I understand via email that John Edwards is going to annouce that he's endorsing Hillary Clinton for President rather than Barack Obama. If this is true, then John Edwards is a massive hypocrite who very likely did fool around on his wife with Rielle Hunter.
Such a move would call Edwards' character into question, and rightly so.
John Edwards ran a campaign very similar to that of Senator Barack Obama: both populist and both grass-roots. But Edwards, as I wrote before, does not come off as presidential. He allows himself to get into battles with Anne Coulter and rather than walk in a strike with kitchen restaurant workers or hotel workers, Edwards seeks the Hollywood spotlight by walking with the striking movie and television writers -- all to get his face before a TV camera.
Edwards -- to me and to Mother Jones -- never seemed to be a real populist, so it's no surprise to me that he's going to back another fake-populist, Hillary Clinton.
Edwards invested vast amounts of time bashing Clinton on her ties to lobbyists as was the case at the YearlyKos Convention, only to turn around -- or is it turn-coat -- and stand with Clinton and the lobbyists, leaving Barack Obama the lone candidate who does not have lobbyist backing.
Edwards also accused Clinton of being part of the old Washington -- which means that if he backs her, he too is part of the old Washington and no better than she. It also means that Edwards supports a campaign strategy that's seen by many as just plain racist.
It also plays into the racist campaign that Clinton's running -- have the white guy who was one of the last three candidates come out for her, rather than the more logical choice, Barack Obama.
Standing with Clinton would diminish Edwards value and render him nothing more than a cruel joke played on American politics. He can forget about running again, because no one will listen to him anymore. Edwards will be remembered as just another old-style politician who so wanted the spotlight he'd do anything to get it, from painting himself as a populist to standing with African Americans, only to abandon them to endorse a candidate who plays the "race-issue" in a failed effort to win a campaign.
Edwards would also be seen as abandoning his own supporters, who by a vast majority, as we saw in Iowa today, back Obama
His only choice is to back Obama, or stay out of the picture.
