I just got off the phone with my son. He attended the Obama rally in Grand Rapids and saw John Edwards endorse Obama. While the Senator is too centrist for either of us, he is nonetheless the best of the lot in the coming election and we are supporting him.
We were discussing the the impact of decisions made by those in the political limelite. Three people have seen their aspirations fade because of a huge lapse of judgement and courage.
The AUMF vote may have cost Senator Clinton the nomination. She touted her experience as a defining issue, but on the most important vote of this decade she showed a decided lack of judgement.
Kerry's fate was sealed when he was asked during the 2004 campaign if knowing what he knew then, he still would have voted for the AUMF. He answered in the affirmative and basically revealed his true character.
Whether Powell harbored presidential aspirations we cannot know, but he lost any opportunity when he went before the UN and promoted an illegal invasion based on what he knew were falsehoods.
All three were done in by their willingness to play politics with the lives of US soldiers and the Iraqi people. They gambled that the invasion would end quickly and successfully, and that those who opposed the invasion would lose any chance of political advancement. They gambled with other peoples lives even though they had to know that the invasion was based on lies and distortions.
These three failed the test of character and paid the political price. The chickens have come hometo roost, but justice can never be served. The demise of the presidential ambitions of three politicians cannot balance the loss of the hundreds of thousands of lives brought on by political cowardice.