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Edwards endorsement more likely - but who will get the nod?

by: odum

Sun Feb 10, 2008 at 16:01:37 PM EST


The always interesting Talking Points Memo has a little newsbit about former candidate John Edwards's meetings with the two remaining presidential contenders regarding an endorsement, which the aide claims is a 50-50 possibility at this point. What's interesting is that, while campaign observers have cast the question of an Edwards endorsement in terms of what kind of deals the former Senator may or may not make for himself, the anonymous source suggests the question for Edwards is much more about the issues - and as such is a perfect mirror of the online discussions that his former supporters have been engaged in:

The aide says he talked about "who's going to carry on the mantle of fighting for the voiceless," and is trying to gauge which of the two "will sign their name in blood in order to make that commitment."...

"He's torn," the aide said "He has reservations about Hillary, which are pretty apparent."

On Obama, the aide says, Edwards worries "whether he's tough enough to be President of the United States. If you look at what Edwards ran on, which is not negotiating with the special interests, taking away their power, that's pretty different than the Obama model."

The Edwards aide added that Obama's lack of a health care plan with a "mandate" is a "tough hurdle for him to get over." He added, however, that Edwards is much more in line with Obama on other issues.


So Edwards himself is precisely where his many supporters are - conflicted. And at its core, it has less to do with Obama than Clinton herself. On domestic issues, the fact is that Clinton's stated positions are bolder, whether it be health care, housing or the environment. The big stumbling blocks are obviously foreign policy and the continuing influence of entrenched power (from which Obama may not be a dramatic improvement - that remains to be seen), but there's also the question of follow-through on these progressive sounding domestic proposals. Clinton has not held fast in the face of GOP pressure on domestic issues - and famously, neither did her husband for eight years.

From the perspective of this former Edwards supporter, I can't get past this simple fact; I don't trust her to follow through any more effectively than her last go-around with health care. Obama may well collapse like a house of cards when the other side doesn't want to hold hands and sing campfire songs - but on the other hand, he may not.
odum :: Edwards endorsement more likely - but who will get the nod?
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Edwards endorsement more likely - but who will get the nod? | 3 comments
I'm torn (0.00 / 0)
while I understand why an endorsement might happen, I think I'd prefer it if Edwards were to do a joint endorsement.  I.e., a list of pros for each candidate and what he favors about them and where his reservations lie, speaking very specifically about the history of the candidates on the given issues.

Musician, Web Designer, Photographer
To nod or not to nod ? (0.00 / 0)
I was ready and happy to vote for Edwards if given a chance.  So I was ready in effect to trust his judgment in many things.As the aid points out Edwards has questions about both Obama and Hillary .
At this point Obama is much prefered by me to Hillary.
Maybe this is all part of the way things have to play out(Great Big Kabuki) in order to avoid a convention floor fight.
The struggle is to keep in mind that Hillary although not my first choice and with all the Clinton machine flaws is miles better than Bush/Cheney.
Politics really is a large part compromise.Darn it.

Trust Edwards? (0.00 / 0)
So here's one option: Edwards will still be on the Vermont ballot on March 4. On March 22, each town will hold a caucus to apportion and elect delegates for the presidential primary candidates to the State Convention in May. So we could  still vote for Edwards (unless or maybe even if he formally withdraws and allocates his delegates to another candidate), and then those Edwards delegates would potentially commit to go where he asks them to, to Obama or to Clinton.

Are there drawbacks I'm not seeing (other than that there's still 3 weeks to go and Edwards could endorse someone before then)?

I sure hope someone decides to nominate him for A.G.

BTW, a practical party wonk who counts better than most, tells me that we won't see much if any Obama/Clinton campaign activity here because most of our superdelegates have committed, there are only 23 delegates from Vermont in total, and of those, maybe only 5 are in play one way or another because of proportional allocation.

NanuqFC
In a Time of Universal Deceit, TELLING the TRUTH Is a Revolutionary Act. -- George Orwell

Edwards endorsement more likely - but who will get the nod? | 3 comments
Publisher: odum
Contributing Editors:

Caoimhin Laochdha
greenvtster
JDRyan
mataliandy
NanuqFC




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