Clinton v. Obama v. Edwards: Battle Royale

So the political season is "officially" upon us. With the uneventful passing of Labor Day and in response to an email that Jim sent me, I'm starting the political discussion (read: ranting). But maybe the recent days weren't so uneventful. I've noticed that Edwards (full disclosure: John Edwards is my pick for president; he was in 2004 and will be in this caucus) has gone after Clinton in the endorsement rounds that he's made, calling her out at both YearlyKos and the Carpenters Union speech he gave recently. Interestingly, he's not criticizing her for taking money previously or suggesting that she return all or part of the funds, but rather arguing that if we'd like to change the power balance in Washington, Democrats can no longer accept what gives them power, the cash-money. In order to put the power back in the hands of the people, K street's gotta go. So he's vowed not to take money from these folks and will run a clean campaign (also, clean is not the word i would use here as his comments were pretty harsh).

This is a concept that the Democrats have been running on for nearly 30 years. If i can channel Rummy for a few minutes: Will it change with John Edwards as president? No. Will even a Democrat (sic) Congress pass such reforms? Decidedly no. Does this get votes in the progressive caucus? Absolutely. Will John Edwards get some air time for this? Probably, but not yet. Will this be enough to oust Obama from his second place status? Not with Oprah backing him. Will Johnny Boy be maligned to Veep status for a second time? i doubt it. He won't accept anything less than the top spot.

All in all this is a play to get endorsements from a blue-collar working class proletariat. A common concept in most progressive populist circles. This is also one of the safest "anti-Hilary" plays out there right now. It's her soft spot in the left blogosphere. And i agree its the right move for Edwards right now. We'll see how it plays out.

As an aside, how can a former lobbyist, assuming he gets the nomination, win against that attack and still be the reincarnation of Reagan if he looks like a evil villain from Buffy the Vampire Slayer? :)


pillaged from Americablog.com