Appearing on Face the Nation, this morning, John Edwards stated, "It's important we get united as a party."
Edwards responded to Schieffer's question regarding Hillary's "hardworking white Americans" comments noting that likely she feels it was a poor choice of words. Edwards furthered discussed how "Hillary needs to decide as she makes her case for herself...she has to be very careful she does not damage our prospects for the fall." Edwards believes that it is not possible for Hillary to win the nomination at this point, based on the math.
Watch John Edwards on FTN-May 11, 2008 Here
With Obama now taking the lead with the popular vote, pledged delegates and the superdelegates, the pressure intensifies for Hillary to drop out of the race. Obama is the likely nominee, as Edwards noted.
It's becoming increasingly apparent that the time for party unity is upon us. All of our Democratic Presidential candidates, should be thanked for raising the issues that are most important to Americans, including lifting those out of poverty, strengthening the middle class, thus creating a sustainable economy. Issues that John McCain will not fight for.
John Edwards is continuing his fight for social and economic justice. As he talked about today, he not only has received committments from both Cliinton and Obama to make ending poverty central to their prospective Presidency, he has had a number of discussions about this issue with both of them, since he suspended his campaign.
This week, Edwards is launching a new intiative, "Half in Ten" in conjunction with Center for American Progress, to cut poverty in half in ten years through various efforts, including: raising the minimum wage, expanding the EITC, increasing access to child care, among other efforts. "If we care about middle class families, working families in this county and having sustainable long term economic growth, that in American history, when we have been lifting millions of Americans out of poverty and putting them into the middle class and broadening that middle class and strengthening the middle class, is when we have been able to achieve sustainable growth," Edwards stated on Face the Nation.
Half in Ten: From Poverty to Prosperity
The Center for American Progress Action Fund is committed to cutting poverty in half in 10 years. Under the leadership of Senator John Edwards, CAPAF has joined with ACORN, the Coalition on Human Needs, and the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights to create the Half in Ten campaign.
Promote Decent Work. People should work and work should pay enough to ensure that workers and their families can avoid poverty, meet basic needs, and save for the future.
Provide Opportunity for All. Children should grow up in conditions that maximize their opportunities for success; adults should have opportunities throughout their lives to connect to work, get more education, live in a good neighborhood, and move up in the workforce.
Ensure Economic Security. Americans should not fall into poverty when they cannot work or work is unavailable, unstable, or pays so little that they cannot make ends meet.
Help People Build Wealth. All Americans should have the opportunity to build assets that allow them to weather periods of flux and volatility, and to have the resources that may be essential to advancement and upwardmobility.
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It's time we move back to focusing on these critical issues and taking on the real fight, beating McCain in the General Election. There's too much at stake.