John Edwards is technically running against Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but my concern is that he is also running against his own voting record as a US Senator. This is a man who now regrets almost every key vote he took in the Senate. Apparently he was for a lot of things before he was against them. That leads me to one of two conclusions - either Edwards had spectacularly bad judgment as a Senator, which he now is apologizing for, or Edwards abandoned what he knew to be true as a Senator, and voted (on huge issues) based on politics and not principle.
If he had bad judgment, why would his judgment be better as President? If he voted purely based on politics, on huge votes like this, would he really deliver on the progressive, anti-corporate agenda that he articulates today? Plus, this would really be exploited by the Republicans in the general election.
Examples:
- Edwards voted for the war; now he says that was a mistake.
- Edwards voted for the Patriot Act - now he says that was a mistake.
- Edwards voted for the bankruptcy bill - now he says that was a mistake.
- Edwards voted for No Child Left Behind - now he says that was a mistake.
- Edwards voted to normalize trade relations with China - now he says that was a mistake.
- Edwards voted to store nuclear waste at Yucca Mountain - now he says that was a mistake.