John Edwards, Voucher Man, Is A Republican

John Edwards learned some very wrong lessons from Barack Obama's very strong performance at the NAACP Democratic debate. Obama spoke forcefully on race issues and stole the show. Edwards now seems to calculate that the cat is out of the bag. Obama has been outed. He is black. Now is the time to try and drive a wedge between Obama and white America.

I was under the impression that perhaps Edwards was doing some good work on the poverty issue the past few years like he had been advertising. Now it looks like all that was sham. His big house has blinded him. He can not feel your pain.

Did I hear it right? Edwards' idea of curing poverty in the poor neighborhoods is to offer vouchers.

A voucher by definition, if it works, will work for a select few. You can not move the entire neighborhood out of the poor neighborhood. The poverty is not geography, as in let's all of us move out of Staten Island, and then we will be fine.

Edwards has been outed. He now comes across as a guy who is fundamentally incapable of understanding poverty. How can you cure that which you do not understand?

Have not the Republicans been suggesting the same for poorly performing schools? What's the difference?

You could brush the whole episode off as Edwards' ignorance. But there is more to that than meets the eye. What is most offensive about Edwards' premise is that there are clear racial overtones to what he is saying. He is clearly not talking about the poor, white Appalachia. He is talking about the predominantly black inner cities that seem to suffer from seemingly incurable poverty.

This is wrong. It will not fly. In trying to play this race card, Edwards comes across as a candidate who is growingly desperate. It is not just Mike Gravel, and Kucinich, and Richardson. Edwards is part of that crowd. Why is it not obvious to him that he stands absolutely no chance of becoming president? Will someone inform him? Hello? Anyone upstairs?

Edwards needs to offer an apology. This is not a lapse of judgment. This is most definitely not a tongue slip. This is the exposing of a deformed constitution.

And as a political operative, he has seriously misjudged America's contemporary standing on race issues, especially when offered the Obama prism. The race card will backfire, big time. It will backfire so thoroughly it is already obvious this is the last election Edwards will ever lose. He will not run again for anything. He won't even have a Poverty Center to go back to.

Race has to be talked about. Obama was right in giving a strong performance at the NAACP event. Gender has to be talked about. Obama is also someone who has to engage in more gender talk. It is only fair.

Edwards has the option to apologize and continue to contribute to the Democratic discussion. Or he is going to flame out earlier than he is expecting. He will lose Iowa. I mean, he will lose Iowa regardless, but if he makes idiotic remarks like this one, he seals his own fate.

In The News

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