The answer is simple.
Make peace with the fact that you're NOT GOING TO convince Edwards supporters to jump ship.
If you back Senator Barack Obama like I do - I'm sure you've probably scratched your head and decided to take a look at how you can crack that toughest of nuts... the seemingly unbreakable support John Edwards receives from his supporters.
More below the flip
While I support Senator Obama for reasons far beyond his gift for rhetoric, I don't think any of us can deny that he's an amazing speaker with a real gift to move a crowd. When I met Howard Dean in 2003 - I thought he was the most powerful and moving Democratic politician I had ever seen... then a few months later, I met Barack Obama.
Ask yourself this: If this gifted speaker and exciting candidate hasn't been able to pull someone from the Edwards camp into ours, do you really think you'll have more luck?
I'm not saying we shouldn't defend Senator Obama, his record, or our reasons for backing him when the questions are asked (and so long as the TaylorMarshnbots have anything to say about it -- they will). I'm just saying that we need to make peace with the fact that any 'soft' Edwards supporters have already left the JRE camp.
I'd advise you to read the Edwards diaries: you'll certainly have no trouble finding one. Read the passion. Read perseverance. Read the stories. Read and really understand why it is that Edwards supporters are not giving up on the Edwards campaign.
Read not only what they write -- but what they don't write... Sure - you'll get the occasional frustrated comment or retort -- but the Edwards supporters are not the ones pushing the Rezko garbage over-and-over again. The Edwards supporters are not spreading lies about Barack Obama. The Edwards supporters are not writing about the doom Barack Obama will bring to the Democratic party.
The Edwards supporters are writing about the issues that matter to them. They are writing about John Edwards. With very few exceptions - they are writing about why they support John Edwards -- they are not writing about why you shouldn't support your candidate.
These people are not stupid. They know full well the odds are long.
These people are not dead-enders. Even if the results don't match the desire, they see John's voice as a critical one -- one that needs to stay in this race for as long as he can.
These people are not 3rd party supporters. I haven't seen a single Edwards commenter threaten not to back the eventual nominee.
I don't want broken, brow-beaten, sapped, and dispirited Edwards supporters "forced" into jumping onto some mythical Obama bandwagon. I want the same passionate, driven, never-say-die Edwards supporters as allies. These are people with extraordinary dedication to their candidate -- not hash marks to be stacked and counted.
How would I know what an Edwards supporter feels, you ask? Because I HAVE read the diaries. I HAVE read the comments. I HAVE even tried to sway them myself. I think I've tried every possible angle -- and I have yet to convert my first Edwards supporter onto the Obama bandwagon. That doesn't mean that I've given up lobbying for Senator Obama, just that I've come to realize this is an exercise in futility.
Perhaps most importantly --- I also remember how I felt in 2003/2004. I remember being laughed at, jeered, begged, threatened, cajoled, called a fool and dreamer -- when I decided to get behind this quirky longshot governor from Vermont who wanted my help in taking back the Democratic party.
I remember the ecstasy as the bats popped, the superdelegates rolled in, the feeling that yes -- we're really going to do it -- built.
I remember Iowa. I remember the "Scream". I remember the Gephardt fliers. I remember the Kerry electability arguments. I remember it all - and I remember how all it did was make me bitter, make me fight harder for Howard Dean. Every time someone scoffed - I sent another tiny donation to Dean. No one - NO ONE - with ANY argument moved me one bit away from Dean.
Even after Iowa - I typed my fingers numb complaining about media coverage... the rifle mics... the pundits... the polls... I resigned myself to working harder.
New Hampshire didn't work out either. Still I refused to give up. I refused to concede. To this day - I remain steadfast in my belief that the Democratic party would have best served by tabbing Howard Dean.
When it was all over - after a brief jump on the Edwards wagon when Dean finally bowed out and Edwards stood out as the alternative - it took me months to get over the treatment that Howard Dean got, the treatment that I got. When I finally got behind Senator Kerry - I think I was a much less effective advocate for him than I would have been had I been allowed to shift of my own volition.
We need to trust John Edwards supporters. We need to trust that they know the odds. We need to trust that they know what they're doing. We need to trust that they've weighed it all -- and in the end, they feel that John Edwards has too much that is too important to say to bow out now.
I want their vote and I want them, too. I have just made peace with the fact that they and Senator Edwards will make a choice to leave the race when and IF they're damn well ready to do so.
Originally today, I had wanted to write a diary on a Chicagoan's perspective on Senator Obama. As you might imagine, I think there is a lot in Senator Obama's record and being that makes him our best candidate and will make him an outstanding President. It will have to wait for another day.
This diary isn't intended to be a swipe at any of my fellow Obama supporters nor is it any sort of ass-kissing reverse psychology aimed at John Edwards supporters (... heh... or is it? I suppose we haven't technically tried mind games yet, have we :-).
I cannot speak for John Edwards supporters any more than I can speak for Barack Obama supporters. I can only express what I've read here at Dailykos and what I remember from my own time in what everyone told me was a "lost cause". Despite the fact he didn't win the nomination -- Howard Dean went on to win the DNC chairmanship and I believe, do as much as anyone to revitalize the Democratic party. Beat that with a stick... what if we and he had simply packed it in and gotten in line?
The Obama campaign is about hope. It's about "us" - you, me, an we -- it's not about orthodoxy. We have no need for zombies.
When and if John Edwards and his supporters decide to channel their passion elsewhere besides into his campaign, I certainly hope to be able to welcome them aboard the good ship Obama as allies.
Until then, I trust them and their cause and wish them the best of luck.