The Old Eighteen

Finally, Edwards endorses Obama

It took a long time coming, but that made it all the sweeter when it finally happened: John Edwards has endorsed Barack Obama for president:

“The reason I am here tonight is because the Democratic voters of America have made their choice and so have I,” Mr Edwards said.

Mr. Edwards then went on to say, “There is one man who knows in his heart that it is time to tear down that wall and make one America, Barack Obama.”

Unfortunately, the Edwards endorsement isn't a package deal:

The Edwards endorsement, though, is singular. Elizabeth Edwards is not scheduled to add her voice to the growing Democratic chorus rallying behind Mr. Obama’s campaign.

Publicly, Mrs. Edwards has said that she favors Mrs. Clinton’s health care plan. Privately, she has told several associates she is unsure if Mr. Obama is the party’s best candidate.

But having John Edwards' endorsement, late though it may be, still helps Obama immensely.  It underlines his status as the presumptive nominee, and may give him a much-needed boost with working class white voters heading into Kentucky's primary next Tuesday, where polls show him losing badly to Clinton much as he did in West Virginia.

So why the wait?  Reportedly, despite the fact that he liked and respected Obama, Edwards had reservations about Obama's lack of experience and questioned whether or not he was ready to be president.  But he may have also been hedging his bets in order not to alienate Hillary Clinton in case she ended up winning the nomination.  Edwards has publicly denied having any interest in being vice-president or a member of either candidate's hypothetical cabinet, but that's not what he's been saying privately:

But privately, he told aides that he would consider the role of vice president, and favored the position of attorney general, which would appeal to his experience of decades spent in courtrooms as a trial lawyer in North Carolina; and his desire to follow in the footsteps of Robert F. Kennedy, one of his heroes.

John Edwards was a great presidential candidate who had the misfortune of running against two well-funded political titans.  He would have been my second choice if Obama had left the race, and almost became my first choice on a few occasions.  I'd love to see him as Obama's running mate, because I think they complement each other so well, but unfortunately I think that Obama's going to need to pick someone who can help him unify the party - probably a woman, and possibly a Clinton loyalist.  But the role of attorney general is one that Edwards may be even better suited for, and he'd certainly be the best attorney general we've had in this country for decades.

Edwards' endorsement doesn't end this race, but it's one more piece of a puzzle that has almost been put together.  The big question in my mind is whether this opens the floodgates for a surge of superdelegate endorsements over the next few days.  They've been coming in pretty steadily over the last couple of weeks, but now perhaps the pace will begin to pick up a bit.  The sooner, the better.

 

John Edwards: still waiting for his jet ski

As the North Carolina primary approaches, speculation continues to grow over the question of if and when John Edwards will make an endorsement in the battle for the Democratic nomination, and why he hasn't done so already.  According to the New York Times, Edwards has indicated to people within his inner circle that he won't make an endorsement prior to the NC primary on May 6.  But why not?

One former aide, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, said Mr. Edwards was angling for a role in a Democratic administration, and with the contest still undecided, was hesitant to commit to a candidate.

“He doesn’t want to pick the loser,” the aide said.

However, others have indicated that he has a high opinion of both candidates and appears to be genuinely torn between the two of them.  It doesn't help that he appears to be getting yanked in both directions by those surrouding him:

Many of Mr. Edwards’s supporters in North Carolina have been quietly pressing him to endorse Mr. Obama, and a large group of them, led by Ed Turlington, his campaign chairman during the last presidential race, came forward publicly last week to support Mr. Obama.

On the other hand, Mrs. Edwards, her husband’s closest and most trusted adviser, has made it clear that she favors Mrs. Clinton; aides said she had recently tried to persuade Mr. Edwards to do the same.

As to why Elizabeth Edwards supports Hillary over Obama, while it's possible that gender politics may be playing a role, the deal-clincher appears to be health care: Elizabeth favors Clinton's plan because it contains broad mandates, while Obama's plan focuses on reducing health care costs so that insurance is more affordable and only mandates coverage for children.  Neither plan is single-payer insurance and therefore neither one will provide true universal health care, but Obama's will arguably be more successful because it addresses affordability and doesn't give the Republicans mandates to use as a talking point in their inevitable "Harry and Louise" ads.

It's disappointing to hear that Elizabeth Edwards supports the DLC machine candidate, because she's been such a strong voice for our party and its values during this election cycle.  I can certainly understand the importance that she places on health care; having lost my mother to cancer several years ago, I know all too well the woeful deficiencies of our health care system.  But I think she's misreading Obama's plan and overstating the importance and political feasibility of mandates.  Single-payer should be our ultimate goal, but until we're able to get there, we should back the plan that does the greatest good at the least cost, and that plan appears to be Obama's.

In the end, my hunch is that if Edwards does endorse, it will probably be HIllary Clinton.  But he may wait until after May 6 to do so, and if he does and Obama sweeps both Indiana and North Carolina, Edwards's endorsement might be moot.  Let's hope that's the case, because an Edwards endorsement for Hillary could make things even more complicated than they already have been thus far.

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(via The Page)

Obama steals the show on Colbert Report

If you missed last night's Colbert Report, you missed one of the best episodes in the show's history.  Not one, not two, but three Democratic presidential candidates (well, okay, one of them is a former candidate) made appearances on the show.  John Edwards had by far the funniest bit, doing his own rendition of "The Word."  Hillary Clinton's walk-on was mildly amusing, but a bit of a clunker.  And Barack Obama appeared at show's end via a satellite feed, putting petty distractions "on notice."  In all, a very entertaining night on the Colbert Report.  Here are clips from the show:

Hillary Clinton takes on technical difficulties:

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Clinton vs. Obama Philadelphia debate review

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The Ed-Words

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Obama puts distractions "On Notice"

Edwards won't accept VP nomination

He's not saying why, but John Edwards has ruled out accepting the vice-presidential nomination from whoever wins the Democratic presidential nomination.  He is also remaining mum about whether or when he will endorse one of the remaining candidates.  It's disappointing to hear this because I think Edwards would make a great VP, but at the same time it probably wasn't in the cards for him to get the VP nomination.

Whoever wins the presidential nomination will need to reach out in a big way to the supporters of the other candidate.  Clinton might ask Obama to be his running mate, but I don't see him accepting the offer; and Obama probably has the good sense not to ask Hillary, but even if he did I doubt she'd leave a position of power in the Senate to attend funerals and cast occasional tiebreaking votes as the VP.  Obama will probably reach out to Hillary's supporters by tapping a woman to be his running mate - Kathleen Sebelius or Janet Napolitano seem like good choices.  If he doesn't, Bill Richardson would make a good VP choice, as someone with a lot of experience who could help Obama reach out to Hispanic voters and increase his marketability in the Southwest.  Clinton would have to name an African-American to be her running mate, which probably means Harold Ford, but I doubt that even that would be enough to quell the anger that will almost certainly surface among black voters If Hillary wins the nomination, given her racially divisive tactics throughout the presidential campaign and what she would need to do to secure the nomination at this point.

As far as John Edwards' endorsement, Obama would seem to be the best match for Edwards politically, but rumors have circulated that John Edwards has declined to endorse Obama due in part to arguments that the two have had over the issue of health care and Obama's rejection of mandates which Edwards sees as a necessary prerequisite to universality.  If that's the only reason Edwards isn't endorsing Obama, then he's being extremely dumb, because mandates are a political non-starter, and even if they didn't doom health care reform, they wouldn't guarantee universal health care coverage.  Anything short of single-payer isn't going to bring us universal coverage, and barring that, Obama's health care plan represents the best hope we have of covering the most people.  Clinton would get much more of a boost from an Edwards nomination than Obama, but it would still be helpful, and hopefully the rumors are wrong.  Edwards might be waiting to see if his endorsement and superdelegate vote will be worht more closer to the convention, but my guess is that if he doesn't get on the Obama bandwagon soon, he's probably going to be left out in the cold.