No More Mr. Nice Guy!

Obama-Edwards '08

It looks like the Democratic presidential campaign has come down to a two-person race: Clinton vs. Obama. Of course John Edwards is still in the race, but he seems to have little hope of winning the nomination at this stage.

Which is a pity. Edwards is the candidate who most clearly gets, and articulates, the central problem in US society today: Two Americas. One consisting of the mega-corporations and the wealthiest 1% of individuals, which is constantly being showered with tax giveaways and handouts, and gets to write its own laws in order to evade its social and legal responsibilities. The other containing the remaining 99%, the people who have to work for a living generating the wealth that the first America enjoys unearned.

As for the two front-runners, my reaction is: well, okay, whatever. There's no doubt that either of them would make an infinitely better president than any rethug. Hillary is very smart, tenacious and resourceful. Obama has charisma to burn. But what do they stand for? Would they be a president of the people, or of the mega-corporations who have injected vast sums into their campaigns? I know that the perfect is the enemy of the good, but neither of them truly inspires me to drop everything and devote every waking minute to working for their election.

If I had to choose between them, it would be Obama over Clinton. I'm getting more and more disgusted at Billary's dirty tricks and their win-at-any-cost mentality. And I want to see at least a symbolic break with the past, with the DLC establishment and its instinctive triangulation, its cozying up to the corporate power elite and its focus-group-driven posturing.

It always depresses me that Democrats fight so fiercely against each other but then meekly surrender to rethugs every time, caving in on their principles and selling their voters down the river. At least the bitterness of the Hillary-Obama infighting makes it very unlikely that we'll see a Clinton-Obama or Obama-Clinton ticket. That's a good thing.

What I want to see is Edwards as Obama's running mate, providing some substance to all the vague and lofty rhetoric about change and new beginnings. Change from what? It's the economy, stupid! I want a change from the corruption and greed that has been the foundation of conservative misrule. A change from the shameful poverty and illiteracy figures in one of the richest countries on earth. A change from the glaring inequalities of wealth and the arrogance and lawlessness of the ruling elite. And of course a change in the makeup of Congress, with solid, filibuster-proof majorities of genuine, progressive Democrats who know what they stand for and are willing to put up a fight for it.

No more dynasties, no more carpetbaggers. Obama-Edwards '08!