By Lanny Davis
Former White House Special Counsel/FOX News Political Contributor

FOX FORUM EXCLUSIVE:

When politicians say something that turn out to be flat-out untrue, the media punditoracy expects an apology, or even worse, some type of humiliating public flogging, at least figuratively.

So when that same puditocracy gets it wrong, how many of them have the intellectual honesty to admit they were simply wrong for months and months by predicting how “divided” the Democratic Party was and how “tough” it would be to put Humpty Dumpty back together?

Remember all the fiery predictions when Hillary Clinton decided not to drop out of the race — despite calls for an exit by many of the pundits (including a Newsweek columnist who wrote “Hillary Should Get Out Now” before she won the Pennsylvania, Ohio and Texas primaries)?

Remember how many times reporters for the cable channels predicted that Clinton supporters and Obama supporters would be at each other’s throats up to and including the convention?

Remember, even in just the last several days, the reporting by pundits and cable news journalists that the roll call vote “demanded” by Clinton supporters would increase the division?

And remember the constant drumbeat from the same reporters and pundits about Bill Clinton being angry and the likelihood that he would make things more difficult for Senator Obama — that his support for his election would be, at best, half-hearted?

With Tuesday night’s Hillary Clinton speech — which appears, in and of itself, to have given the Obama candidacy a 5 point bump in one night according to the Gallup Tracking Poll (with Obama now ahead 48-42 after the previous night had him in statistical tie 45%-44%) — and then last night’s home run speeches by Bill Clinton and the vice presidential nominee Joe Biden, there can no be no doubt that this is a unified Democratic Party that supports Barack Obama. Already there are signs that Democrats — and Democratic-leaning independents and moderate Republicans looking for change from the last eight years — are coming home to support the Obama-Biden ticket.

This is no time for euphoria by Democrats but the door has been opened for Senator Obama by this great convention–and tonight’s speech should also be helpful. He has a lot of hard work to do among working class voters, as he well knows. And he has to close the deal to win the 2008 election. That moment might not come until the final debate with Senator McCain in October and, indeed, perhaps not until the final weekend.

But back to the “disunity” myth… I do know one thing: If just one journalist or cable news pundit admitted to being wrong about the predictions of all this bitterness or the pressure to push Senator Clinton out of the race because she was being “divisive,” I would volunteer to buy that reporter/pundit dinner.