Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are probably the two most controversial presidential hopefuls. It's starting to become exceedingly irritating, seeing their two faces everywhere. I swear I can't pick up a magazine or a newspaper without a lengthy article on one of them, or watch "The Colbert Report" without mention of either candidate. "Time" seems to have Obama or Clinton on the cover every other week. As a democrat (well, a lazy apathetic democrat), I want to see a democrat in office, but both candidates need to employ a better strategy.

With Obama and Clinton supporters feeling so strongly about their favored candidate, I'm beginning to think that the supporters of one may not want to vote for the other one if they become the presidential candidate. This is ridiculous because, despite the fact that both candidates work tirelessly to emphasize their differences, they are in fact nearly identical contenders.

Both Clinton and Obama would be great presidents. When you think about it, they have a lot of the same views, so in terms of opinions regarding the future of our country it should not make much difference who wins; it's more or less going to be a contest based on their charisma. When considering their major platforms, both candidates have so much in common. Don't get me wrong, there are differences within each platform, but these differences are often minor or seem to change from debate to debate.

Both democratic frontrunners are interested in reforming the health care programs. Obama wants a national health care program, and Clinton wants a universal health care program. Obama's program focuses on everyone and ensures that health care prices are more uniform. Clinton's universal health care program gives tax credits to families to cover costs, thus lowering health care fees.

Both candidates also want a withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Differences here are chiefly in the time frame. Obama's time frame is 16 months and will keep a few troops in Iraq to protect the U.S. employees working there. His plan also includes a Middle East Compact. Hillary Clinton's time frame is much shorter, and is in three phases. She also plans to keep a small number of troops in Iraq.

Clinton is more detailed than Obama on the economy. Obama wants an additional tax break to stimulate the economy. Clinton, on the other hand, wants to restore the middle class and will offer a child tax credit and additional tax cuts for those in the middle range. She wants to try to keep more jobs in the US rather than outsourcing for cheaper labor. There are some differences here, but mainly both candidates are opting for tax breaks and more jobs.

Finally, both candidates want to change the No Child Left Behind policy. Obama wants to revise it and Clinton wants to get rid of it. Obama concentrates more on higher education by giving a tax credit to those parents or students who are spending money on higher education. Clinton also wants to provide a tax credit to these parents or students, and she also wants to concentrate education at the secondary level by expanding the Head Start program. Both candidates are similar once again in this field, especially with lowering the costs of higher education. Even the amount saved on higher education is roughly the same for each candidate — around $3,500 to $4,000.

Putting personalities beside, these two presidential nominees share many of the same views. Personally, I feel that both candidates should team up as a presidential, vice-presidential pair. With the two of them on one ticket, I cannot really see a way that they could lose against the republican candidate.