Since we live in a patriarchal, male-dominated world where changing rules in the middle of the game is not merely frowned upon, but outrightly laughed at, it would appear that the end is near for the Clinton ticket dreams in 2008. This was always about delegates and not big states, particularly and especially not big states that thought they were so big that they could afford to break the rules. Rewarding bad behaviour may be a core liberal value, but there is such a thing as taking fluid interpretations too far. As my students like to proclaim through their T-shirts, "Muck Fichigan".

The writing may be on the wall, and even Stevie Wonder supports Obama, but Team Clinton keeps going. Some may say they should be given credit for this. I am not sure I agree. Just as a cockroach can survive even after its head is cut off, a campaign can survive even after its raison d'etre is, well, razed. Enough money and lack of character is about all that is needed. If P. T. Barnum is to be believed, a baby boomer was born every 50 seconds in the decade after the Second World War. The Clintons won't rest until the last of them has voted. Then they will explain to the superdelegates why the voice of the people don't really matter and they should remember that what is good for the Clintons is good for the party. The scary part is not that there are enough people who think this will work, but that there are enough people who think this is fair.

Like most foreigners who can't vote, I don't know much about Barack Obama, except that he will most likely be a better role model for black children than the ones they have right now, such as 50 cent. His speeches are the best I have heard from a politician in a long time, and his campaign is the cleanest I have seen since I was old enough to notice. But the remarkable surge of Barack Obama is nothing compared to the remarkable surge of goodwill and optimism that has evolved around his candidacy. Cometh the hour, cometh the man who has shown the world that racism and cynicism are on their last legs in America. In due time, the right woman will show that sexism can be conquered too. Hillary Clinton is just not the one. Besides, the Twenty-Second Amendment is there for a reason.