Four profiles in courage from politicians who are flip-flopping, calculating, and parsing their way to success:

Unlike Rudy Giuliani, who endorsed John McCain the day he left the race, Mitt Romney waits until McCain’s delegate lead goes from insurmountable to a 100% mathematical certainty before finally endorsing the Senator yesterday.  Just one more example of Romney’s inability to shed political calculation and take a principled, slightly risky stand on anything– not even football.

Black superdelegates Rep. David Scott and Rep. John Lewis wait until after Hillary Clinton is on the ropes and after their districts give Barack Obama 70-80% of their vote to begin changing their minds on their previous endorsements of Clinton.  Not that this move is politically convient for them in any way.  But it will probably make it whole lot easier for these black representatives to get reelected in their largely black districts when they’re not going against the overwhelming will of their mostly black constituents to stand in the way of potentially the first black president.

After months of telling us what a corporatized, special-interest driven, calculating, double-talking politician Hillary Clinton is, John Edwards decides that a potential cabinet position in a Clinton White House trumps all of that and mulls the prospect of endorsing her.  It would be just one more politically convenient flip-flop for the man who spent the majority of his campaign apologizing for everything he voted for during his one-term in the Senate.

And finally, Mike Huckabee, who refuses to admit that his lameduck campaign is literally and mathematically a lost cause at this point– famously telling Tim Russert on Sunday, “I didn’t major in math, I majored in miracles”– nevertheless leaves the campaign trail for two days to give a paid keynote address in the Cayman Islands.  I guess he only majored in the miracles of hopeless presidential campaigns, not the miracles of, you know, doing what’s right and trusting God to provide for you.  Defending his decision, Huckabee said, “I think people of America who understand that you’ve got to work for a living and pay your bills recognize that that’s exactly what I ought to be doing,” failing to mention that he makes up to $25,000 a speech (though remember, he didn’t major in math).  I’m sure the thousands of unpaid volunteers who are working night and day on Huckabee’s behalf, despite knowing logically that he can’t win, are thrilled about their boss’s latest fundraising effort.