I don’t know about this Primary Season.
Someday the pain of it will end and we’ll have a Nominee.
Some of us will be pleased. Others disappointed.
Once, I was optimistic that no matter the outcome, a strong unified Democratic Party would make gains up and down the ticket in November.
Now, I have my doubts. Last week, I wrote about those doubts (A rough three weeks and it is getting worse). Since then, a few things have changed. I’m a little more hopeful, but that hope is tempered with caution.
Today, John Edwards pulled out of the race and I’m filled with sadness.
Even though, I support Barack Obama, I thought it was very important to have John Edwards in this race. The issues he advocated, the passion of his message and his driving much of the debate will be missed.
I’ll especially miss the way he focused on ending the Culture of Corruption in Washington and corporate board rooms across America.
We need that voice and I expect to hear more from John Edwards.
To the jump...
I tracked John Edwards from the beginning of this Primary Season. He was always one of my top choices.
My "pet" issues is ending the Culture of Corruption in Washington DC.
I’ve been following the impact of Washington’s Culture of Corruption for almost a decade. Corruption is why sweatshops, human trafficking, forced prostitution and other crimes committed by the Pirates of Saipan have been protected by the Republican controlled US Congress. But that story of ongoing abuse was just my doorway into researching and writing about the cancerous impact of corruption on our Nation, Government, values and politics.
If one digs into why a just solution to virtually every issue never materializes you will always find a stillborn solution choked by the corrupt.
You want universal health care, an end to the War, serious action on Climate Change or even a simple expansion of SCHIP—well you have to bust through layers of corruption just to begin the process.
By the end of 2007, only two Democratic Candidates understood that reality. Barack Obama was one and John Edwards was the other.
I loved that between them, the mavens of corruptions had been put on notice. I loved that John Edwards had found his voice on this issue and was making it central to his campaign.
I loved that John Edwards and Barack Obama were engaged in an active discussion and a challenging debate about which candidate would do the most to end the Culture of Corruption—they are both serious about the issue. They talked about it. They both placed detailed plans on their Web sites (Edwards’ plan is here and Obama’s is here).
There was real substance and passion from each of them. And together they were raising the importance of the issue.
By contrast, Senator Clinton is weak on fighting corruption. Her proposals are only talking point and they would protect the lobbyists donating to her campaign. And then there is her connections to Jack Abramoff through his clients, connections that would put any Republican at the top of any list of Abramoff-tainted politicians in 2008. If I found a Republican with her exact same connections to the Tan Family of Hong Kong they might top the list (oh wait, I have and his name is George W. Bush). And yet for some, I’m supposed to ignore this evidence because the person in question is a Democrat. Frankly, that is hard for me to do. Others do not care about the story of corruption, sweatshops and human trafficking on Saipan, but I find the issue of corruption hard to ignore.
John Edwards also found the issue of corruption hard to ignore and I will miss his voice as a candidate.
He may be out of the race, but I hope and expect that I will hear more from him and soon.
After his defeat in 2004, Howard Dean converted his campaign into Democracy for America. DFA has become an important part of the progressive movement and supporting progressive candidates running for office. Howard Dean went to head the DNC and led our Party to victory in 2006 and a competitive advantage (if we don’t blow it) in 2008. Howard’s lost of his bid for the White House became the building blocks for a growing progressive movement.
I expect something similar from John Edwards.
Al Gore won the Election in 2000 and had to watch as a Brooks Brothers coup d’état installed an incompetent fool as President. Al Gore has transcended that defeat. He has become a strong moral force to lead our planet towards a solution to the growing climate crisis.
Howard and Al light a way for John.
In my Diary last week I wrote that:
Many, including me, are tempted to check out and call it a day.
I want change, but perhaps politics is not the way to get there.
Perhaps there are better ways to focus ones energy.
It is something worth thinking about.
This must be the way many supporters of John Edwards are feeling tonight. I feel it.
I was very tempted by Edwards, but it was Obama’s consistency of message and action on ending corruption that won him my support. It was a tough choice to make and I secretly hoped that Edwards would be able to make it a three person race for as long as possible.
I wanted Edwards and Obama both at the Convention to fight back against the DLC corruption tolerant Democrats. I wanted them to stand together and tell Penn, McAuliffe and the rest of the easily corrupted old guard that their time was over.
That still might happen, if Obama is the Nominee.
If Senator Clinton wins the only thing that will change about the Culture of Corruption in DC will be that Democrats will replace Republicans at the feeding trough.
With Edwards out of the race, the issue of corruption may get less and less play in the day to day of the campaign. Clinton is the front runner. She has the lobbyists, DC insiders and their attack machines at her disposal. She will use them. The coming weeks will be far worst than the preceding ones. It will get worse before it is over.
Still, I have some hope for the future.
John Edwards gives me hope.
His remarks today were spot on and I have no doubt that he will continue to lead on the issues he championed. I have no doubt that he will hold us accountable to act. All of us—Politicians, activists, citizens, workers and businesses—and we will need to hear his voice in our ongoing debates.
We continue to need John Edwards and his leadership.
I am sad that he is out of the race for the White House, but I am certain that he is getting ready to follow in the footsteps of Howard and Al.
And that gives me hope.
Thanks John.
Cheers