The Fat Lady Finally Sings, Suspends Campaign, Endorses Obama

The curtain was lowered this afternoon on an opera that lasted a year longer than Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen, as Senator Hillary Clinton, the formerly inevitable nominee, finally conceded her family's historic throne to the political apprentice from Chicago.

With a cast larger than D-Day, passion more intense than Oberammergau, more twists than a pretzel factory and a cost bigger than the GDPs of 19 countries, Clinton and Obama battled to a finish foretold by no pundit.

The world's most intelligent woman, with more allies and a quarter-billion dollars to spend, the one most likely to succeed, failed. The Canticle told its readers on April 12, 2007 that Mrs. Clinton would not win the party's nomination, that her 30 point poll advantage would not add up to victory.

Analysts will argue the causes of her loss, they were many. Unquestionably, she was most responsible for the several paths she walked.

Her political future, if any, cannot be known. But for the moment, she and her family are off stage center, and we're better for it.

These 17 months have been prelude. Let the curtain raise again. Let the show begin.