Said the late, great Will Rogers: "I'm not a member of any organized political party. I'm a Democrat." These days, the witty cowboy would be characterized as a master of understatement.

Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton spent months rhetorically swinging the bat at one another in competing for the Democratic presidential nomination. When it became clear that Obama would be the victor, the chronically fractured Democrats -- some of them, anyway -- began preaching unity. At first, Clinton appeared to be reluctant to answer the altar call. Finally, she made a speech of conversion to unity. Ah, but her husband, former President Bill Clinton, was letting her walk the aisle alone.

It appears that to the victor belongs the obligation to share the spoils with the vanquished. Clinton is expecting that Obama will help raise money to retire her $23 million campaign debt.

Yet one Obama donor told The New York Times that some of the responses he got to an e-mail seeking help for Clinton were "unprintable," and one said in part, "Not a penny for that woman. Or her husband." Mercy. Don't sugar-coat it, ma'am, give it to us straight.

The newspaper also said Obama's people had raised about $100,000, which Clinton officials described as a "paltry sum." The campaigns are acting rather like two kids forced to the same sandbox by their parents and told to play nice together. One of 'em will get a plastic shovel upside the head, and the other one will have sand in his diaper.

The Clintons are worth millions, but they'd just as soon not absorb the debt run up by Hillary Clinton's campaign. And the Obama people are worried that come this summer's convention in Denver, the Clintons might prove a bit shy in their endorsements. In other words, at the Democrats' love feast, Hillary and Bill might just order room service.

Get $150+ in coupons in every Sunday N&O. Click here for convenient home delivery.