Saturday, December 16, 2006

John Edwards

John Edwards will be announcing that he'll be running in 2008. There's a part of me that is somewhat relieved, and part of me that's a little apprehensive. Edwards was the candidate that I supported in the primaries for the 2004 election, and despite his loss to Kerry, I was very excited by his selection on the ticket - he is a smooth talker, one who promised to build bridges and soften the Northeast Massachussetts coldness that was Kerry.

But a funny thing happened on the way - Edwards vaunted oratory somehow didn't make it to the campaign trail (at least that's how it appeared to me), and his signature riff was to point out that there are Two Americas - one rich, and one with everyone else.

Now, true as it may be (I refer you to Jim Webb's well written and thought provoking op-ed as an example of a successful framing of the issue), my wife pointed out at the time that most people don't want to think of themselves as "have nots". So you've got this rich, good looking trial lawyer talking about how he's going to help the have nots. But I remember the message either flopping or just getting lost, and I just couldn't shake the feeling that he just whiffed, you know? What should have been a good message about pointing out how the system was tilted towards the rich just didn't resonate.

So that's what worries me about Edwards candidacy. And the reason it worries me is because right now he's the guy I'd probably support. But the relief comes from me having no faith in Hillary, and much as I have respect for Barack Obama, the man has been a senator for only two years. Maybe that's a good thing, I suppose.

1 comment:

Vigilante said...

Excellent! Thanks for turning me on to the WSJ piece. Bookmarked.