1.30.2008

Unstuck in the middle

I was never an Edwards supporter, but I'm full of respect for the guy and what he did to the race. As Matthew Yglesias points out he pushed Clinton and Obama to the left-- in a voice that was warm, moral, and impatient.

So where do his people go? My hope is Obama, of course. I think there are reasons to expect as much, but I'd like to know what you guys think.

Als0- wherever they go-- will it make a difference?

6 comments:

Grendel said...

I also think Edwards was awesome for the race and brought the discussion back to the core Democratic values. If Obama hadn't been in, I would definitely have been an Edwards supporter. Polls seem to indicate that his supporters will split between Clinton and Obama, or stay home. But the big O has the big Mo. He's whittled down Clinton to a 3-point spread in Cali, and that poll was taken before Edwards dropped out. I continue to believe that this is a historic moment. Next Tuesday may well be the deciding battle. Oh oh oh! For the first time, the Democratic Party is seating delegates from the community of Democrats abroad -- 22 delegates to the Convention, in fact! (The Dems living overseas add up to another medium-sized state.) Super Tuesday's primary will include elections from all over the world. I'll get to train it to Amsterdam and vote on Super Tuesday, and my vote will count! Rest assured there will be a post and pictures. Very exciting!

TJ said...

That's great news, Grendel!

Thanks for this post, Pete. I spent a good chunk of yesterday in a real funk. I'd known Edwards was out for a while, but didn't know his actual withdrawal would hit me as hard. Here's hoping he does the right thing and endorses Obama before Tuesday.

For most of this campaign, Edwards was a real class act. He showed Obama and Clinton how to campaign as liberals. Let's hope they continue to do so.

And, I think I'll miss Elizabeth in this race as much as her husband.

cfp said...

What's interesting about the Edwards bloc is that demographically they are more like Clinton voters but politically they are more like Obama voters. My hope is that their political interest in change is enough to shatter the conventional wisdom on voting demographics.

Because I agree that this could be an historic moment. I also think that such thinking works in Obama's favor. My parents-in-law--lifelong republicans-- are supporting him. My own father, long disenchanted with politics and generally uninvolved, has contributed to his campaign--because my sister, also generally not political, persuaded him to do so. There's a sense in which he has come to symbolize change for people who are less interested in politics. And that could mean a tidal wave.

That's all anecdotal, of course, and the establishment is quite good at quashing such things. But I'm hoping that we'll be able to look back at Edwards's departure as the decisive crack in the dam holding back a flood of obama-love.

T-bone said...

Go Grendel! Today an NPR correspondent said that he thought Edwards supporters would likely go for Clinton. They also said, "California is Clinton Country." I wish my parents would vote for Obama. Pete, any suggestions?

James P. Farrell said...

Aren't we about done with the Clintons. Each utterance confirms Obama's point that they will "say or do anything" to get elected.

After their graceless mini-concession of the South Carolina primary to Obama, what are we to make of their interest in counting wins in Michigan and Florida where all contestants had agreed not to compete in keeping with party rules?

More troubling than their penchant to play by their own rules are the policy positions being trumpeted by Mrs. Clinton. When Hillary suggested that her magnificent failure to craft a health care solution in 1993 somehow made her the go-to-guy for solving our insurance mess, this voter smacked his forehead so hard he hit the floor.How will she mandate private insurance coverage for people who refuse to buy it? Will premiums be garnished from wages?

Equally puzzling was Hillary's burst of policy initiatives for solving the economic malaise, including a freeze on mortgage interest rates, a suggestion so remarkably simplistic, unworkable and anti-market that it wouldn't have gotten past a TA in Econ 101.

If the voters are paying attention they will surprise the pundits again next week and pledge their delegates to Obama.

cj said...

I see that the L.A. Times endorsed Obama today. According to their endorsement, "In the language of metaphor, Clinton is an essay, solid and reasoned; Obama is a poem, lyric and filled with possibility."

Hmm! I didn't read their Republican endorsement, but I wonder if McCain might be a novel, and Romney (I hope) a short story . . .