Fallout from Edwards' endorsement

I'd like to think us Democrats wouldn't compare ourselves to the low standards of the Bush administration. Mr. Gonzalez is not the standard I would use. But "vision" is not what Justice needs. It needs experience and qualifications. Of course, in an Obama Administration, I doubt either of these are valued...

In Re: "And ardent backers of Sen. Obama in particular ought to re-consider the political wisdom and propriety of their harsh, elitist and uncharitable booing of a former Southern state First Lady in the wake of their despicable catcalls against Sen. Hillary Clinton in Raleigh, N.C." ... and "If Sen. Obama's supporters insist on booing the Clintons at every turn ... then how could an Obama general election campaign expect to gain substantial support from moderate and conservative Democrats or progressive Republicans across the country?"

I was at the J-J banquet seated next to a table of Obama supporters (all women). When they rose and started chanting "Obama" when it was time for Hillary to take the stage, I chalked that up to the fact that maybe this was the first political event these exurberant, very nicely dressed, professional-looking young women had attended and they did not know the protocol. But when I heard boos for our Governor (not from this group), I chalked that up to just plain rudeness! To his credit, a superdelegate who was wearing an Obama button, with whom I was talking at the time, was appalled. In my county, Hillary supporters, and others who remained neutral, working at the Party headquarters were accused by Obama supporters of throwing away his material (there never was any material to throw away), and of marking sample ballots for Hillary (which didn't happen, either).

The moral to this story is: When the Obama supporters start acting with a little more class and stop making false accusations against Hillary supporters, I will be more likely to work as hard for the ticket as I would have had Hillary been the nominee.

Attorney General?? Can you imagine a "slip 'n' fall lawyer as our attorney general??

Hey, while everybody is throwing all those brickbats at North Carolina's former U.S. senator, don't forget that in a presidential campaign, the vice presidential nominees of the Democratic and Republican parties rarely have the luxury or the option of setting their own campaign schedules.

The Democratic Party must eventually realize that if it puts Southerners on a national ticket (Al Gore, President, 2000; John Edwards, Vice President, 2004), then you've got to give those Southerners time and opportunity to campaign in the South. In 2004 Edwards was asked to spent a lot of time in the Midwest and other regions outside the South and he had very little opportunity to spend time in his home states of North Carolina and South Carolina, a point which has been made by no less an authority than Elizabeth Edwards.

Ironically, John Kerry did better in such urban counties as Guilford, Mecklenburg and Buncombe than Democratic presidential nominees have been able to do in many years, so Edwards should get some of the credit for that and perhaps could have put North Carolina into the Democratic column if he had been given more time "down home in the Old North State."

Plus, both the Gore and Kerry campaigns of 2000 and 2004 could have done a better job of involving the Democratic Party's only twice-elected President since FDR, Bill Clinton, who now that he has found his stride in campaigning as a former President, has contributed to Sen. Hillary Clinton's sweep of the major industrial states other than Sen. Barack Obama's home state of Illinois.

Some of today's leading Northern Democrats, in focusing on national campaign strategies, are understandably fond of harkening back to the good old days of the 1960 Kennedy-Johnson ticket which included senators from New England and the Southwest, but they should remember that LBJ was given wide lattitude to bring his home state along during that campaign and eventually help carry Texas for Sen. John F. Kennedy, who also made some noteworthy campaign stops in the Lone Star State, including his appearance before an important ministerial meeting in Houston.

Likewise, in 2000, the Republicans did an effective job of organizing the Memphis area of West Tennessee and East Tennessee's traditionally Republican mountain counties for George W. Bush before the Democratic Party could get the Gore-Lieberman train on the tracks headed south.

Whoever wins the Democratic presidential nomination in the coming weeks will have a strong campaign team member in John Edwards and would do well to ask the former senator to make campaign appearances in such important Southern states as Georgia, Tennessee and Texas besides his native and adopted states of South Carolina and North Carolina.

So the South can do better in Democratic presidential campaigns, but candidates with ties to the South must spend more time and effort in the Southern states. And ardent backers of Sen. Obama in particular ought to re-consider the political wisdom and propriety of their harsh, elitist and uncharitable booing of a former Southern state First Lady in the wake of their despicable catcalls against Sen. Hillary Clinton in Raleigh, N.C., and East Lansing, Mich., locations noted for outstanding land-grant universities, N.C. State and Michigan State, which were created in the first place thanks to the 1862 Morrill Act during President Lincoln's administration which encouraged the fostering of public higher education "at home," regardless of which region of the country each state belongs to.

If Sen. Obama's supporters insist on booing the Clintons at every turn after the first Clinton administration's notable political and economic successes of the 1990s, then how could an Obama general election campaign expect to gain substantial support from moderate and conservative Democrats or progressive Republicans across the country?

David McKnight

There are plenty of operational people an AG will be able to bring back into the department, people Bush has driven more or less to drink.

What's been missing at Justice is vision and leadership. Without that, all the operational excellence in the world doesn't mean squat. Edwards could deliver vision and leadership, though I doubt he'd want the job.

As VP: Will never happen. An Obama/Edwards ticket have NO national security experience. Them against McCain? You've got to be kidding me. Sen. Obama needs a foreign policy Democrat.

As AG: This makes even less since. What skills does he have? Just b/c someone has been a lawyer for years does not mean they are qualified to run the Justice Department. I mean, a skilled trial lawyer does not necessarily have the skills to run the FBI. You need someone with the experience of managing a large organization.

John Edwards is a loser who made his fortune off of the pain and suffering of others. Why would Obama want the endorsement of a man so weak that he couldn't even carry his own state? The N&O's facination with this guy is puzzling.

I don't know why Obama didn't hold a press conference when he received the endorsement of the Hamas terrorist organization. At least they are a factor in world affairs.

Edwards and Hamas support Obama. Two oraganizations whose loathing of America is only overshadowed by their own sense of self-importance.

I'm not sure what motivations are driving Edwards. He and Kerry didn't even take his home state in 2008.

This is without a doubt Political Posturing for John Edwards. He's looking to see whos coat-tail he can ride into office. You don't suppose Obama would consider him as VP to get the support of the Clinton voters do you? You know Clinton will be too proud to accept a VP nomination. So look who's around that could make a "timely" endorsement. Edwards is looking out for Edwards, always has and always will. He didn't even serve NC before foresaking his elected duties for his own political goals.

In my opinion, he's waited to see which bandwagon to join to promote himself. I foresee the democrats selecting Edwards as Obamas running mate to salvage and secure the would be Clinton voters.