My son will turn two in April.  Everyday, he amazes his parents with his ability to understand the world and to make connections.  Everyday, we fall more in love with this kid. But every night, I worry.

I was raised in the Labor Movement and my parents always wanted me to understand what was wrong with the world and how I should try to change it.  I want my son to feel the same sense of urgency to really make a difference.  But today, the future he faces looks so bleak I feel that I have somehow failed him.  I lay in bed at night and think about what it will be like to grow up in an age of global warming, environmental catastrophe, violent inequality, eroded civil liberties, and possibly war without end.

In 2004, John Edwards was perceived as a centrist Southern Democratic. He had voted to authorize war against Iraq and many saw him as representative of backward DLC Democrats.  When Howard Dean announced he was from the "Democratic wing of the Democratic Party," many assumed that put him on the other side of the ideological spectrum from his rival John Edwards. In fact, when Edwards appeared at the California Democratic Party Convention, liberal activists booed him when he defended his vote on Iraq.

But Edwards was never really a centrist, especially considering he was a Senator from North Carolina.  He was always more of a populist, a former trial lawyer, who represented the little guy against big corporations.  In America, however, perceptions of candidates tend to be based more on style than substance.  Edwards was Southern, from a rural, small town, and still married to his college sweetheart.  As Thomas Frank talks about in "What’s the Matter With Kansas," it’s really not about policy, it’s about "authenticity." Edwards’ progressive voting record notwithstanding, he was authentically not an East Coast Liberal which made many assume he was a conservative Democrat.