Shallow L/D curve and AoA and speed
Well put, Smilin' and PJ. OTOH, I wouldn't call it like balancing a marble on a dinner plate.
The Airbus manuals have a diagram depicting "stall protection", and that graphic looks like that of a Cessna. Trust me ( and Smilin'), the graphic does not show the relatively gentle curve that most all swept wing planes have. Those suckers do not have a sharp "break", then a stall. They tend to buffet a lot, maybe have some roll oscillations, and finally fall off on a wing or "mush". If the jet has super directional stability, it may stay fairly wings level and not yaw too much. Look at the F-18 demo's and think about the jet's AoA and how easily it passes the reviewing stand without a lotta wing rock or yaw.
The other thing is that the curve is also fairly gentle with respect to IAS/CAS. So 10 or 20 or 30 knots is no big deal.
Doubt if anyone here flew a delta or the Concorde, but who knows. My limited time in the F-102 was "educational"( 80 hours or so). No real stall you could see or feel. Thing just descended with the VVI pegged at 10,000 feet per minute. Mild buffet, more of a buzz. Viper was about the same due to the variable camber courtesy of the leading edge flaps.
later, and I shall try to have some of those archaic FBW control diagrams in a great format for history.