John Edwards can talk to dead people...FDR and JFK.

[AP]

I just wrote this as a response in another thread, but wanted to give it more prominent placement. It was in response to the notion that Edwards should wait until 2012 to run.

If we don't have a president like John Edwards in 2004 then there won't be much of an America left in 2008 or 2012. The time is now for him.

Including Kucinich, nobody else has the fortitude or the ability to articulate a message and persuade the public that have to adjust the balance of power between corporations and the public that is currently tilted so far in the favor of the corporations, and we need to tilt it back in favor of the people.

When the steel industry raised prices during Kennedy's administration, Kennedy went on the TV and told the public what they were doing. The PUBLIC got enraged, so the corporations had to reduce prices. During WWII the American right wing tried with all their might to use the specter of Hitler to scare Americans into accepting leadership by American fascists like George Bush's grandfather. To fight this, FDR went on the radio with his fireside chats.

Kennedy and FDR had a direct connection to the public and told the truth to them in a way which was way more powerful than any combination of lies that could have been told by the media and in commercials purchased by industry lobby groups.

Notice that the central themes of FDR, JFK and even Bill Clinton's administrations were weather the profits from American society were going to flow to the masses or to the top of the income ladder. This is the most important issue again today.

I don't see any other candidate who seems interested in telling these kind of truths about the insidious influence of large corporations and wealthy individuals (except Kucinich), and I don't see any other candidate (including Kucinich) whose powers of persuassion are as powerful as Edwards's Kennedy/FDR-like ability to connect.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. So I guess if Edwards is all that cotton-pickin' persuasive,

he'll be unstoppable in the primaries, and the problem of his nomination seems to take care of itself.

[AP]

2. I can't tell if you're talking about something you think

has already happened, or if you're talking with confidence about things that haven't yet happened.

[topdog08]

4. Obviously, he has to get coverage first

For the time being, the press is ignoring and dismissing him. Hard to persuade someone to vote for you if they have never even seen or heard of you. Also hard to communicate with voters via 15 second sound bytes. On MSNBC this morning they had sixty seconds by phone with the Edwards "embed" about the decision to DROP THE SENATE RACE. This was preceded by a sixty second piece on Dean, and capped by a reminder of a full interview with Dean on MSNBC later this morning.

[AP]

5. The media is forcing him to spend more money than he'd otherwise

have to.

[uptohere]

3. its barely September, 'we have not begun to fight'

a lot can happen between now and January and the primary role of any president is as a communicator. Noone does that like Edwards. And that he can lead as well is only gravy. And that he is the man with the published plan well... whatever goes on top of gravy !