Sunday, April 06, 2008

Why Some Edwards Supporters Went With Barack Obama

It’s a pretty good You Tube video that reminds me of why, when John Edwards took himself out of the running in the presidential race earlier this year, I opted to then support the candidacy of Barack Obama.



John Edwards was the progressive populist Democratic candidate. When he said those words he was describing the differences between himself and Hillary Clinton, then the front-runner in the primaries. For the most part, the same words describe the differences between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Many of we former Edwards supporters shifted our support to Obama. I’d say the majority of us did, which is one reason why, I think, Obama overtook Clinton for the lead later on in the primaries.

For reasons of their own, some former Edwards supporters shifted their allegiance to the Clinton camp. I personally, can’t fathom them, but when pressed for an answer, most have told me that Bill Clinton was a key factor in their reasoning.

In having Hillary, we have Bill again.

I guess there’s no getting past that, and if you like the status quo, if that’s what makes you most comfortable, then that would be the way to go.

As Edwards supporters, though, we were for broad institutional change in how our government conducts its business. Edwards, while now a millionaire several times over, was still the people's candidate, someone who had not forgotten his roots. Now that we find that Hillary Clinton, with Bill, are millionaires 100 times over, now I wonder whether Hillary Clinton can be called "the people's candidate".

So former Edwards supporters who are still on the fence, or former Edwards supporters who are now for Clinton, listen to your former preferred candidate once more. Listen to his words and ask yourself if you still believe them.

1 comment:

refinish69 said...

I could not have said it better myself!!!!