Reply #34: More to stop Clinton [View All]

[PATRICK]

out of consideration for issues and how we will be leading after November. I think, like Gore endorsing Dean, he quickly sees an alarming moment when the voice he most likes will get swamped by mere establishment power. It is or isn't crucial moment, but I would guess(only guess) this is meant to throw some personal support for knocking the losing establishment that did Kerry no good. Gore knew dean was in trouble and that the endorsement was not a sure thing at all. It was a voice for the vision.

Now Edwards is not leading and this is not a moment when a voice can feel that kind of need or moment for him. Via staffers we know that all is not rosy between them and that Edwards like anyone branching off on his own has broken away from the 2004 debacle in which Kerry had some complaints against him. You can argue the merits, but arguing tells what it is all about.

This has less to do with Edwards(maybe subtext) than with the not always marvelous but well intentioned political judgment and passion of Kerry. He likes the force and eloquence of Obama. He is utterly po'd and rankled by the hobbling of Congress by the centrist leaders trying to build nerf walls around the entire fall campaign so they lead this eternal gridlock into a non existent corporate pollyannaland.

So all candidates, except Obama who can take this as a mark of admiration and faith, need not take this personally. It is a statement about the system and change as Kerry sees it. It also ties Obama to the liberal wing once again so that he simply won't be trying to put on the Third Way bs with high rhetoric. Insofar that he can keep Obama from adopting more DLC poison and push his governance more to the "old" liberal, that is a plus for all of us, even Hillary if she is forced to really change her direction away from disaster.

There. You don't have to read the most bitter and paranoid things into a plain endorsement. If you are going to second guess and look for the dark side you'll only create an effect you don't really profit from.

My second guessing is better than yours. Nyah.