It’s no secret that Hillary Clinton has a polarizing effect — you either love her or love to hate her. But for the most part, members of the latter group have been primarily Republicans.

Not anymore.

There has been an effort by Republicans to thwart Hillary’s attempts at presidency since the time Al Gore called for the 15th recount of the Florida votes in 2000. But now they have a new ally against Hillary — Team Obama.

It seems obvious that people who support one Democratic candidate would not support the other, but Hillary’s recent actions have turned “lack of support” into disdain. This is especially true in our little collegiate niche, where Obamania has swept through campus like the plague.

Obama faithfuls became frustrated with Hillary when she didn’t bow out of the race when she lost the delegate lead, like Mitt Romney did for John McCain. They thought the nomination was rightfully theirs from that point onward and thus wanted to look toward the general election.

But Hillary remained.

Obama has created more of a religious revival type of following. With rallies that resemble something out of Jesus Camp, his speeches and charisma have made him out to be more savior or prophet than politician.

Hillary had to shed tears on national television to prove she wasn’t a robot from The Terminator. It’s understandable that her recent actions toward Obama have been less than genial.

She can’t keep up with the messages of hope that seemingly gush from Obama’s every orifice and is forced to respond in the only way she knows how — negatively. Her recent reference of “change you can Xerox” resonated especially poorly among devout Barackites.

Even in the recent debate in Ohio, Hillary’s demeanor toward Obama resembled an interaction between Michael Scott and Toby from The Office. Between her complaining about always getting the first question to the bickering that drew the question out for nearly 20 minutes, it was surprising that she didn’t turn to Obama and say, “There is so much I hate about what you choose to be.”

Aside from these characteristics, it is how Hillary has been hindering both the Obama and McCain campaigns that created animosity in both groups.

For Democrats, the political attacks between the Democratic candidates, although not as distasteful as they could have been, have not helped against McCain. As long as they continue to attack each other, McCain will benefit.

Also, as previously mentioned, the Obama squad views the nomination as rightfully theirs, which is why they take any attack from Hillary as senselessly detrimental to their efforts in the long run. The antipathy towards her is thereby fueled further.

Furthermore, her message is “We must beat the Republicans.” To undecided voters and Americans in general, this message is less appealing than the bi-partisan collaboration that has been proposed by both the Obama and McCain camps.

For these reasons, along with the general disagreement in her views and policies, Hillary has become increasingly unpopular, and it’s becoming likely that her actions may cost her the election.

[Reach columnist Jeff Dickson at opinion@thedaily.washington.edu.]