Friday, February 04, 2005
What John Edwards is up to
I supported John Edwards during the primaries and was glad to see Kerry pick him as a running mate. I don't really subscribe to the "Blame Edwards" theory of the election - no one I've read has yet formulated a scenario for an electoral win with someone else (ie "opportunity cost"), nor have I seen any arguments that list serious damage done to the Kerry campaign by the choice. It all boils down to basic Monday morning quarterbacking.
Anyway, I've wondered what Edwards would be up to after his run. Clearly he took a wild gamble in running for president after a single term, and North Carolina wasn't about to let him have it both ways (unlike Connecticut back in 2000). The loss now forces Edwards to, if he wants to compete in 2008, find something visible and compelling to do for four years - and it will most certainly be something done out of government. From 2006 onward, he'll need to be gathering steam for the race.
I found out what he's doing today in an email he sent to his supporters. He notes that, thankfully, Elizabeth Edwards is doing well and seems very likely to fully recover from her cancer. On the question of his future, Edwards writes:
Frankly, this seems like a good move for him. Poverty was one of the issues he spoke with real passion about - and it has the virtue of legitimating Edwards with the feisty base. An academic center offers Edwards the opportunity to advance real policy positions that speak to a broad swath of Americans. This does not help him on security issues, which probably won't recede much by 2008, but academic contacts may let him work more with that arena over time as well.
It strikes me that Edwards is trying something very similar to Bobby Kennedy's famous tour of the South after he left the Johnson administration - a tour that advanced him remarkably on the eve of the 1968 race. Edwards will have a lot of hard work to do, but I think he's chosen the right place to do it.
I supported John Edwards during the primaries and was glad to see Kerry pick him as a running mate. I don't really subscribe to the "Blame Edwards" theory of the election - no one I've read has yet formulated a scenario for an electoral win with someone else (ie "opportunity cost"), nor have I seen any arguments that list serious damage done to the Kerry campaign by the choice. It all boils down to basic Monday morning quarterbacking.
Anyway, I've wondered what Edwards would be up to after his run. Clearly he took a wild gamble in running for president after a single term, and North Carolina wasn't about to let him have it both ways (unlike Connecticut back in 2000). The loss now forces Edwards to, if he wants to compete in 2008, find something visible and compelling to do for four years - and it will most certainly be something done out of government. From 2006 onward, he'll need to be gathering steam for the race.
I found out what he's doing today in an email he sent to his supporters. He notes that, thankfully, Elizabeth Edwards is doing well and seems very likely to fully recover from her cancer. On the question of his future, Edwards writes:
- I am very proud to say that I will be joining UNC to launch its new Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, which will examine innovative and practical ideas for moving more Americans out of poverty and into the middle class. The fact that millions in this country go to work every day and still live in poverty is wrong and unacceptable. This is personal to me, and I believe that it is one of the most important moral issues of our time.
Together with UNC, I will work hands-on to explore creative approaches to the difficulties that families in poverty face every day. . . .
As I begin this process, I'm going to once again be asking you for your help.
What ideas do you have to reduce poverty in our country? What is working in your community and what can we as a nation be doing better? Once we get the Center up and running, we'll be asking for your input. This is too important an issue for us to be sitting on the sidelines - we need everybody's ideas.
Frankly, this seems like a good move for him. Poverty was one of the issues he spoke with real passion about - and it has the virtue of legitimating Edwards with the feisty base. An academic center offers Edwards the opportunity to advance real policy positions that speak to a broad swath of Americans. This does not help him on security issues, which probably won't recede much by 2008, but academic contacts may let him work more with that arena over time as well.
It strikes me that Edwards is trying something very similar to Bobby Kennedy's famous tour of the South after he left the Johnson administration - a tour that advanced him remarkably on the eve of the 1968 race. Edwards will have a lot of hard work to do, but I think he's chosen the right place to do it.
