What if someone announced for President and ...
Steve Benen notes John Edwards' entry into the Presidential contest thusly ...
EDWARDS '08.... I'm officially neutral on the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, but I don't mind admitting that I like John Edwards -- who officially threw his hat into the ring this morning -- and consider him a strong top-tier candidate.
I'm decidedly less neutral, but part of the reason for that is that I view John Edwards as something substantially less than an empty suit. Just check back on his illustrious campaign as the VP nominee in 2004. Tell me one notable moment from his side of the campaign, one modest county where he had an impact on the vote (not to mention a state). Remind me of why I'd want to vote for someone who, in the face of Dick Cheney's immature vile debate line of Edwards not accomplishing anything significant in his career, just sat there and smiled that winning smile of his as if to beg for another hit.
Believe me, there are people in the hunt that I admire, appreciate, and would vote for even if begrudgingly. Joe Biden and Chris Dodd are great Senators. Barack Obama has a great ability to inspire. But I am where I am almost as much due to the weaknesses that each of these men hold as it is the appreciation of what Hillary's managed to accomplish over the last six years as Senator.
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Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards is running for president for a second time, Read More
Refresh my memory. Other than getting elected, what has Hillary accomplished?
G-Money,
How was your Christmas?
I still love Johnny, and I hope he runs a good enough campaign to earn another look from you. I wish he had moved the needle a little more, but I think the VP candidate has to work within the structure of the Presidential campaign, and I'm going to refrain from making comments about that...
Did you see that Dave Bonnior is Edwards' campaign manager?
---Adam
A-frame,
The Christmas went well. Hope the holidays were equally kind to you and yours.
I'm not entirely sure the naming of Bonior as Campaign Manager is something that comforts me much. Other than being refreshingly consistent in his pro-life views, I'm not really a fan of his either.
Watching Edwards' pre-announcement on YouTube, I'm reminded that Edwards makes a great pitch. There were a few speeches during the '04 cycle that I think warrant re-reading as great examples of selling an issue in a way that goes beyond the increasingly irrelevant (and old) liberal-conservative debate. But at the end of the day, Edwards strikes me as little more than someone exceptionally great at pitching a product, but not the person you'd want in charge of the company that actually makes the product.
Of course, if I were a lawyer (a trial lawyer especially), I'd have the man as a role model of sorts. But as President? A little less so. I think the difference is that I prefer candidates who have thought through an issue and demonstrate a sense of how it affects them or their community. I don't see that in Edwards. I see someone who latches onto a good cause (poverty), but looks more like an ambulance chaser landing in the Ninth Ward pitching himself as the trial lawyer who'll fight for them in court rather than someone who might have thought for a moment or two what public policy avenues might need to be explored in order to deal with said issue.
Edwards field-tested the "Two Americas" theme last time, now he seems to be trying on for size the role of Bobby Kennedy. I realize that Presidential campaigns are full of moments that lack authenticity, but there's just something about Edwards that looks like he's trying too hard to feign authenticity ... which makes it even worse in my mind.
And as for the point of the VP being limited in how they can affect a Presidential campaign, I'd offer Al Gore and Lloyd Bentsen as two outliers on that theory. One saved the nominee at a critical time and put his ticket-mate in a position to win the contest. The other salvaged what could have been a ridiculously ugly November back in 1988.