Have you heard this?

I’m guessing a professional political consultant would advise against this, but here’s something like what I’d like to hear each of the leading Democratic presidential candidates say.

From Barack Obama:

“Sen. Clinton would make a fine president. Now I know there are some voters who might not want to vote for a woman for president. If that’s you, if you’re going to vote for me because you just don’t want to vote for a woman, then let me say this to you: Don’t vote for me either. I don’t want your vote.”

From Hillary Clinton:

“Sen. Obama would make a fine president. Now I know there are some voters who might not want to vote for a black man for president. If that’s you, if you’re going to vote for me because you just don’t want to vote for a black man, then let me say this to you: Don’t vote for me either. I don’t want your vote.”

The professional political consultant might even offer an explanation for why that’s not something either of them should say. I’m not sure I would understand that explanation. That’s probably why I’m not a highly paid professional political consultant.

(It’s also possible that one or both candidates have already said something similar to the above. If so, please point me to it. I would find that immensely heartening.)