Strategy

[novapsyche]

Republicans are predicting that Hillary Clinton will be the Democratic candidate for 2008 because it would benefit them.

I want John Edwards. I want Edwards in the best and the worst way. Best because I actually agree with 90% of his positions. He understands that there are two Americas, and that has nothing to do with white or black, but rather rich and poor. Class, not race, should be what we as Americans confront and want to disassemble. Edwards is a wealthy man, yes, but he grew up in the South among working-class families. That means something. He has seen much.

I think he is the genuine article, which is why the media doesn't (know how to) cover him. If you mention him, you give him word-of-mouth, which is an amazing amount of power in a political race. I was surprised to see a neutral piece on his education plan. I'm much more used to seeing hatchet-jobs about the price of his haircuts (which, really, is a silly thing to point out--everyone in the business of being in front of a camera has to spend money on image; the better question would have been, how much did he tip?).

Edwards, somehow, by being "third" in the "top-tier" of candidates, is being shown as a loser, someone who cannot compete. Or when he does, he's too aggressive--he's taking swipes at Ms. Clinton for her stance on campaign finances or her position on the war. There is a saying that one can't win for losing; there's a song: "You can't win, child / you can't break even / you can't get out of the game."

I support Edwards because he has stood his ground on issues that are meaningful. Health care, education, unions and workers' rights, poverty. He is still the only candidate that is talking about poverty in the United States. It's an ever-increasing problem under the current administration, and yet no one talks about it but him.

The worst ways that I want him for president? He hails from Seneca, South Carolina, the birthplace of my grandmother and her sisters. I feel we have a kinship, somehow. And yes, he is a good-looking white man from the South. The last Democrat we had in the White House could be described as the same. Republicans are afraid of facing Edwards (another reason why they wanted Kerry to be the frontrunner in 2004): the dirt they would throw at him would just drop off. They don't know what to do except prematurely predict that his (white female) rival will gain the nomination. "Hillary Clinton will make history by being the first woman president," Ray LaHood, a Republican, says. They know who the real threat is in the race.

(also posted at Daily Kos)

Comments

[holyoutlaw.livejournal.com]

Thank you for this.

[timiathan.livejournal.com]

I agree, although I like Kucinich a bit better.

Clinton will be our next president, though -- she has corporate approval. (See Murdoch, Rupert; see Clinton, William Jefferson.) If the power structure was alright with Bill, they're also alright with Hillary, and we need a Democrat to maintain the semblance of democracy, and to regain a shred of international respect.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

I really don't want her. She's become a chameleon in ways I sincerely don't like and don't trust. I have no idea what principles she would let fall away once she were in office.

[timiathan.livejournal.com]

I definitely like her much more as First Lady. Universal healthcare...it takes a village. What happened? Well, I guess politics just happened.

But besides that, I have NEVER in my entire life lived under a president not named Bush or Clinton. I was born in 1980, and Reagan ruled in name only (his prize for surving Hinckley's bullet). 32 years is a damn long time without calling yourself a monarchy.

[pstscrpt.livejournal.com]

She has a new universal healthcare proposal, but it seems to combine the worst features of big government and big business, while diminishing neither. Universal coverage would be nice, but I care more about eliminating the health insurance industry and getting employers out of health care, and her proposal makes the current morass worse.

[sarahmichigan.livejournal.com]

Yep, pretty much exactly my feelings/thoughts on the subject.

[bonerici.livejournal.com]

the problem with john edwards is that he didn't do that well in the debate vs cheny in 2004, he went ahead and made a vindictive comment about cheney's gay daughter, ok well I don't think it was intentionally vindictive but it ended up being that way, he came across as an ambulance chaser, he mentioned how he sued manufacturers of a swimming pool because of a faulty scerw, where 12 kids got hurt by it, and he phrased it "killed or severely injured" well how many were killed and how many were just slightly injured, and 12 kids, I mean, kids hurt themselves all the time, and he was so proud of his lawyering.

He came across as an intellectual lightweight vs dick cheney. Dick Cheney came across as a dark lord of sith, but one who knew what he wanted. Edwards in that debate, I'm sorry to say, looked like a talking haircut.

I haven't really followed Edwards' career since then. John Kerry is not the smartest guy in the world, and he managed to pick a running mate who is even stupider than he is. I've personally had it with stupid presidents or lunatics. I don't want to someone like Edwards' who has never impressed me with his intelligence I don't want to see Gulliani who is a lunatic.

It seems likely that Gore will run for President this time around. He would be ok. I don't like at all how Hillary seems to be a war candidate. I also don't trust her on health care because of how much money she is taking from the current health care providers. If we elect her, she is going to triangulate us into staying in Iraq until 2013. Obama seems alright, and he has enough charisma to pull a lot of the people to the left (just like Reagan pulled people right).

I guess I shouldn't be too picky. A trained circus monkey would be better than our current president.

[novapsyche.livejournal.com]

I haven't really followed Edwards' career since then.

Right. So you don't know how he's founded poverty-elimination centers in the interim. I've updated my post so that links are available for those who want to check them out.

John Kerry is not the smartest guy in the world, and he managed to pick a running mate who is even stupider than he is.

We don't elect the smartest guy in the world to run the country. Point in fact.

Kerry picked Edwards because of the momentum and the energy of the Democratic base at the time. He did well. Because if Edwards had won South Carolina, the whole thing would have been different.

It seems likely that Gore will run for President this time around.

I can't tell. If he does, I hope he picks Edwards as his running mate.

[dionysus1999.livejournal.com]

My brother seems to think the Clinton's political machine is unbeatable. I think the Republicans are underestimating the Clinton's power if they think going against her with bunch of misfit losers they are fielding have a chance, when the president, whom they have failed to curb, has the lowest approval ratings in history. Voters will vote for Pigasus before they vote for Thompson or Guiliani.

I think Edwards is the best choice too.