Imagine with me for a moment the roles reversed.
After a hard fought campaign Hillary crosses the threshold of majority.
Imagine Joe Biden in second place to Hillary.
Or imagine Chris Dodd two hundred delegates behind.
Imagine John Edwards wondering what is his next step.
Ponder Bill Richardson talking himself up for half an hour with Hillary already across the finish line.
What would Hillary supporters say then about RESPECT?
What would they say about SEXISM?
Think of being the first AA and not being conceded to.
Concession speeches are a deeply ingrained political tradition.
Why not last night? Is Hillary so special? Or Obama somehow lacking?
The Obama campaign is about blurring the silly divisions that DO NOT define all of who we are but...
When a 'white' comes in second place to 'african-american' is it responsible to not concede?
It would have been the highest scandal for a man to give that speech if Hillary had beat him.
The very very end did come quickly. Yesterday was a blur of delegates.
But she gave her speech, at least on CNN, with Obama checked off as the victor in the little text box at the bottom of the screen.
She might not have been terribly ready, but she did have months of bad odds.
She spoke eloquently of being the leader of 18 million people. If she is a leader, it carries a lot of responsibility.
In my humble opinion, last night she led them astray.
She bordered on calling for an insurrection.
To be a responsible leader she needs bring 17.9 million people to the ballot box in November to vote against McCain.
A victorious woman would have deserved much greater respect from a defeated man.
Obama deserved no less from Hillary.
If Hillary wants to be a leader she needs to lead her people not into more dreams of the victory that could have been, but AT LEAST the defeat of McCain that still can be.