The Daily Background

Above is a photograph of Democrat John Edwards announcing his candidacy for US President in the still-devastated Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans, Thursday. Edwards wore a faded pair of blue jeans and a button down shirt sans necktie as he echoed a meme which has been his theme for the past two years: two Americas- the poor and the rich. Though the former North Carolina senator is clearly from the latter America, Edwards said he will continue to fight poverty in the richest country in the world (his organization One Corps has fought for minimum wage raises in several states over the last couple years and organized food drives among other things).

In his formal announcement, Edwards did not split any hairs on the issue of Iraq. He said several times that his vote authorizing the use of force in Iraq war as a Senator in 2003 was a one the biggest mistakes of his career. Edwards also said that we need to start withdrawing our troops and that “It would be an enormous mistake to adopt the McCain doctrine and escalate the war.”

As the Associated Press noted, Edwards announcement was vastly different from the typical announcement- it was without “the cheering crowds and waving American flags that accompany most such announcements.” Instead, it was quiet and serious. The AP continues:

When he sought the nomination in 2004, before Massachusetts Sen.
John Kerry tapped him to be his running mate, Edwards offered himself as a Southern moderate who favored middle-class tax cuts and voted in the Senate to authorize the use of force in Iraq.

The message is different this time, where he faces an even tougher challenge and likely a larger field of competitors.

Edwards said he’s developing a universal health care plan and wants to build on the two years he spent dealing with such issues as poverty, energy and global warming.

Markedly different, and markedly better in my opinion. Smart People^tm have no illusions that the former Senator means business:

“Before Barack Obama, it was clear Edwards was going to be the biggest hurdle for Hillary to overcome and had the best shot at stopping her,” said Chuck Todd, editor-in-chief of the Political Hotline, a Washington-based Internet newsletter. “Obama complicates his run. … If it wasn’t for Obama, I think we’d say this is a two-person race.”

That was from the News & Observer, a McClatchy paper. I hate how they make Todd sound so unimportant; “the editor of a Washington-based Internet newsletter” my ass. Anyways, he’s right and there’s no question he’s the other top-tier candidate (other than the two obvious ones of course- BHO and HRC). The media isn’t treating him super-seriously yet, but I think they will when he starts attracting a lot more support in the polls and starts campaigning in earnest- not to mention when the first primaries & caucuses start playing out (Iowa polling, anyone?).

The press never calls anybody a progressive, but another P-word is often bandied around the media when referring to Democrats like Edwards. P-opulist. The two aren’t really that far apart, and as a progressive Democrat I’d gladly welcome a populist Democratic President.

I want to make a small obvservation here before this post comes to an end. As the Washington Post notes about Edwards, “[he was regarded as] one of the party’s rising stars — prompting him to run for president after just four years in public life.” Remind you of anybody else? Cough cough, Barack. A first term Senator who was one of the Democratic party’s rising stars who made thet decision to run for President after only a few years in public life. Edwards was 45 when he was first elected to the Senate, Obama was 43. Both are comparatively young men, standing next to say, McCain or even Kerry (who are in their 70s and 60s respectively).

Finally, I just wanted to say that while I’m (perhaps obviously) a fan of Edwards, or at least this populist incarnation of Edwards, I’m not really rooting for anybody to get the Dem nomination yet. I’m a fan of a lot of likely candidates and I’d have an extremely hard time if charged with the task of putting together a 2008 ticket.

Filed under: Presidential election, Z-TDB Blog