Edwardses: After a Son's Death, a Shared Mission in Politics

[bpeale]

Edwardses: After a Son's Death, a Shared Mission in Politics
By Kate Zernike
The New York Times

Monday 31 December 2007

In an instant, a world in which everything seemed right suddenly seemed all wrong. John and Elizabeth Edwards's 16-year-old son, Wade, their first-born, was dead, with nothing to blame but the gust of wind that had flipped his car off a wide-open road.

As the couple walked down the aisle of the church for his funeral, they braced each other, friends recalled, as if they could not stand alone.

In the bleak months that followed, the Edwardses looked for ways to keep Wade's name alive, taking comfort even in seeing it printed on credit-card offers that arrived in the mail. Determined to honor their son publicly and fill their life with meaning, they created a learning center named after him. They chose to have more children. And they decided Mr. Edwards would enter politics, a path that took him first to the United States Senate and now to his second run for the presidency.

The campaign is a shared mission. Elizabeth Edwards is her husband's most trusted adviser, his chief provocateur and his most popular surrogate, mobbed at campaign stops by people who admire her struggle against breast cancer and share stories of children lost. She describes the presidency as not just his quest, but hers, too.

more at this link: http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/123107N.shtml

This family, this couple is so amazing! Time for someone in the WH who actually loves & adores his wife & children!

Go Johnny go!

[Plucketeer]

1. They're BOTH fighters!

And that's the determination we need in the executive mansion!

[Ninga]

2. I am drawn to Edwards in a way that is inexplicable. I sense in him a deep and abiding

respect for all people and most especially for those who are in need.

I sense in him a "take no prisoners" fight that makes me want him on my side.

I sense in him a depth that comes with sorrow, loss, awareness and a a deepening experience of purpose that makes him and Elizabeth want to leave this world a better place than they found it.

Quite different in my book, from just wanting to be POTUS.

I am afraid for our country and our people. Our goodness has been diminished by those elected public officials (of both parties) who have put power and ego before the well being of the people and this planet.

i am afraid I will not live to see my most profound wish......a restoration of the working class and middle class families and the ability once more for opportunity for all.

My father walked with Walter Ruether during the early organization of the Auto Workers Unions. During that time, he was on strike a lot. And many years my parents struggled to put food on the table and pay the bills. But my father would not abandon the cause and saw a bigger purpose and a value in belonging to a union, than in being a single, alone struggling auto worker. He saw the promise of how unionized shops could bring stability to working people. And for the most part, my father was right.

I have worked and voted only to watch with dismay elected officials squander their precious time glad handing, back slapping and making pork filled deals that all but drive nails into the coffins of the working class. NAFTA, CAFTA all brought to you by the back slapping fat cats....GOP and Dem alike.

Basta! I say! Enough is enough and I do not intend to let the likes of John Edwards slip though my voting fingers with out fighting as hard for him as i possibly can.

It seems to me that the working class has been pushed to the back of the line too many times.

This race is far from over.....and those of us who have had years and years of experience fighting for peace and justice....know that it has just begun.

Bless you all dear DU'ers for your passions and loyalties.... I am proud to be among you.

If we don't stand up for each other now....then when?