Why Edwards Didn't Endorse Obama

[elixir]

Why Edwards Didn't Endorse Obama

<snip>
According to a Democratic strategist unaligned with any campaign but with knowledge of the situation gleaned from all three camps, the answer is simple: Obama blew it. Speaking to Edwards on the day he exited the race, Obama came across as glib and aloof. His response to Edwards’s imprecations that he make poverty a central part of his agenda was shallow, perfunctory, pat.

Clinton, by contrast, engaged Edwards in a lengthy policy discussion. Her affect was solicitous and respectful. When Clinton met Edwards face-to-face in North Carolina ten days later, her approach continued to impress; she even made headway with Elizabeth. Whereas in his Edwards sit-down, Obama dug himself in deeper, getting into a fight with Elizabeth about health care, insisting that his plan is universal (a position she considers a crock), high-handedly criticizing Clinton’s plan (and by extension Edwards’s) for its insurance mandate.


The implications of this story are several and not insignificant. Most obviously, it suggests that the front-runner’s diplomatic skills could use some refinement. It also raises the issue, which has cropped up in a different form after New Hampshire, Super-Duper Tuesday, and the Ohio and Texas primaries, of Obama’s capacity to close the deal.

On the Obama campaign's desertion of the high road:

For all its rhetoric about practicing a new, more virtuous brand of politics, the Obama campaign has been going after Clinton hammer and tongs. Rarely a day passes without his people dubbing her a liar and a fraud....They have accused Bill Clinton of McCarthyism and invoked the infamous blue dress on which he left his, er, DNA—the latter coming on a blog post arguing that he actually makes McCarthy look benign. Indeed, it sometimes seems as if the Obamans are actively trying to cede the moral high ground.

<snip>


http://www.talkleft.com/story/2008/3/29/20367/1798

[NJSecularist]

1. It's pretty clear why Edwards didn't endorse Obama.

Obama didn't want him to. He didn't want to lose North Carolina. :rofl: :rofl:

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/trailhead/archive/2008/03/25/the-kiss-of-death.aspx

[VolcanoJen]

2. So why didn't he endorse Clinton?

Isn't that the golden question?

:shrug:

[elixir]

40. I'll guess we'll find out soon. Sounds like Elizabeth might be behind Hillary though.

[anigbrowl]

3. What happened to the rumors that Edwards was going to endorse Hillary today?

I guess we'll hear about them again on friday...

[RaleighNCDUer]

8. April fool? n t

[Johnny__Motown]

16. delete, someone beat me to it.. doh

[frazzled]

4. Yeah, so why didn't he endorse Clinton?

Until you can answer that one, this so-called story has no legs whatsoever. Total unattributed piffle.

[Skittles]

9. maybe he thinks they both suck

a lot of us do

[dogday]

35. That is what I think too...

He can't commit to either one, neither can I, but I believe he will vote for the nominee, just like me... Some of us just don't trust clinton and can't commit to Obama...

[anonymous171]

5. More projection. Hillary's campaign is the dirty one.

She gone from taking the low road to simply tunneling!

[Texas Hill Country]

42. oh yeah, you are right... Obama has a friggin halo over his head...

[DearAbby]

6. Why Edwards didn't endorse Hillary Clinton

Why would JRE endorse a Liar?

[anamandujano]

7. "diplomatic skills could use some refinement"

I think Obama would be worse than Bush in negotiations. At least Bush knows he's not in charge and takes orders from the top with ease. On the other hand, Obama actually thinks very highly of his political skills. The problem is, the only thing he's good at is mud slinging, taking lots of money and taking credit for other people's work.

[anonymous171]

13. PROJECTION! Who is mud slinging? Who is throwing the "kitchen sink"?

I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it's not Obama.

[cali]

22. utterly ridiculous sniping

both Clinton and Obama have virtually nothing in common with bushco. Both are intelligent, both have policies in direct opposition to bush. The comparison of either to bush is simply the product of intellectual and moral bankruptcy and clearly shows the person making said comparison to be a petty malicious little idiot.

[karynnj]

30. Because he could not get Edwards to agree??

Do you think that the Edwardses could be persuaded by fancy words and charm? Do you think that he should change a position that he believes in to win over the Edwardses - who would maybe help, but are clearly not necessary for him to win?

[bridgit]

10. Oh boy here we go, now it won't be long before John Edwards is RW scum

:banghead: Hmm, are "glib and aloof" interchangeable with 'hope and change' :woohoo: :party:

[Forkboy]

11. Nah, he's not. Scaife is though.

[Pernambuco]

12. So far it looks like Edwards' endorsement wasn't vital

Edwards' endorsement would have been desirable, of course, coming from a senator of his stature, but it looks like it wasn't totally necessary. Obama is now the imminent nominee for our party.

[BlueJac]

14. Who gives a flying fuck........

I was for EDWARDS but now that he is a quitter I could care less what he thinks!

[xchrom]

15. recommend

[caligirl]

17. No endorsement is N-o- endorsement- this article tries to make one for Hil by enuendo

[TheWraith]

18. Hey, it's another BS hit piece by an openly pro-Hillary blogger!

Many of whose posts seem to be republishing Clinton speeches, talking points, and hit memos.

I think Edwards' reason for not endorsing is simple; he didn't want to piss off either candidate. Maybe he sees himself as the perfect veep for either one, maybe he just wants to make sure that either one would follow through on the promises he extracted about fighting poverty. Who knows? In any event, despite the spin Hillary supporters are putting on it, he didn't endorse anyone, and at this point it wouldn't matter if he did.

Go back to trying to dig up Ann Richards' corpse, please. At least that was amusingly tasteless, rather than just annoying.

[Awsi Dooger]

19. This falls smack in line with something I posted a few days ago, my instincts about Obama

He comes across as smug, a quick vaulter to prominence who is caught up in the standard trappings of that mode, i.e. believing he has all the answers so don't tell him anything, particularly about policy. This is a classic example. And it is a horrendous trait.

It's amusing how Obama supporters try to dismiss this situation with Edwards, assert there's nothing to it. How often does something like this leak, without substantial weight and down the road verification? Almost never.

Obama may have excellent strategic skills in terms of a campaign, squeezing out every available delegate, but his speeches tend to overshadow what we actually know about him behind the podium, and less than ideal judgment. Using the word punished in context with a baby was the worst imaginable choice. I can just imagine JFK summoning that word.

[FlyingSquirrel]

20. Yawn

[DUyellow]

21. why didn't he endorse hillary clinton... LOL

[JI7]

23. that sucks even more that he hasn't endorsed Hillary then

[DemBones DemBones]

24. Replies show that obamatrons still think

that they're going to get ponies. I don't know how anyone can be taken in
by this guy. Maybe they all voted for Bush in 2000 because the Obama
campaign is very, very similar. Smirks and feel-good talk with media lips
firmly affixed to his buttocks. Bush also talked about hope and change and
helping the American people; I'm not sure there's ever been a campaign that didn't.

[bunnies]

41. Elizabeth Edwards: "Obama was charming".

As you were saying?

[Mass]

25. Because he was bitter than Obama beat him and that he was not the one who caould oppose the queen.

It seems pretty clear to me.

[bklyncowgirl]

26. Personal relations between candidates have a great deal to do with these endorsements.

Bill Richardson endorsed Obama in part because Obama threw him a lifeline during a debate.

Edwards and Obama may have had a prickly relationship to begin with. Actually, I think it works well this way. Edwards can remain neutral and actually help the party more.

[joeprogressive]

27. The details of the story are a lie according to Elizabeth Edwards.

She said, "He was charming" (see my other post) That is a far cry from glib and aloof. Why should we trust anything from a Clinton campaign strategist?

[Mudoria]

31. Link?

[40ozDonkey]

34. She was on MSNBC about a half hour ago, there's no link yet.

But I can confirm she said that.
When asked how that rumor got around she replied, "Information is political currency, and there's a lot of counterfeit currency out there."

[DerekJ]

28. Debunked!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[karynnj]

29. Rather biased - Edwards herself said he was charming

Suggesting that the "front-runner’s diplomatic skills could use some refinement." demeans both Edwards and Obama. They have a disagreement on mandates. Clinton and Edwards both had them in their plans and Obama didn't. But, it is not that black and white, Clinton implements the mandates up front, where Edwards takes the approach Kerry did in his plan explained in mid 2006 did (before Edwards had his plan) - starting without them and then adding the mandate on the back end after other actions improved the situation.

Kennedy, who has done more on health insurance than any American politician and Kerry both back Obama - and they both point out that his plan allows everyone access to health care insurance. Kerry has also said (on This Week - around 11:20 on the timer - http://www.kerryvision.net/2008/04/jk_and_ed_rendell_debate_on_th.html) that he and Kennedy know that a healthcare plan with mandates up front is DOA in the Senate. He does say that they may have to be added later, but that you won't get the Republicans to vote for it with mandates. These men, especially Kennedy, know far more about actually getting things out of Congress than Edwards or HRC. The point is that mandates up front, at the end, or not at all is a policy issue that really has some pros and cons. The candidates and their teams have created the plan they are most comfortable with - I give Elizabeth Edwards more credit than this article does. This is a disagreement on policy, not as this article attempts to make it personality.

As to diplomatic skills, if EE is firmly for mandates and Obama firmly against putting them into his plan - there might not be a solution. (Also on Scarborough, EE said Obama, as Clinton was, was charming and the story not true. It may be that someone - Kennedy? - might be able to move both to agree that they are all mostly in the same place. (EE's own comments on healthcare sounded likely in reality she is for Kuchinich's plan, not edwards, Clinton or Obama.)

For Obama supporters, EE did very CLEARLY state that both Obama and Clinton cover pre-existing conditions.

[polichick]

32. I think the story shows that the Edwards were expecting the candidates...

...to kiss their asses ~ and only one was willing.

[beachmom]

33. Delete. Story is false:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/2/75955/21681/423/488756

Per Elizabeth Edwards.

[ray of light]

36. Gosh...maybe JRE is waiting for the best job offer. He hasn't endorsed yet.

And all this "Obama didn't ....." really implies that Obama didn't kow-tow to JRE like JRE apparently wants.

I still say that JRE is an opportunist and is playing the field.

[RoadRage]

37. Ahh.. so THAT'S why he endorsed Clinton. Wait... umm... err.

Sorry.. but to say that Obama didn't "roll over" and change his health care plan to appease Elizabeth as the reason he didn't get the endorsement - I say good job. This is Obama's campaign to run - and he should run it as he see's fit. Not how the guy who took 3rd place or his wife want to see it be run. An edorsement should be exactly that - a praise for a person doing a good job. Not a barter of "you change this or you do this for me, and then i'll do that for you". Obama has shown time and time again that he DOES NOT negotiate with things involving favors (ie lobbiest & special interests), and if what you said above is true, it only furthers my belief that he sticks by his convictions.

Regarding him being so "impressed" with Clinton (when many sources have said that he doesn't particularly like her, nor does Elizabeth) - why hasn't he just come out and endorsed her yet? Frankly, if what you're saying is true - that would make the most sense. Clinton is far more eager to offer favors in return for an endorsement.. perhaps even a VP spot.

But, I think Edwards is stuck between his desire for a return on his "investment" of an endorsement, and his moral standing of really appreciating Obama for sticking to his guns.

[izzybeans]

38. debunked by the horses mouth

"For all its rhetoric" indeed.

[Turn CO Blue]

39. This has already been debunked.

[zulchzulu]

43. Why I don't care

Edwards had his chance to endorse.

If he endorses Hillary Clinton, it pretty much negates his entire message when he ran in 2008.

If he endorses Barack Obama, it might help after PA, but by then Hillary will have lost in PA so it won't matter anyway. She's about to drop out after her PA loss.