Months went by after John Edwards dropped his bid for president and he said nothing. Clinton wooed, Obama wooed. And still this polymer-smiled populist kept quiet. For all the anticipation, when Edwards finally endorsed Obama last week in Michigan he omitted the key phrase: “I endorse…”.

In fact, Edwards’ endorsement was not so much an endorsement at all but rather a rose ceremony where Edwards spends half the speech praising Senator Clinton despite boos and moans from the audience. Only later does Edwards state matter-of-factly that Obama will be the next president. In the end, the Obama campaign never issued a press release using the words endorse nor have all of Edwards’ super delegates moved towards Obama.