I was leaning Edwards, but I'm voting Obama. [View All]

[smoogatz]

Two things: first, Edwards' rhetoric is more progressive than his record, which during his single Senate term was pretty typical center-right, red-state "Democrat" fare. Edwards does a great job of talking the progressive-populist talk, and I bought into it for awhile because I really, really wanted to feel that there was a passionate, well-spoken, electable progressive-populist among the front-runners. Obama's rhetoric, on the other hand, is less progressive than his record. As an indicator of future performance, though, I have to go with past record over present rhetoric (I think recent history bears that out: see the rhetoric of "compassionate conservatism" vs Bush's record as governor of Texas, for example). If you think Edwards is genuinely a Wellstone-style populist, you may revise that opinion once you check out his' abysmal record in connection with the 2000 and 2001 bankruptcy bills (http://jre-whatsnottolike.com/category/senate/banking-committee/bankruptcy-bill/). Frankly, I have a very hard time reconciling that behavior with his current "protector of the poor" persona. In fact, the more I read about Edwards' performance in the Senate, the more I'm convinced that his current progressive-populist pose is, in a word, bullshit.

Second, and most important in my view: Obama opposed the Iraq war from the get-go, which speaks to judgment. No matter how hard I try, I can't get past Edwards' co-sponsorship and vote in favor of the IWR. He's complicit in every death and injury and wasted tax dollar from day one until we ultimately withdraw, and all the heartfelt mea culpas in the world won't change that. Edwards, even more than Hillary, has blood on his hands. I've given it a lot of thought, and it seems to me that Edwards' political recovery is symptomatic of our society's bizarre inability to hold politicians accountable for catastrophic failures of public judgment and courage (while we hector them mercilessly over trivial personal failings, but that's another story). If we cared even a little bit in this country about holding public officials accountable for their actions, Edwards wouldn't be lauded as the progressive poster-boy: he'd be tarred, feathered and ridden out of town on a rail along with Bush, Cheney, and the rest of the fools and criminals who got us into this idiotic war.

So there it is, for what it's worth. Go. Bama.