In the last four years it is not so much that America has changed, but that the circumstances of life in America, our role in the world and our politics have deteriorated, drastically. A kernel of hope and faith in America still remains, but change, now, more so than then, is urgent. Add to these reasons those that Ian so lucidly outlines, and we believe, once again, that John Edwards is the candidate who will finally put an end to the plaintive mewling for, and cooing about, the need for bi-partisanship and consensus in our capital.
Today the middle class--the very foundation of America's great wealth--disappears, gutted by Bush's "Haves and Have Mores." An out of control trade deficit--not to mention an inflationary monetary policy--sucks our treasury dry. And most tragically, a generation of Americans and Iraqis bleed to death in the forbidding deserts of Iraq.
It is time we pulled America into the future and the man to do this is John Edwards.
And Ian Welsh weighs in:
There's no middle left and anyone who thinks that the vast majority of Republican Senators will respond to good will is living in a world of denial. Nothing, absolutely nothing, in Republican behaviour in the last 7 years indicates that will happen. Just as nothing in the behaviour of oil companies and health insurers indicates they're interested in "compromise" when not compromising has done so very very well for them and taken them from victory to victory.
Which leaves us with John Edwards: who wants to kick ass, take names, and help the middle class stop getting reamed out by credit card companies, banks, oil companies, Wall Street and all the other invertebrates whose existence is based on sucking blood from ordinary people while denying they have any responsibility for how pale and weak the middle class has become.
Can he do it? Many Democrats, used to having their teeth kicked in for years by Republican bullies, say no. They reason that without 60 votes, they'll still have to compromise with Republicans and so they want a Compromiser-In-Chief sitting in the White House.
But compromise, tried for damn near 20 years, has gotten us nothing but our teeth kicked in, our lunch money stolen and thousands of soldiers and probably a million Iraqis dead. And strangely, despite not having 60 votes at any point during their period of rule, the Republicans got through most of what they wanted.
So perhaps the key to getting Republican votes isn't to come forwards sniveling on ones' knees asking what the price for the votes is. I suggest the key is to have a President aggressively make the case that the American people want health care, want lower oil prices, want fairer credit card policies -- a presidnet (sic) who is willing to go the wall over it.
Now we get to my beloved and dear friend ModFab, whom I tried to convince that John Edwards was the candidate who best embodied the progressive values we share. But alas, it is John Edwards' "internal struggle" against his Southern Baptist background in his views on gay marriage that was the dealbreaker, and so he is endorsing Barack Obama.
I can't fault him on his choice. If I were faced with a candidate who admitted to feeling "icky" about me and about who I am, no matter how much he "battles" that; one who just couldn't get past a bunch of childhood preachers to get to a point where my publicly-expressed oaths to my beloved were somehow "not as good as" someone else's, I'm not sure I could support that candidate either. I have more faith in Edwards' ability to separate his religious background from policy than ModFab does, but then, it's easy for me to have it because it isn't my life and my rights that are at stake. Yes, we did discuss Donnie McClurkin, but the issue seemed to be what the candidate believes, not the red meat he chooses to dish up to certain constituencies is. And so his choice is Barack Obama. I understand that an Obama presidency would be a transformational change in a way not even Hillary Clinton would be. I know how Obama is capable of inspiring people. But what ModFab sees as thoughtfulness and showing leadership in Obama's maddening tendency to want to split the difference when dealing with Republicans (despite all evidence to the contrary that such a thing is even possible), I see as a creeping Joe Liebermanism -- a willingness to sell the middle class down the river in the name of conciliation. And because of that, I don't think gay issues are going to fare particularly well with Obama. In fact, I'd say that Obama's willingness to concede just about anything bodes far more ill for gay concerns than Edwards' internal struggle. At least John Edwards has Elizabeth and daughter Cate needling him about it.
But at least ModFab isn't supporting Hillary Clinton. THEN I'd have to ask him to step outside and we'd probably resort to fisticuffs.
(UPDATE: Don't miss this great post at The Left Coaster on why the Change™ Obama professes to stand for doesn't necessarily include progressivism.
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