About time.
Before hearing the news that Bill Richardson has endorsed Obama, I by chance was doing something I've been doing too much of lately: wondering where Richardson and Edwards had got to. Where was political courage? Why, exactly, had they not endorsed yet? Was it that they wanted big powerful jobs in a the new administration and felt it was too risky to move until the nomination is decided? Imagine if, say, Edwards endorsed Obama and then Hillary got the nomination. Or imagine if Richardson endorsed Hillary, a long-time friend, and then Obama got the nomination. People say that when that kind of thing happens, the injured party forgives and forgets, all in the name of party unity. But is it true? Imagine Edwards endorsing Obama and Hillary winning the presidency. Then Edwards asks Hillary in person if the office of Attorney General is still vacant. Think of the carnage!
And that isn't all. More than once I muttered to myself, "If these two men are waiting until the last minute to endorse a nominee, but an endorsement from them would get us a nominee now, it's hopeless. Hopeless and circular---indeed, it's the circularity that kills all hope!"
Well, Richardson has taken the big bold step now, we must wait for Edwards. If he endorses Hillary, the two endorsements will cancel each other out as far making any contribution to deciding the nominee. In which case they might as well have stayed home. Whatever happens, I am disappointed in the pair of them. I ought not to be, for it's just human nature---and, here, the nature of the political beast---to hang back, and wait. The thing is, had Richardson endorsed Obama earlier, it might have made a bigger difference than it's going to make now. It might have even brought an end to Hillary's run for the nomination, and saved the party looking so divisive. I must be fair to Richardson, though. Being a close friend and colleague of Hillary's, it must have been painful for him to endorse Obama. Who enjoys turning a friend down?
I await Edwards'decision. Perhaps he wants to wait until the convention. He may feel, as many do, that Hillary is bent on taking it to Denver, that nothing can turn her from this, and that he can endorse there. How risky is that? Only Hillary knows.