The big drawback is he's got little/no military cred, (as is IIRC true of Dennis the K). He'd need a Clark on the ticket/in the cabinet for balance.

sure, in beltway circles, it's still really important to show that you're a he man who lurvs the military talk. but i don't think the voters require a military person so much as they will want someone with a plan to get out. so long as edwards picks up a couple of good military minds for his administration, and shows good leadership, he'll do fine.

and lambert, thanks for putting this up. i was just about to, it's so cute. and at this point, the right thing to say. it remains to be seen if rove is gone, still playing behind the scenes, to be indicted, or what.

Edwards is a good guy and he's young. In fact, he echoes JFK in a lot of ways -- but he's not a veteran, as JFK was (thank God he also doesn't have the injury/pain/meds issues!!) -- and if you don't think Kennedy benefited from his past service in his run for the White House, have another look at the history, please.

Okay, Edwards is good-looking, and on most issues I think he comes closer to having our backs than anybody else running; and I'm good with his positions on most issues. I wish he'd be a little more positive on civil rights! I like his health care position. I know he wants our soldiers home, and I'm all for that myself.

I also know that, as Darth Vader pointed out rather effectively, it's "unwise, to lower your defenses" entirely. We need to think outside the box on this one and be aware that the sole purpose of the US armed services isn't war in Iran / Iraq/ Afghanistan, ever and ever amen.

(And yeah, I know you know that. But this is not just a private conversation we're having, right?)

I started out as a little Obama whore. Still like him a lot, but he's off the pedestal.

Then my best friend alerted me to Elizabeth - she just knocks my socks off.

Edwards really got me with his YouTube "Hair" video.

But I will say lambert's advocacy of him (after previously taking him to task for his deference to Bush on Iraq) really opened my eyes. When the media goes after someone as they have Edwards, it makes me think he threatens them most, which may be as important as anything else.

"A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." - Margaret Mead

Where's the plan to restore Constitutional government? And I'm still concerned about the deference.

But "we love him for the enemies he has made."

Clinton, everybody inside the Beltway can live with. Sure, I'd rather have a sane monarch than a drooling, raving lunatic of a Chimperor, but surely we can do better.

And I think Obama is thoughtful, and I like the way that he's rejecting some of the more usual narratives. But I also think Obama's appeal for unity is just slop -- there's no unity possible with the Kool-Aid drinkers, and the only possible solution is to whip them back into their pews and re-marginalize them so they don't pollute the public discourse with theocratic superstition. Inspirational is not enough, and I'm sure Edwards can do that when the time comes.

(The other thing I'd like to see is Edwards going for the jugular when the time comes. He's a lawyer, fer gawsake. I know he's got in in him.)

And yes, Elizabeth is spectacular.

No authoritarians were tortured in the writing of this post.