John Edwards (nearly) Calls for Hillary to Drop Out of the Race

Run time: 10:52 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chZJ14PU3yI   Posted on YouTube: May 09, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: May 09, 2008 By DU Member: ultraist Views on DU: 1826

 
Just short of calling for Hillary to drop out of the race, Edwards, appearing on the Morning Joe Show today, stated he feels Obama is more likely to win the general election.

Edwards also hinted at a forthcoming endorsement saying he'll endorse who he voted for.

I have a sneaky suspicion as to who that may be.

"I think barack Obama is doing quite well w/o my endorsement". It also sounded like he was an Obama supporter and his wife is a Hillary supporter when I read about him and his wife a week ago.

...will turn on him like like a cornered pole-cat, when he gives Obama his SD vote.

You watch. There will be charges of "just another white redneck sexist" being tossed around like so many hand grenades.

And I say this as a former Kucinich and Edwards guy...

And he has said repeatedly he will not endorse before the convention.

It looked like John didn't want to correct him on national television.

Edwards does, of course, have 19 pledged delegates and a good number of his superdelegates have moved to the Obama camp, along with his closest top advisors, including Congressman Bonior.

He is sorta milking this thing a bit, isn't he?

But it seems pretty obvious he'll side with Obama. He just doesn't want to hurt the Clintons' feelings by endorsing at a time when it would make a difference.


-The Political Jerk

... Edwards clearly stated "I may have missed something, but I think Barack Obama's doing pretty well without *my* endorsement."

Who will Edwards endorse? Obama.

"Read my lips, media pinheads: I, JOHN EDWARDS, DO NOT PUBLICLY ENDORSE ANY CANDIDATE BEFORE THE NOMINATION IS OFFICIAL, because I will ultimately support either nominee and therefore have ZERO reason to risk undermining them IN CASE it turns out not to be the one I voted for. Sure we can expect it to be Obama, but expecting don't make it so. And if any superdelegates are also not talking, it's because they're savvy politicians like me and they know better."

"I'm John Edwards, and I approve this message."

To me, if you're a politician who has run for President, then you have thrust yourself in a position where you should be expected to stand up and be counted.

All this pussyfooting around seems politically calculated and weak. Especially, when you look back at the Edwards' campaign, which I supported by the way, and you see that his BIG position was getting the Lobbyists and PACs out of Washington - giving the voice back to the people who haven't had one.

He spent his entire campaign blasting Clinton as beholden to Lobbyists and special interest groups. He attacked her relentlessly throughout the campaign since her principles were the polar opposite of his. Obama was not ever on the offensive against Clinton, Edwards was.

Edwards' entire campaign staff now works for Obama. His staff in Chapel Hill is now organized for Obama. All his key advisors are supporting Obama. Edwards stated around New Hampshire that there's a MUCH MUCH bigger difference between he and Hillary than he and Obama, that he and Obama were about change.

It's not like Obama and Hillary's core messages are even remotely similar which would make this nothing, but a personality contest.
There is real, substantial difference between them:
Change vs. Status quo.
Lobbyist influence vs. individual citizen influence.
Talking to our enemies vs. a continuation of Bush's policy of demonizing our enemies and not engaging them.
Voting for Iraq War vs. speaking out against it.
Giving Bush what he needs to bomb Iran (Kyl-Lieberman) vs. not repeating the same mistake as was done with Iraq.

Edwards is smart and knows all this - this was what he argued every day on the stump.

And he finds a miniscule difference between the two candidates' healthcare plans and tries to act as though that's such a huge difference that he's torn between the two candidates? Unless we get a Nationalized Healthcare system like all the other industrialized countries there is not substantial change. The underlying cancer growth within our healthcare system is For-Profit Insurance Companies. Mandating that everyone must be gauged by them is NOT going to give us affordable universal healthcare. I don't care what they call it in their political rhetoric.

I don't buy it. I've lost a LOT of respect for Edwards. He had a choice to make and he chose political calculation over principle.

I think the world of Elizabeth and have even had the pleasure to speak with her in the past, but if she voted for Hillary and all that Hillary represents, then I've lost respect for her too. I guess I just hate politicians in general. Just when you believe you've found a principled one you end up discovering they're just as slimy as the next.

Just because he wont help to make this an even more bloody race doesn't mean he should.

He agreed with Obama on all the core issues. He fought vigorously against Clinton for his entire campaign. Even after Obama won Iowa and became the frontrunner, Edwards still focused on Clinton, never once did he attack Obama. Why? Because he and Obama were about change. Hillary is all about lobbyist and special interests and the old Washington "status quo".

When Edwards withdrew from the race everyone who followed him because of his principles naturally supported Obama (including me).

So for the sake of his Principles: making sure we succeed in changing washington by not electing a President who is beholden to Lobbyists and special interest groups, he SHOULD have endorsed Obama. That would have been in line with his principles.

To not endorse him, is in fact counter to Edwards' principals. It IS political calculation. If Clinton had gotten an insurmountable lead, I'm convinced Edwards would have endorsed her. So he waited and watched and the opportunity never presented itself, so he never endorsed. But knowing all his supporters are now for Obama, and Hillary is out of the race (so she can't make him Attorney General) he now hints that he voted for Obama.

Put it this way, if Hillary won then the change Edwards fought so hard for would have died. How could he be true to his principles and not endorse Obama?

edit: spelling

believe in wanting the best for this country then you wouldn't undermine that belief by using the very worst tactics - race-baiting, chiming republican talking points and acting as if you ARE the only person that can fix this country - to get the American people on your side. Your deeds have to match your words. Since she's moved the goalposts back that much and said obama can't win then how can I trust that she knows what's best if I think she lies tooth and nail about her positions on everything. That is detracting from her message and I believe that since she sends so many mixed messages that this is the kind of president she would be. Haven't we seen that act before?

Had Obama not entered the race I would have proudly supported Edwards.

Why do you like him better now - now that he's waffling around and not saying anything substantive?

Edwards when running: He picked Hillary apart and showed how she represents EVERYTHING that keeps our country from having real and positive change. He told how he and Obama were both for change.
Edwards now: "I'm not sure who I'd endorse. There's stuff I like about both of them."

I saw a fighter and someone who put principle over politics when he was running.
Now I see someone putting politics over principle.

But that's just me..

my first choice. I think we've missed a great opportunity in not having the Edwards family live in our White House for 8 years.

then it was relevant for him to attack Hillary and differentiate his positions from hers. Now that he's out of the race it's moot, besides which if he has his priorities figured the same way we do then he might have to end up campaigning for her. In other words, he wasn't sweating the GE when he was running, but that was months ago and if he is sweating it now, then he's not in a position to put pressure with his endorsement.

With respect to people whose lives are in such a dire state from the threat of four more Bush years that it would be foolish and egotistical for the rest of us not to suck it up and take a chance on "the other candidate" if it comes to that, I think the same type of calculation is valid for the politicians.

by 50%. I supported him in the primaries and want to help him as much as I can on meeting his goal.

Edwards said that the "Status Quo" had been rejected, and so the Democratic Party needed to have "an unfiltered debate between the agents of change" - meaning Senator Obama and himself.

So Edwards calling on Hillary to quit would be nothing new.