This just in: John Edwards has officially endorsed Barack Obama for president. It's a little late (since Obama has had the nomination all but wrapped up for a couple of months now), and I'm not sure what kind of an impact this will have, but I still find this exciting.
Although I've been an Obama supporter for a while, John Edwards was still one of the most exciting candidates in the race this year (and that's saying a lot, considering how groundbreaking this presidential race has already become). I find him to be honest and genuine, particularly in his dedication to tackling poverty. He also embraced the netroots/blogger contingent more than any other politician in the race, and I hope that the Obama campaign will now take on some of these attributes of Edwards'.
Regardless, I think that endorsing Obama was a natural choice for Edwards. Obama represents change and a departure from the negative politics we've so grown accustomed to--key positions of Edwards' as well. The only question for me, really, was when would the endorsement come? It's disappointing that Edwards decided to play it safe for so long, but at least now he's made the right choice.
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Do you think he was waiting until he knew the winner. He's always looked a strong choice for Veep on the ticket as long as he backs the winner. Or maybe he's setting himself up for a cabinet place and eventually another run at pennsylvania ave.
Either way I'm glad to see him support Obama as the two I think make an exciting ticket (full disclosure, I was an Edwards supporter until he dropped out). But like you Nick, I'm a bit disappointed he waited this long as he does hold significant weight within the party and could've done his part to end the race.
Side note, here's a bit I wrote on why Hillary's still even in the race. http://stifledmind.blogspot.com/2008/05/time-to-call-spade-spade.html
Given my belief that John Edwards is a considerate, decent human being, I don't think his "late" public support for Barack was due to "playing it safe." I suspect it had more to do with a feeling of not unduly interfering with Hillary's right to run as hard and as long as she wants--within reason (from the perspective of a party advocate).
Given Hillary's and her campaign's public utterances about winning the "hard-working" white voters, however, may have prompted Edwards to step forward at this point. He's a decent human being who cares about the well-being of all of the people that make up the working class, red, brown, yellow, black, white, and all the beautiful shades in between.
Personally, I still think he was hedging his bets... but I don't mean that in some sort of nefarious or opportunistic way. I think he's just doing the reasonable thing that much of the Democratic establishment has done, which is to let the people make their choice with the least amount of interference. Now that it's pretty difficult to say that the people haven't made their choice, he's finally stepping in to help clean this thing up.
I actually think it's important strategically for the Democrats to keep two candidates in the race for as long as possible. Essentially all(before the stupid Wright thing) of the Republican negative press focused on Hillary.
I don't know who'd be a better VP, but I know Hillary is very unpopular with lots of people.
Obama does seem to fit Edwards' politics much better than Clinton, even if the fit isn't as great as I'd like it to be. I supported Kucinich, then Edwards, and now Obama. While Obama is far from my ideal candidate, it is essential that we keep McBush out of office.