On Wednesday, John Edwards ended his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president on Wednesday. Senator Edwards and his influence on the contest will be be sorely missed.
Because with both sides down to two main candidates each (Gravel was always a non-factor on the Democratic side, Giuliani is out on the Rep side, and Huckabee is fading fast), the final four candidates are a rich, elderly white guy (McCain), an even richer middle-aged white guy (Romney), a rich middle-aged white woman (Clinton), and a rich, fast-approaching middle-aged black guy (Obama).
Poor people and poverty in the U.S. will be a non-issue in the campaign by the end of February, if not by the end of Super Tuesday.
Michael Bryan wrote a post, lamenting the fact that he had voted early for Edwards, and now his vote is lost. While I completely understand the sentiment, I have to respectfully disagree with his point.
Like him, I voted early, and like him, I voted for Edwards.
However, I firmly believe that any vote that is cast for the best candidate is never wasted, and John Edwards was the best candidate, Democrat or Republican, in the race when I filled out and returned my ballot.
He was the only major candidate who talked at length about issues of poverty and class in America, issues that none of the other candidates really wanted to pay more than lip service to.
Having said that, my support, if not my vote, goes now to Senator Barack Obama.
While he perhaps is a little too 'Wall Street' for my taste, he truly represents our country's best chance for changing the status quo in D.C.
I expect most of Edwards' supporters to similarly switch to Obama also - Obama's candidacy is the closest to Edwards' in terms of theme and hope for a change.
Later!
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