John Edwards for President

I'm so glad the Iowa Caucuses are finally here! After a campaign season that seems have started in '06 (if not in '04!), more "debates" than I can count, commercials, etc., finally, someone somewhere will VOTE! Of course the New Hampshire primary (next Tues.) is a better test of who the nominees will be in both parties (and if someone wins both Iowa and NH, they will be very hard to beat!), but the last week has finally decided me: I am endorsing fmr. Sen. John Edwards (D-NC) for president.

This has not been an easy decision. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) best represents my values (and I volunteered for his campaign in'04), but I have never kidded myself into believing that he had a chance to win. (That was destroyed in'04 when he announced that he would break up the media monopolies. Hooray! But the media went after Kucinich ever since.) I was not very impressed with Edwards in '04--and less so after he became John Kerry's running mate. Further, I was hugely impressed with Barack Obama's 2004 keynote address at the Democratic National Convention and said to my wife, "That's the future of the Party. That man will probably be our first African-American president." I still think that is true--whether this year or not.

What changed to make me order my Edwards yard sign? It began in early 2005, when the former NC Senator admitted that his vote in '02 to authorize the war in Iraq was a mistake and to apologize for doing it--something neither Sen. Hillary Clinton(D-NY), Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), nor even Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) has yet done. Then watching Edwards make ending poverty his primary domestic issue, and choosing to announce his candidacy in the ruins of New Orleans was a huge boost. I have watched his campaign craft a platform that was more progressive than any other candidate than Kucinich--and watched him work to a virtual tie with the "frontrunners" Clinton (who was practically coronated by the media even before she announced her candidacy!) and Obama. I am a progressive populist in orientation--and Edwards sounds to me like Democrats used to sound when they stood for economic justice!

I was impressed with the way he tackled global warming (I keep expecting Al Gore to endorse him), human rights, and international law. When Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated, I was very impressed when other candidates mouthed sympathy or condemnation, but Edwards managed to get Pres. Musharraf on the phone and urge continued democratization (even if a short delay in elections from 8 Jan was necessary) and international investigation of Bhutto's death. That's now happening: The U.K.'s Scotland Yard will assist in investigating the Bhutto assassination and the elections will be held 18 February. The ability to act decisively, but calmly, without overreacting in a crisis is a major quality of leadership. Along with Sen. Chris Dodd, Edwards had also worked to keep the U.S. from attacking Iran.

My decision was finalized yesterday when I read that Edwards' planned to remove, not just "combat troops," but ALL U.S. forces from Iraq (and no permanent bases) as quickly as possible--with all of them home within a year of his taking the oath of office. That is quite a break with the "withdraw most" plans of Clinton and Obama (and Biden). It was a position previously only articulated by Kucinich, Gravel, and Richardson. Edwards is the first candidate to take this position--one that most citizens support--who actually has a chance of winning the nomination and the election. That sealed the deal for me. I am sending a small monetary contribution in the mail (too late for Iowa, maybe it'll help for NH) and ordering my yard sign, buttons, etc.

Even if Edwards fails to win the nomination, his candidacy can do more than other progressives such as Kucinich and Richardson, who have poll numbers in the single digits, to affect the platform and push the eventual nominee to a more progressive, peace and justice orientation. But I will now work my butt off to help him win the nomination and the White House. I am tired of DLC "corporate Democrats" who run from the New Deal and the Great Society. It's time for a Democrat in the White House who is on the side of the poor, of Labor, of the environment, of the sick, of the rule of law, human rights, peacemaking--and who will fight the vested interests on behalf of these convictions.

(If Edwards wins, it could have the added bonus of causing Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Glenn Beck, Bill Kristol, and, especially Bill O'Reilly to all turn very interesting colors--and have apopleptic fits on the air!)

P.S. Truth-telling gonzo filmmaker Michael Moore hasn't yet made an endorsement, but in this article about the top 3 candidates, he shows some of the same reasoning that led me to endorse Edwards. I hesitate to mention it, since I am still sore at him for campaigning in Florida in '00 when he knew it might throw the election to Bush, but Ralph Nader, whose values are right even if his judgment is sometimes skewed, is now endorsing Edwards.

Update: Journalist Norman Solomon, who, like Nader and Moore, is part of the small percentage of the U.S. population that is regularly more liberal than I am on most issues has now endorsed John Edwards, saying that Kucinich's call for his Iowa supporters to choose Obama as their second choice in the caucuses (if Kucinich should get less than "viable" turnout in particular precincts) made no sense and removed the reasons that remained to vote for Kucinich in the primary season. Solomon also called Edwards the "most improved candidate" (from a progressive standpoint) of 2007, a sentiment with which I completely agree, although I think those improvements began on 03 Nov. 2004 as Edwards realized that both he and John Kerry lost by listening more to the professional campaign handlers than listening to his real, progressive, populist values.