On the run with John Edwards
Every time I see John Edwards, I ask him if he got in his daily run. He always says yes.
See? I told you he's running.
I have to say, the guy really looks fit. He's a couple of years older than I am, and I run myself, but I wouldn't challenge him to a race.
He sounds fit, too.
He's been all over the place: the Middle East, India, London, Brussels. He's on his way to Uganda later this month. He co-chaired a task force on U.S.-Russia relations with Jack Kemp. He met with Tony Blair.
Did anyone say two years ago Edwards lacked foreign policy experience? He's been studying up on the whole wide world.
Oh, yes. "I've been doing some politics," he added.
He was in New Hampshire and Illinois (just across the Mississippi River from Iowa) on Labor Day. Actually, it looks like he's been in Iowa a lot. He's raised millions of dollars for Democratics, mostly state legislative candidates, across the country.
What he won't say is that he's running for president.
He's thinking about it (no kidding), but hasn't made a decision.
All right, fair enough. It's too soon to declare. Things could happen that make it inadvisable for him to run. One never knows.
But the man is so cagey on the point that it's downright frustrating for an inquisitor.
I couldn't get him to handicap the field of potential Democratic candidates. I couldn't get him to say who among those candidates has the right qualities to make a successful president. I couldn't get a single word from him about Hillary. Aaagh!
No matter. Edwards generously gave us an hour or so of his time. He was friendly (it's OK to call him John now, rather than Sen. Edwards). He spoke very forcefully about issues ranging from poverty to America's declining influence in the world.
To address a couple of questions, he said of his vote to authorize the Iraq war:
"I thought I was doing the right thing and I was wrong. ... I wasn't running the war, by the way."
His prescription for Iraq now is to signal the Iraqis that we don't intend to stay forever by withdrawing 40,000 to 50,000 troops quickly, then formulating a plan for removing all or most of the others over a period of 12 to 18 months -- but without a detailed timetable.
On whether the U.S. is more or less secure now than five years ago, he said some positive measures have been taken. Al-Qaida's finances, communications and leadership have been disrupted, making it more difficult for it to mount new attacks. Yet the war in Iraq has made the world more dangerous, he said.
Edwards said terrorist organizations will continue to consist of hardcore "Christian-Jew-America haters." The war in Iraq has made it easier for these groups to recruit others.
He also said we should be very concerned about terrorist cells in this country, although he added he does not have access to the classified information now that he did when he was a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
On immigration, he said stronger border security is essential, but so is finding a path to earn citizenship for illegal immigrants who have been in the country. This is not amnesty, he added, because they should pay a penalty for violating immigration law. But deporting them all is impossible.
On poverty, Edwards is a proponent of higher minimum wages, easier union organizing, the Earned Income Tax Credit, elimination of the marriage penalty in tax law and measures to boost savings.
I was surprised that he hasn't been keeping up with North Carolina politics. He did campaign for Health Shuler, the 11th District congressional candidate, whom he thinks can win, but was unsure who Vernon Robinson is. How can you spend any time around here and miss Vernon Robinson?
But then, his running has mostly been in distant places.
Comments (10)
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but was unsure who Vernon Robinson is. How can you spend any time around here and miss Vernon Robinson?* Doug
Easy! Vernon is still focusing on his old district and trying to get voters to move into Brad district.
Well that should make Brad feel good about Vernon raising his intense political name ID campaign from Greensboro to Raleigh and Orange County where the former Senator appears to have cut off all communciation with Air American and the Brad and Britt talk show.
Posted on September 7, 2006 7:11 PM
"I thought I was doing the right thing and I was wrong. ... I wasn't running the war, by the way."
Doug, did you ask John how he would have run the war if he had been President? That could have been very enlightening, if he actually had a plan.
Posted on September 7, 2006 8:00 PM
I like Stormy's question. It would interesting to know. Thanks Doug for the update.
I had a friend e-mail me back when I mentioned your earlier blog post and the friend found the discussion stimulating, as I did.
Will there be N-R coverage of Edwards visit to the Entrepreneur Center> I haven't found it here yet. If there will be, I'll be glad to post it on my blog.
Posted on September 7, 2006 8:07 PM
Doug, did you get a chance to ask Edwards why he was wrong to vote for the war?
Posted on September 7, 2006 9:00 PM
Roch, he moved on very quickly and I didn't get a chance to follow up.
Posted on September 7, 2006 9:04 PM
My understanding of why Edwards said he was wrong about his vote, is from his message to many:
"Almost three years ago, we went into Iraq to remove what we were told -- and many of us believed and argued -- was a threat to America. But in fact we now know that Iraq did not have weapons of mass destruction when our forces invaded Iraq in 2003. The intelligence was deeply flawed and, in some cases, manipulated to fit a political agenda.
It was a mistake to vote for this war in 2002. I take responsibility for that mistake. It has been hard to say these words because those who didn't make a mistake -- the men and women of our armed forces and their families -- have performed heroically and paid a very dear price. It is not right, just or fair that we made a mistake, but they pay for that mistake.
The world desperately needs moral leadership from America, and the foundation for moral leadership is telling the truth. While we can't change the past, we need to accept responsibility because a key part of restoring America's moral leadership is acknowledging when we've made mistakes or been proven wrong -- and to show that we have the creativity and guts to make it right.
The argument for going to war with Iraq was based on intelligence that we now know was inaccurate. The information the American people were hearing from the President -- and that I was being told by our intelligence community -- wasn't the whole story. Had I known this at the time, I never would have voted for this war."
Check out the Washington Post about that time. Here is the link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/11/AR2005111101623.html
My question to Doug, since on his previous blog post in which someone commented on that thread that I didn't mention Edwards visit to the Entrepreneurial Center today (I only found out about it on the OAC Blog yesterday) on my blog. Will the N-R will be publishing a story about his visit to that Center? Thanks.
Posted on September 7, 2006 9:41 PM
Good to know you worked your boy Heath Shuler into the conversation!
You must've won a lot of money betting on the Volunteers or something....
Posted on September 8, 2006 9:09 AM
It's great to hear Edwards is running. I just hope he runs far enough. (Preferably out of NC so he can be some other state's embarrassment.)
Posted on September 8, 2006 10:36 AM
On a serious note, Edwards' contention that the war in Iraq has made the world a more dangerous place is based on faulty logic.
Folks who make these kinds of claims assume that the enemy has an unlimited supply of terrorists and resources. In reality, every bad guy we capture or kill in Iraq is one less we have to worry about. The more terrorists we eliminate, the safer we become.
This is how just about all wars are won. Take World War II, for example. We didn't win that one because the Germans and Japanese suddenly had a change of heart and decided to stop fighting. We won because we eliminated their ability to oppose us.
Posted on September 8, 2006 11:48 AM
We can speculate forever without reaching a conclusion. If it wasn't for the war in Iraq, would more terrorists be flocking to Afghanistan to fight us there?
I'm not saying it's good that we're in Iraq, just that there's no way to know how things might be different if we weren't.
Posted on September 8, 2006 12:02 PM