Scuttlebutt: Why John Edwards hasn't endorsed
9:43 AM Sat, Mar 29, 2008 | Permalink
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Projo Subterranean Homepage NewsBottom-up journalism from the pros: News, tech and culture by Sheila Lennon |
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From John Heilemann in New York Magazine Who’ll Stop the Pain?: According to a Democratic strategist unaligned with any campaign but with knowledge of the situation gleaned from all three camps, the answer is simple: Obama blew it. Speaking to Edwards on the day he exited the race, Obama came across as glib and aloof. His response to Edwards’s imprecations that he make poverty a central part of his agenda was shallow, perfunctory, pat. Clinton, by contrast, engaged Edwards in a lengthy policy discussion. Her affect was solicitous and respectful. When Clinton met Edwards face-to-face in North Carolina ten days later, her approach continued to impress; she even made headway with Elizabeth. Whereas in his Edwards sit-down, Obama dug himself in deeper, getting into a fight with Elizabeth about health care, insisting that his plan is universal (a position she considers a crock), high-handedly criticizing Clinton’s plan (and by extension Edwards’s) for its insurance mandate. The thrust of the piece, however, is the currently fashionable drumbeat to get Hillary to drop out. (Wackier still is the hypothetical notion that she is merely staying in to position herself for 2012. Does anyone seriously believe that at age 65 she would want to go through all this again?) In the interest of balance, here's Matt Cooper -- the same Matt Cooper, then of Time magazine, who was called to testify about the Valerie Plame leak, husband of Clinton media consultant Mandy Grunwald who nevertheless believes Obama will be the nominee -- writing at Portfolio.com: Hillary Should Stay In. So Should Nader. And just to round out the balance, Ralph Nader to Hillary yesterday: Don’t listen to Senator Leahy: Senator Clinton: Nader -- darn him -- often makes sense. The coronation of the relatively unknown Sen. Barack Obama makes me a bit uncomfortable. So do the pundits urging Hillary to quit, mouthing Obama campaign talking points despite the journalistic discipline that requires that one not become a partisan. We are trained to be objective, not to be swept away; our permitted passions are reality and truth. It's equally disturbing when "analysts" get mushy about the possibility of the first black president, seeming to ignore the parallel and equally historic possibility of the first woman president. 1972 Democratic candidate George McGovern told AP this week,, "I have a feeling that in this country where we’re at today in our thinking, it’s going to be harder to elect a woman than to elect a black man." It's hard to know whether MSM is leading or following that notion, and to what degree the old-boy networks and glass ceilings inside journalism lead or follow it as well. But this is not a beauty contest, American Idol or The Gong Show. It's an opportunity to collaboratively plan the future, with all ideas still on the table. It's in the interest of the voters that the Democratic nominee earn the nod over the long haul, refining and sharing plans to meet the changing challenges of the economy, Iraq, health care, the environment, terrorism -- and along the way engaging America in their solution. The candidate who faces the world as the face of America would best do so having learned the lessons a long campaign can deliver: Patience, endurance and an understanding that there are no short cuts to one's place in history. 
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Bravo,Sheila; great analysis. This rush to dump Hillary makes me queasy too, for the same reasons as you. Not that I know yet which I'd rather go with, since I have reservations about both.......for that very reason I want this thing to play out.
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I was very impressed with Obama until the problem with his former pastor. His response is just a bit to "round-about" for me. A sensible reaction would have been to say "I condemn out of hand racist comments of any kind, whatever good work he may have done in the past cannot excuse what he has said" End of story.
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I,and my Grumpy Grannies, are proud, patriotic, and hardworking American Citizens. We proudly stand and will vote as FEMALE, WHILST many others will vote race, which too is only natural, having forgotten that the female candidate Hillary Clinton had spent so many years helping them AND DO NOT FORGET, THERE ARE ALSO THOSE very hardworking men and women Latinos who have always and will continue to stand by the Clintons, that too is only natural, she and he did so much and they have always been grateful to the Clintons.
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Great job, Sheila. I am very suspicious of all this talk about Hillary getting out now. Why do you think that is? Maybe Hillary just might do VERY well in Pennsylvania, Indiana, and maybe even North Carolina?
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