American politicians have taught us so many things over the years. This week, they reminded us that when it comes to cheating, for cheaters it’s CLEARLY a lot about opportunity.
Example: She’s kinda cute (sort of – not my taste). But, you’d think if you’re a potential VP or potential future President and looking to cheat, you might be able to do a little better. And when I say a little better I really mean A LOT BETTER. Ask yourself this, is she she worth giving up that kind of future for?
And then there’s this couple… Beyond a shadow of a doubt a sitting President of the United States coulda, shoulda and woulda done better than this… But, again it’s all about the opportunity. With the eyes of the media upon him 24/7, it’s not like Bill Clinton was free to cruise bars. Guess an intern playing around in the oval office seemed like the safest bet at the time. Still, would you risk facing your wife’s wrath over Monica Lewinsky? Now ask yourself the same question, but this time imagine that your wife is Hillary Clinton… Bill Clinton liked to live on the edge, no doubt!
Way back in JFK’s day, the press was in on the party so that allowed Jack Kennedy to score many of the hottest ladies of his day and of course the legendary Marilyn Monroe. Take a look at this picture, this was back when it was still good to be the king. There’s a reason the man looks so happy.
And to me, if you’re going to cheat, risk causing your family pain and potentially torpedo your political career than you should at least hook up with someone on the level of a Marilyn Monroe. If you’re kinkier, I’m thinking a lost weekend at Camp David with the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders would be a good way to go…
I’ll admit it. I’m a John Edwards fan. I thought his message during the Democratic primary season was the one that offered up the most hope for the largest group of Americans – those of us stuck somewhere in the middle. Edwards’ message, which to me always echoed Bill Clinton’s campaign themes, was that he actually cared about average Americans who played by the rules and worked for a living.
These days, government is funded by and in the pocket of major corporations and the mega-rich, so they of course get taken care of. (Edwards himself took every opportunity to hammer this home and I admired him for it) The poor get some, but probably not enough attention and in between the rest of us struggle to tread water economically. This was Edwards message. I think I’m not exagerrating when I say this was clearly his passion.
Although he ended up not winning the nomination, I do think his campaign could rightly claim that he’d greatly influenced the messages coming out of the Clinton and Obama campaign juggernauts.
Unfortunately, today we found out that John Edwards has some other similarities with Bill Clinton and it involves a whole ‘nother kind of passion. Personally, I’ve always taken more of a European view on politicians and their sex life. My feeling is I’m not voting for them for their marital skills. I’ll take a cheating spouse who’s an effective leader over a faithful spouse who can’t get things done on behalf of the people he or she represents. Basically, I feel cheating is between a politician and his wife unless either me or my wife is somehow involved personally (which so far we’ve happily managed to avoid).
That ALL said, cheating on your wife while she battles cancer is pretty tacky. Bill Clinton was and remains a once in a lifetime American politician. Clinton, through his charisma, determination and it saddens me to say a certain lack of shame, was able to survive admitting to multiple affairs. For all their similarities, John Edwards is NO Bill Clinton. The cancer factor, the fact that he’s a lawyer and most people are skeptical of them to begin with and his non-Clintonesqe lack of charisma add up to John Edwards being done.
John Edwards will not be a VP candidate this year. John Edwards will never be president.
Based on his message and passion, Edwards cheated not only his wife, but America out of the good he could have done. Remember, just because the guy turns out to be a creep doesn’t mean his message is automatically wrong.
Everyone deserves a second chance and here’s hoping that John Edwards is smart enought to make the most of his. He can start by sparing his wife and us the spectacle of further admitions with his shell shocked wife at his side…
Here’s a link to a post I wrote about Edwards during the primaries for those interested:
Here I am that mythical undecided voter. I could go for Obama. I could go for McCain.
The company they keep is going to mean a lot to me and I think to people like me.
Whose circle helped them more this week in the eyes of this undecided voter?
Let’s take a look!
On the Obama side, Jim Webb removed himself from VP consideration and John Edwards announced he’d be willing. Both announcements got a lot of play but didn’t mean that much to me. Jim Webb, though clearly a potential help to the Obama campaign with his vet status and his appeal to Southern voters, meant little to me as neither of those assets was a positive or a negative for me personally as a voter.
As for Edwards, I’m an Edwards fan, but the political geek in me hopes he doesn’t get picked. This is because I never think it’s a good idea to try to sell last year’s model to people looking for something new.
The most interesting peace of Obama related news this week I think is that Republican Chuck Hagel will be accompanying him on his trip to Iraq. Hmmmmm…. Wonder if this means Obama is seriously thinking about picking a GOP guy as his VP?
It would certainly signal change. Hagel has more Senate experience than his potential running mate and is a Viet Nam Vet. But, mostly he’s a Republican. That’s the key thing for me. If Obama is serious about working together with the opposition party than what better way to signal it than by going with someone like Hagel? I like that idea and I think a lot of other Americans would too.
Now let’s check out John McCain’s circle. The biggest news this week was negative and it came from negative guy Phil Gramm. Look, I’ve always liked John McCain, but I’m someone who has mostly voted for Democrats. 9/11 really changed me in terms of trying harder than ever to be open to people from both parties. So, this year I really may vote for my first Republican presidential candidate. I’m there for the plucking (so to speak).
That said, now I’m struggling with Phil Gramm’s association with John McCain. Apparently, he’s his economics adviser and he thinks the rest of us ordinary folks are whining too much. He also said this week that he thinks America is on the decline, which he called a “mental recession”.
Well, Phil, you’re not helping the GOP or John McCain in my independent voter eyes. Who’s fault is it that America is in a “mental recession” if we are? Hasn’t the GOP been at the White House for eight years? Haven’t Republicans controlled the Presidency and both houses of Congress for much of my adult life (and for the record I’m a VERY sexy 40-something….)? My point is the GOP has been large and in charge for a long time.
Gramm is now saying he wasn’t talking about us ordinary citizens, but rather leaders in Washington, which by the way, he was up until recently. If Gramm truly was aiming his criticisms at the leaders in DC then you know what? I agree with him.
I do think that America has suffered because we’ve had terrible leadership on BOTH sides of the aisle. We are locked into gridlock and need to break out. Still, Gramm is part of the more dominant party over the past few decades and so I can’t shake the feeling that the GOP has been significantly more responsible for getting us to this place of “mental recession”.
Even worse, I DON’T believe Phil Gramm. I do believe he’s out of touch with America. I do believe he’s in lock step with a GOP that largely hasn’t cared much about the average American.
The GOP has been too busy making sure that people earning over 250K get tax breaks.
Whether his intention or not, Phil Gramm’s words didn’t help John McCain at all this week. They simply reminded me why I tend to vote for Democrats.
I’m still keeping my mind open to voting for McCain so in fairness to him I do need to post his response, which was really good here:
PS – For this week at least, in my eyes… ADVANTAGE: OBAMA
What is up with the McCain-iacs? Is John McCain even looking for a running mate?
Earlier this week, we heard Jim Webb take himself out of the running to be Obama’s VP and then we heard John Edwards assure that he would indeed accept the spot. So far, no one has offered it to him. The point is on the Democratic side we are at least hearing rumors.
I know both sides are trying to keep the decision making as tightly wrapped as possible. But, the GOP nominee’s team has gone too far. We’ve heard almost nothing out of the search committee assuming there still is one. A month or a few months back, I remember there being a flurry of news when McCain had some prospective number twos come down and spend some time at his home over a weekend.
Since then? Nothing.
Picking a running mate is one of the most important choices a presidential contender has to make. After such a prolonged silence, McCain and his team must prove they’ve used the time better than they used the head start they got while Obama and Clinton battled on and on.
Another day and another pronouncement from a potential running mate for Senator Barack Obama!
Yesterday, Virginia’s Jim Webb took himself out of the running. By doing so, Obama lost a chance to recruit a Southern Democrat and Viet Nam Vet to boot to his ticket. Although like Obama, Webb is only in his first term in the Senate, the advantages that his background would have brought to the Democratic ticket likely outweighed his relative lack of experience.
Today, the news was better. Today, former Senator, former presidential and vice presidential candidate John Edwards announced that he’d accept (if offered) the VP slot or a spot in the potential cabinet of Senator Obama.
To me, Edwards ran a good race as a presidential candidate this past year. He spoke in terms that reminded me of Bill Clinton at his best. You remember, the Bill Clinton that said and really seemed to feel your pain. As good as Edwards was he ran into two superstar candidates in Hillary Clinton and his perhaps future boss Barack Obama.
Would Edwards be a good choice? He’s got the Southern thing going for him although it didn’t seem to help the Kerry campaign much. He also didn’t seem to relish doing what most VP candidates are called to do, which is get down and dirty and say the strong things that the man or woman at the top of the ticket can’t say. Experience wise, he did just one term in the Senate. So no help on that issue…
As much as a like Edwards, if I’m Obama I’m leaning towards not picking him.
Furthermore, consider the following two points. First, are there lots of Edwards’ voters who aren’t already voting for Obama? The answer to that would be no.
Second, ask yourself about the public reaction to an Edwards’ announcement. Think about human nature and you’ll come to the conclusion that especially in a campaign year so focused on change that you can’t bust out last election’s VP model and expect people to get excited. This point is even more true when you realize that Edwards though he ran a respectable campaign, didn’t even come in second. That spot belongs to Hillary Clinton and I can think of no better way of alienating the Hillary Clinton supporters than picking Edwards as Obama’s running mate.
Bottom line – good to know John Edwards would be up for it, but he’s not getting a call about the VP gig.
As the pendulum shifts back to Barack Obama, John Edwards became the latest big time Democrat to endorse the senator today. Effectively, Edwards was saying he could give a crap what West Virginia thinks.
Polls show that the rest of the nation agrees. Recent polling indicates exactly 98% percent of Americans don’t care what West Virginians have to say. Most of the rest weren’t sure what West Virginia was, including some of the state’s own population.
Ok, so I made all that up. But, I just felt that West Virginia had it coming.
Most of us want to see this Clinton-Obama thing come to an end. The mountaineers had their chance. All they had to do was say no to Hillary or at least make it much closer than expected. The whole thing could have been over.
But no! On we go.
Think Oregon’s next and they seem to really like Obama. I’d know for sure if I cared more about what they thought…
Sorry for the language in the headline, but really what else is there to say? I personally had a busy weekend and am just now getting my thoughts out to my legion of 10-20 casual readers (bless you all!). I was completely surprised and impressed by the huge margin of victory put up by the Obama campaign in South Carolina. Who wasn’t?
What happens next? Well, if John Edwards has any sense he cuts a deal and supports his choice of Hillary or Barack. Can Barack Obama compete against Hillary Clinton come Super Duper Tuesday? I haven’t a clue, but then neither do the experts who’ve blown most of the predictions so far in this primary season.
I will tell you that I hope he can. I’m not sure who I’m supporting yet, but I’ve been impressed by the reaction to Obama. People turn out in droves to support him (at least in Iowa and South Carolina). He seems to have that certain “it factor”. For many, he inspires hope and a long overdue new approach.
Can he truly bring Republicans and Democrats together? If he does well on Super Duper Tuesday, we just may get the chance to find out.
Say what you want about John Edwards, but he gives a good concession speech. Did someone not tell him that he came in third in the only primary he won last time out? Or is he just savoring his opportunity to be the king/queen maker behind Obama or Clinton?
Dennis Kucinich finally wised up and got himself out of the race for President. Now the only questions are can he withstand a challenge to his house seat and what took so long for him to get the message that he wasn’t going to be elected President?
If I were a citizen being repped by Kucinich, I’d be ticked. He’s spent months of his time on his completely improbable bid for the White House. How about making sure my garbage is being picked up in Cleveland, buddy?
As someone not lucky enough to live in Kucinich’s district, I don’t think he was doing the nation any favors either. I get the whole idea of staying in the race even when it’s obvious that you can’t win for some higher purpose like influencing the direction of the debate. Perhaps that will end up being John Edwards fate. But, let’s face it, no one was listening to Kucinich.
I love an underdog as much as anyone else, but at a certain point you’ve got to realize when the market just isn’t there for what you’re selling. And nobody was buying Kucinich.
Clearly after seven years of the Bush Administration, the country seems open to a less conservative or perhaps less Republican approach to governing, but outside of Kucinich’s immediate family it was chrystal clear that our nation wasn’t putting the former mayor of Cleveland into the White House.
But cheer up Clevelandites (or is it Clevelanders), your Browns and Indians are both on the up swing! And it’s that what’s most important after all?
John Edwards, despite his fancy haircut or perhaps in spite of it, won Saturday’s Debate over his fellow Democrats. For the record, I mostly watched the Jags thrilling win over the Steelers at sloppy Heinz Field, but I did find myself flipping over to the debate frequently. Whenever I did flip, it seemed to me that Edwards was the most on his game.
It’s a critical time for the Edwards campaign. A second place showing in Iowa keeps him viable a while longer, but now he’s got to show he can compete in New Hampshire and beyond. This debate was a good start.
The former senator did two things exceeding well. First, he spoke with passion. Second, he spoke about his concern for the working middle class. With his coal miner father in attendance, Edwards came across (in between downs) as truthful and determined to do his all to make America a friendlier place to the large majority of us who get up every morning, go to work, pay our taxes and play by the rules.
It seems to me that that kind of talk will prove highly attractive to the center of America who voted for Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan.
Whatever happens, it’s clear that tonight Hillary Clinton was firmly cast as the status quo element of the Democratic Party. Edwards and Barack Obama have both labeled themselves as the agents of change available to Democratic leaning voters.
Clinton and her campaign should be thankful that for the time being Edwards and Obama are dividing support among voters who want a bigger change that they think a Clinton Deux would offer. Too bad for Hillary and co that they can’t donate campaign funds to Edwards to keep him around siphoning votes from Obama.
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