1/30/08

So, who do I vote for now?

Too bad. I was looking forward to voting for Edwards this coming Tuesday, and I might still anyway.

This is a nice summing up:
Still, if Edwards wants to blame somebody for his defeat, he shouldn't look at the media. He should look at himself. And I mean that in the best sense possible. Edwards' biggest problem may have been that he was too compelling—so compelling that his rivals effectively adopted his agenda. From the beginning, Edwards was positioning himself as the champion of Americans struggling to get ahead financially. And rather than simply offer populist rhetoric, he backed it with a serious, comprehensive set of policies.
And this is good too:
The counterfactual of what this primary would have looked like without John Edwards creating a constant threat from the Left is a depressing one. Much more so than Obama, it's been Edwards who forced a new style of politics, untethered by the fear and timidity of the 90s, adamant that liberalism was an electoral boon and economic justice a popular sentiment. Knowing they had to defend against his challenge, both Hillary and Obama edged closer to his appeal. This left the Edwards campaign without much substance on which to distinguish itself, but it left the Democrats in a much stronger position overall, and forced them to argue for, and commit to, a much broader and more inspiring agenda than we otherwise might have seen.
Like I said, I might just vote for Edwards anyway.

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