I like Edwards okay, but as far as I can tell his popularity is mostly due to his being charming. Charming is just not enough, as Edwards's pathetic loss to Dick Cheney in the VP debate attests. As a Senator, he did only one truly memorable thing, which is that he voted for the war. What gives?
I think first and foremost we Dems should choose someone who will make a good president. Why should I believe that Edwards would do that? Likeable is not everything.
winter speaches. His speach was by far the most advocating/firey for dem values and least carefull of the big three..
A VP nominee handcuffed by the campaign advisors to one of the weaker presidential nominees in a long time goes up against the VP nominee of the other party who has largely set the politics and policy of the incumbent administration. The former has to play by someone else's rules while the latter gets to do whatever he wants.
John Edwards set free is a far more engaging and powerful debater than he ever could be in that ridiculous farce of a contest.
That's not true. Edwards is popular because he speaks to people's concerns. He has been running on the two America message for several years now. Therefore it is also not accurate to accuse him of reinventing himself.
It is fair to criticize him for pushing a different agenda nationally than in North Carolina. The same is true of President Johnson's support for civil rights. He didn't lift a finger for civil rights before he became president. Edwards has become a critic of inequality, privilege, and poverty in America. That's a good thing.
Having said that I am quite upset about Edwards' AIPAC language regarding Iraq. It reveals that he does not understand the basics of national security.
Iran is a bad actor but it is not worse than Stalin and the Soviet Union. Stalin did not use nukes because we could deter him. We will do the same with Iran if the mullahs ever get the bomb.
An Iranian bomb is a problem but it's not the end of the world. It's time to chill and pursue our national interest in a calculated and reasoned manner.
I like Edwards because he is placing poverty and class issues front and center in his campaign. Universal Health Care, Educational opportunity, progressive tax structure... in that regard, he is the strongest counter to the Republicans of the top contenders.
It is also true that we have a Republican President in thrall to a neocon foreign policy. I expect the Democrats to be timid and mixed in their ability to counter this while Republicans hold the presidency, but any of them as president would be far, far better than Bush & Cheney, even Hillary Clinton, who is the most ansious to prove she isn't soft on the Middle East.
In my view, ANY Democratic president would not pursue wars of aggression abroad, and would ease back from Iraq. But, they differ in important ways when it comes to domestic issues.
Obama and Edwards over Clinton.
