John Edwards for President

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A candidate diary at Docudharma? Oh Noes!

Not really, just one man’s opinion. Just to get it down somewhere kinda official looking. So without further ado…

Realistically, only three can win the nomination.

Clinton, Obama, and maybe if the stars align Edwards.

None of the others have built enough momentum to have even a slim chance at this stage.  Unlike the now wide open Republican primary, ‘ours’ is a 3-person race.

Apologies to Kucinich supporters, but the man doesn’t even have support staff in many states. He cannot win. He has no organization in place that would enable him to do so.

As an eminently practical person, it only makes sense to look at the big three. YMMV of course – I would never bemoan any vote cast on principle over pragmatism.

That said – which one of the three would be best?

Up until this week, it didn’t matter to me. Now, it does.

First, a little back story. When I first heard Edwards go negative, I was troubled. Now though, all three of them are merrily snipping away at each other just in time for the holidays. Edwards has in fact gone to ground on the negativity and is focusing on closing the deal in Iowa.

So ‘Negativity’ is out as a qualifier. They all stink a little here.

That leaves the issues. To me, there are five big issues.  Categorically, these would be The War, Health Care, Equality, The Rule of Law, and Corporatism Run Amok (amok amok amok).

There are many other issues of course, but for the purposes of choosing at this stage, I will stick with the big five.

Quite frankly, I see little difference between the three candidates on the first three of these categories. They are all shaky on The War, the all have decent plans on Health Care, and they all pretty much suck on Equality (at least to me) due to a lack of perceived importance in their respective campaigns.

So that leaves The Rule of Law and Corporatism Run Amok.

On these two issues, Edwards is clearly far ahead.

The Rule of Law:

Edwards wins here this week because Clinton and Obama blew it beyond belief yesterday. They had a golden opportunity to lead on the FISA issue, but they abandoned responsibility and left it to Chris Dodd to stop campaigning for a couple of days to fight for the Rule of Law.

What an embarrassment. To repeat for emphasis, what a complete and utter embarrassment to the Democratic Party that two sitting Senators running for President as Democrats would choose to cede leadership on this issue. Want an example of actual leadership when it counts? What better example than seeing Chris Dodd stop campaigning, return to the Senate floor, and fight on principle. Want an example of weakness in action? Watch while Obama and Clinton sit on the sidelines. Amazing when you stop and think about it. Sad, but amazing.

Corporatism Run Amok:

Edwards, the trial lawyer who made his fortune fighting for the little guy, would not shy away from a fight with the big Telecoms. Or the big Health Scam Care companies. Or the big Defense Contractors. Or the big Box Retailers. Or any of the big Corporations running so much of America today. He made his fortune fighting these huge behemoth Corporations.

It all starts and ends with his refusal to take their money.

He doesn’t take their money. Both Clinton and Obama do. This puts him at a well known financial disadvantage. It really might cost him his opportunity to win in the end, since his organization depends on early primary success to even have a prayer in the long run. While he has a large financial disadvantage, he gains tremendously in his freedom to act should he win the Presidency. Freedom to act on our behalf.

John Edwards is clearly the candidate the big Corporations fear the most. Even more so than Kucinich or Dodd or Huckabee. He is the strongest union supporter of all the candidates. And more so than any of them, he is the wildcard when it comes to reducing the enormous real-world gains Corporations have made over the past 20 to 30 years. He has the potential to restore some much needed balance in the Corporation vs. Citizen dynamic.

John Edwards – the Wildcard. At this stage, that’s good enough for me.

John Edwards for President.