couch in the living room under the same roof.

Please! No roaring out of the driveway at seventy miles an hour after a spat, seeking the comfort of someone else in a moment of temporary insanity. You’ll regret it. That other guy may look tempting, with his affable mien and seductive embrace, but no matter what he tells you, he is not your friend. Once he’s got you where he wants you, do you really think he’ll leave his base for you? Forget it. The guy’s a home wrecker. The fight that’s driving you into his deceitful arms is really not worth busting up your marriage. Or your country.

As the race ends in the endearingly dysfunctional family we call the Democratic Party, passions are running high. If only he or she would knock it off and come around to your point of view, life would be so much better! I think this about my husband several times a week. I assume he thinks the same about me. And is there ever a time when teenagers don’t think this?

The fact that Obama’s and Clinton’s actual points of view are nearly identical seems oddly immaterial to Hillary loyalists. Are so many really willing to forsake basic shared goals like ending the war, salvaging the economy and allowing Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens to retire before his one hundred and twenty-fifth birthday? Will disappointed Hillary fans actually vote for McCain out of spite, even though his views differ radically from their own? Sure, opposites attract and politics make strange bedfellows, but this is ridiculous! I may as well leave my husband because I don’t like how he folds the laundry for another man who believes women should be chained to the washer and dryer.

So, heartbroken Hillary supporters, please get a grip. Stop acting like teenagers in full thrall to their hormones. Or grade schoolers who cry “No fair!” and overturn the board game, sending all the pieces flying, when they lose. Throwing tantrums is fun, but it’s no way to choose a president.

As with any good partnership, it’s time to calm down, compromise, forgive, and move on. Let’s remember what’s important: We’re in this thing together for the long haul.

So if you’re thinking of storming out of the house after a big, nasty fight, don’t. Sleep on it, you’ll feel better tomorrow. Then kiss and make up.

For the sake of your children.

For the sake of your country.

By Lorrie Goldin