So, John Edwards dropped out of the Democratic primaries today. It’s a shame. In one sense, I was more excited about Obama or Clinton as president(ial candidates). Their candidacies would be a) history making for their race/gender respectively; and b) about freaking time! Hell, Turkey and Pakistan have had female heads of state for well over a decade, it’s just embarrassing that the United States hasn’t had a viable black or female candidate until now.
But in spite of the history making potential of these two candidates, I’m just not as excited by the policies/rhetoric of either Clinton or Obama. Don’t get me wrong. In a coma, either would make a better president that any of the republican candidates; however, their positions are still very mainstream (I would use “conservative,†but I don’t want to suggest Republican).
The fascinating thing about the Democratic primary this year is that the policy framing and the best ideas came from the two middle aged white guys: Chris Dodd and John Edwards – both of whom are out of the race. On issues from health care (Edwards), to care for the poor (again Edwards) to preventing illegal, warrantless surveillance (Dodd), these guys were leading the discussion on what it should mean to be a Democrat.
So both Edwards and Dodd are out of the race now. I just hope their ideas continue to influence the remaining candidates and the country as a whole.