Listen to the quotes below to see how much Edwards sounds like he is campaigning to be Senator Obama's running mate:
Of course, Edwards denies this is his intent, but don't they all? LBJ said he'd rather drink warm piss water than become JFK's vice president ... until of course he accepted the position. Edwards seems to be playing his hand a little more open.
This is the right time to strike a deal with Obama because if Edwards steps out of the race, Obama can beat Hillary a lot easier (it would be very surprising if most of Edwards voters didn't go to Obama). But if Edwards is still in the race on Super Tuesday, then Senator Clinton can wrap it up before the Edwards' voters could make a difference.
With this kind of leverage, it appears on the surface that Edwards is pressing hard to get the #2 slot. It's actually a smart move. A comeback for Edwards seems implausible now (though not impossible; if he comes in third in South Carolina, it then pretty much becomes impossible). His supporters are leaning to Obama anyway, so he couldn't swing the race to Hillary even if he wanted to. So, his best play is to lobby Obama for the vice president position in return for dropping out before Super Tuesday.
In fact, it's so logical, I'd be surprised if they didn't do it. Edwards gains the vice presidency and a foot in the door in the Oval Office. And Obama gains the presidency (one person who consolidates the whole anti-Hillary vote would be very, very hard to beat even if they didn't have Obama's current momentum). That deal is a little too sweet for either side to pass up.
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Is John Edwards Trying to Become Obama's Vice President?
Posted Jan 14th 2008 12:00PM by Cenk Uygur
Filed under: Young Turks, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Video
Filed under: Young Turks, John Edwards, Barack Obama, Video
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Reader Comments ( Page 2 of 3)
16. Your reference to Lyndon Johnson's comment about the VP needs to be documented. The only person to make this comment was 32nd VP, John Nance Garner who said the office is "not worth a pitcher of warm piss". The only thing correct, unless you have other documentation, is both were from Texas. This makes one wonder how accurate is your supposition reflected in this article?
Leo
Leo at 6:29PM on Jan 14th 2008
17. duhh...why do you think kerry endorsed him so early??i said it 2 months ago...edwards will sniper the hilster and pave the road...for...OBAMA/EDWARDS 08.
suoires at 6:42PM on Jan 14th 2008
18. Actually, if the New Hampshire poll results are accurate, Edwards "downscale" traditional voters might very well be Clinton supporters (despite the fact that he is closer to Obama on many issues - he's considerably closer to Clinton in his crunchy, partisan tone).
I'm not necessarily sure Edwards hurts Obama by being in the race. In fact, Edwards may allow Obama's coalition of upper middle class whites and blacks obtain a plurality over Clinton who seems to have a broader base of Democratic voters.
Geoffrey Rose at 6:45PM on Jan 14th 2008
19. I'm not sure what Edwards strategy is at this point, but I DO KNOW that he & Elizabeth give a damn about other human beings. Which is quite a commodity these days, everywhere, in Politics & especially in Presidential Politics. This is not mostly a chess game with him. I don't see the big Machiavellian maneuvering going on. I think he is a genius & has a strategy, but I don't think the strategy means more to him than US as a Nation. I could be wrong about the strategy opinion, but I do know HE IS FOR REAL. Look into a person's heart & soul before casting a vote. The GREAT Presidents have appealed to the SOUL of America. Lincoln, FDR, Kennedy & Carter. Say what you will, but this is the TRUTH. History bears me out on this fact. Edwards fits into the above category. His message will catch on like fire. Stay tuned this WILL be a fight. Just like John says. He's showing A LOT of spit & fire. Wouldn't you want your President to have these qualities & at the same time have great compassion? Think America, Think! Please wake up!
goedwards at 8:03PM on Jan 14th 2008
20. Mr. Blogger, you are about to be outed as the Republican that you are. It is so obvious that you and all the other GOP GUYS fear a Hillary nomination because you know she will win the Presidency. How clever of you to try and pose any and all scenarios to help Obama win the nomination.
You are so desperately afraid of a Clinton candidacy. Guess what? You lose, Mr. Republican in hiding.Hillary will win the Dem. nomination and will be our next President. OUR BLOG MEANS NOTHING AND NO ONE IS FOOLED.
kim at 8:07PM on Jan 14th 2008
21. This is Vegas Baby! We'll get it right. It's not a sin to be a male or white. Hillary is the wrong woman and Obama threatened Pakistan. That's why John Edwards is my man!
Roll the dice, gambling, racing to victory, fired up, inhaling, snorting, Martin Luther King, nobody is illegal, tears, deck em, and shucking and jiving proves America isn't ready for a woman or Black; but Edwards and Obama can be held accountable. That's "Real Change!"
Cecil Jones at 8:20PM on Jan 14th 2008
22. " It is so obvious that you and all the other GOP GUYS fear a Hillary nomination because you know she will win the Presidency"
Would you like to put some money on that Kim? Their are far more Hillary haters out there than their are confused liberal feminists. I'm waiting for the Democrats to attack her voting record, voting for the Iraq War and the Patriot Act? How silly of her. Then again, she sways with the popular opinion like a branch in the wind.
Then again Obama hasn't been in the game long enough to vote on either. But that doesn't matter anymore, the media loves him, that seems to be enough.
Parker at 9:08PM on Jan 14th 2008
23. I prefer Edwards to Obama, but if they were on a ticket together, I might be persuaded...maybe. Ideally I prefer a pres/vp to be from different parties.
web jones at 10:03PM on Jan 14th 2008
24. Excuse me, do you people ever read anything credible from the world of politics? Rather, do you simply parrot the speculation you hear in the biased media reports?
Reuters pointed-out the obvious reasons for the lack of national coverage last week in their column titled "Corporate Elite Fear Candidate Edwards" (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1128828020080111 ) which relays, in part, the following: "Ask corporate lobbyists which presidential contender is most feared by their clients and the answer is almost always the same -- Democrat John Edwards. One business lobbyist said an Edwards’ presidency would be a 'disaster' for his well-heeled industrialist clients." ... Quite simply, Rupert Murdock and Co. fear Mr. Edwards getting elected.
Today’s Reno Gazette-Journal reported the most current polls from inside NV show a dead heat between the Dem. Candidates, with the breakdown follows:
Barack Obama: 32 percent
Hillary Clinton: 30 percent
John Edwards: 27 percent
Not bad for a candidate that the Project for Excellence in Journalism just cited last week as having “...long faced a media blackout", huh?
Further, it would do you well to read David Sirota’s column appropriately titled "For the Blowhards Who Insist It's a Two-Way Race..." (http://www.credoaction.com/sirota/2008/01/for_those_of_you_who_think_its.html)
From Paul Krugman in the today’s The New York Times: “On the Democratic side, John Edwards, although never the front-runner, has been driving his party's policy agenda. He's done it again on economic stimulus: last month, before the economic consensus turned as negative as it now has, he proposed a stimulus package including aid to unemployed workers, aid to cash-strapped state and local governments, public investment in alternative energy, and other measures."
Also, The Nation’s Christopher Hayes wrote: “The fact remains that the Edwards campaign has set the domestic policy agenda for the entire field. He was the first with a bold universal health care plan, the first with an ambitious climate change proposal that called for cap-and-trade, and the leader on reforming predatory lending practices and raising the minimum wage to a level where it regains its lost purchasing power."
Those are only a few of the articles from today that show the question you pose in your headline as nothing more than rhetoric.
Need I say more?
Edwards Supporter at 10:05PM on Jan 14th 2008
25. I am concerned about the injection of race to the campaign. After all when I here somebody say that he or she is voting for Obama because he's black then it makes me wonder really, who is playing the race card. But my main concern is that Obama keeps talking about change and I have not heard him articulate his agenda for change and so I assume that he means the first black to become president. Somebody give me the 411 on whats happening. He talks a good game but I not going to let the smooth taste fool me. I am srtictly for Hillary. Come on you guys--join this love train.
Barbara Guthrie at 10:10PM on Jan 14th 2008
26. SOS: Stop Offering Socialism!!!!!!!
Socialism in the United States was the creation of politicians who sought to perpetuate their own re-elections. Seventy years of socialism sponsored by the Democratic Party has spawned a Democratic political party that has nothing else to offer and a feckless Republican party that has not only not provided the opposition needed to prevent the growth of socialism, but also a party where some Republicans have become part of the problem. In short, politicians from both major political parties either sponsor socialism or indirectly sanction it by their lack of effective opposition. Socialism has become pervasive throughout government, dominating the federal, state, and even local government budgets. Every household in America is affected. Seventy years of socialism have led to a United States where two out of every three households get a transfer payment as an incentive to vote for socialism-sponsoring politicians and every household and every business is taxed to support the insane monstrosity that socialism has become.
What have you received in return? Ten Trillion dollars of debt ($170,000.00 per person/$480,000.00 per family).
"You and I have a rendezvous with destiny. We will preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we will sentence them to take the first step into a thousand years of darkness." Ronald Reagan, Time for Choosing, 1964.
Stop Offering Socialism!!!!!!!
Full text:
http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/renaissance/2005/0428.html
Paul Sparcello at 11:27PM on Jan 14th 2008
27. Parker, lawyers are just easy targets of prejudice. Show me a lawyer who chases ambulances and I'll show you a disbarred lawyer.
No lawsuit is trivial if it is your lawsuit. And what's it to the general public? What do we care if McDonalds has to pay for scalding people with its coffee even after they were well aware of the problem? The only way to get a corporation to change is to cost it money.
Again, would any of you feel better if Edwards was a corporate lawyer? Would you feel better if he had been arguing for insruance companies or polluters?
Must agree with your next post. The republicans are undoubtedly hoping to run against Hillary. I don't believe women will vote for Hillary in the numbers expected.
I'm clearly an Edwards supporter. The man is going to take on corporate greed. That's good for every body, left, right and center.
Edwards passed up the corporate money that Obama and Clinton have taken.
Hillary Clinton went from being the bane of the health-care crooks to being her number one corporate donor. Shame on her.
Captain Negative at 1:20AM on Jan 15th 2008
28. kim,
I'm no republican. The jury is still out on the misogyny charges. I fear a Hillary nomination.
"Fearing" a Hillary nomination means fearing a loss to the republicans.
Mc Cain is looking pretty strong right now.
Plain vanilla, John Mc Cain could beat Hillary. If he does, it might well be because of what I call the, "Women Who Think Hillary is A Bitch" voter block.
Captain Negative at 2:37AM on Jan 15th 2008
29. Major Bullshit aka Captain Negative
Edwards is a 2 bit ambulance chasing lawyer who also is a redneck from SC. another piece of southern trash.
He is a loser supprted by losers
ROBERT OKANE at 3:13AM on Jan 15th 2008
30. Anger management, OKANE.
Stop whining for my attention with such banality.
I'm going to start calling you, REDUNDANT OKANE.
Captain Negative at 4:01AM on Jan 15th 2008