Clinton, Edwards, and Obama, considered
Short and somewhat rude though it may be, I thought this summary of how these candidates present themselves, from the blog Atrios, was the best such short summary I’ve seen:
Obama: The system sucks, but I’m so awesome that it’ll melt away before me.
Edwards: The system sucks, and we’re gonna have to fight like hell to destroy it.
Clinton: The system sucks, and I know how to work within it more than anyone.
You can probably guess which approach seems the most realistic to me (Edwards), but I don’t think Obama’s or Hillary’s is ridiculous either. A lot of things about the system did work under Bill Clinton. And I’m seeing more and more articles like this one, from Charlie Peters, the legendary founder of the Washington Monthly, that point to some very remarkable — yes, it’s a dirty word, I know — bipartisan work done by Obama.
I realize everything being said here is simplistic. But I think that we, as voters, should give serious thought to how each major candidate plans to operate, in a broad sense, and whether or not these plans are realistic. To me, Edwards is the most realistic, but I think the others are sincere in their belief that theirs can succeed as well.
Apologies if this sounds like a D&C opinion piece.
If you’re interested in another take on how Obama’s can be bi-partisan yet effective at getting his agenda accomplished, check out this article. Money quote:
As for the Peters article, which is excellent, remember that Obama started his political career on the South Side of Chicago. Chicago politics isn’t for dreamy wonks - it’s a harsh world.
(Thanks to Vincent, who was kind enough to share the article with me.)
[...] author (Mark Schmitt, a very savvy observer) suggests that we should view the different candidates’ strategies through this lens: As an observer of politics, and commenter on it, I almost entirely share [...]
[...] have of Obama and Edwards, it’s fair to say.ÂÂ ÂÂ But I do think that she sincerely believes her approach is the best one for the country.ÂÂ She says her piece pretty well about this in the following clip [...]