Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Why Is Obama Mocking John Edwards?



I've been a long-time Edwards supporter. When John Edwards told Tim Russert during one of the Democratic debates that he sometimes has a very powerful emotional response to pain that he sees around him, I empathized with that feeling.

Now that John has suspended his campaign (and I admit that I am still smarting over it), to hear that Obama is still using Edwards' great caring about Poverty as a whipping post and the butt of a joke out on the campaign trail is repulsive to me.

It's my time to cast a vote in my New York State primary.

It won't be for Obama.

4 comments:

Ben Yates said...

Obama wasn't saying he didn't want to help poor people -- he was saying it's silly to list a positive, as other candidates have done, when asked to list your greatest negative. The joke doesn't even work if you think Obama doesn't want to help the poor.

TBelknap said...

Oh, man. You are reading WAAAAAY too much into this. The question was asked and Obama took the opportunity to give a genuine job interview answer about what he thinks is one of his weaknesses. In a country run by a guy who for eight years has not conceded to a single weakness or mistake, it was an attempt to show a bit of humility.

But John Edwards couldn't do it, and neither could Hillary Clinton. They had to give the apple-shiner answers that they thought people wanted to hear, rather than concede to something which is genuinely a flaw. They couldn't even concede to the relatively minor level of personal flaws that Obama chose, which was very, very minor stuff.

Frankly, I thought that Hillary and John looked incredibly lame and ass-kissing. And I think Obama is just making a little light out of the situation, a bit of ribbing. That's all. And I think they earned it, fair and square.

Jude Nagurney Camwell said...

Expressing a weakness is not expressing "a negative," Ben Yates. A weakness can easily be translated into a greatness. After spending years supporting John Edwards and hearing him, I understand the unabashed truth about one's strong desire to end poverty when I hear it.

Dragonflyeye, anyone who'd continue to mock the man's caring just after he dropped out of the race has got to understand how his supporters would feel.

Barbara said...

Obama showed ZERO finesse when he did that. ZERO.

Ribbing or not, we've have enough of lame jokes at other people's expense with 8 years of Bush.

I voted.

Edwards for VP or at least for Health & Human Services!!