(tagline: Almost nobody who has been calling for superdelegates to come out with a decision has come out with a decision of their own!)

It's time our public figures stopped being such cowards--and I'm no longer just talking about the superdelegates.

I was listening to the Rachel Maddow show. I love her work. She's been calling for the superdelegates to make a freakin' decision for longer than almost anybody, and said more of the same, but then she added something else familiar to any of her listeners: "I honestly don't care who wins, just pick someone."

And I thought: How the hell do you not care who wins? And aren't you sending out mixed signals, here? 

Rachel herself mentioned that more significant differences have emerged between the Obama and Clinton platforms on the issues of a gas-tax holiday, and one's openness to perhaps prosecuting members of the Bush administration. The candidates also differ on whether to "obliterate" Iran should it attack any non-nuclear Middle Eastern country or talk to adversarial leaders, and what kind of voters they've brought to the race, and how they've run their campaign. It would be one thing for her to say "I have my own opinions and do not feel that, as a news commentator, it is my place to voice them." But to actively not care?

Then I realized: Almost nobody who has been calling for superdelegates to come out with a decision has come out with a decision of their own! It's all Frederick Burr Opper ("After you, my dear Alphonse." "No, after YOU my dear Gaston.")

Howard Dean has publicly called on the superdelegates to start making a decision. Has Howard Dean publicly made a decision? Has Nancy Pelosi, or Harry Reid? Is not one important step of being a leader having the guts to go first?

And how about the pundits? My dear Rachel is but a drop in a much larger bucket-o-punditry, after all. And at least she really doesn't seem to care, as long as some nameless, faceless Democrat rises to the top for the rank and file to support... whether they're supportable or not. But what about the scores of commentators who obviously have a favorite and yet have never come out and admitted it?

Sure, yes, journalists should be objective. But these are commentators, not journalists. They are the spoken-word op-ed page. In what world is it more honorable to pretend objectivity while actually pushing one's point of view through the bias of one's coverage? I'm talking to all the Keith Olbermanns and Arianna Huffingtons and Chris Matthewses and even my most beloved Jon Stewart. Have most of them not voted already?

Judges need to stay impartial. Journalists should probably struggle for impartiality. But everyone else?

I challenge you.

If you want the Superdelegates to square their shoulders and speak up, then YOU FIRST. Afraid you'll be wrong? Well welcome to politics. Heaven knows that more Democratic voters have taken that risk already.

Me? I voted for Obama, and I'm behind him all the way.

Everyone else? Stop being such cowards and speak up. You want to be our leaders? It's time to freakin' LEAD.

Who knows. Your voice might be the tipping point that ends this thing.