In my sporadic review of Democratic Presidential nominees, I did about an hours worth of reading into John Edwards positions today. I came away favorably impressed with him for a couple of key reasons.
1. I don't agree with him on everything. Now, this may seem counterintuitive, but to me it indicates that he's what I'm looking for in a President...a middle of the road person. I tend toward the left so I know if someone's got some differences and congruities with my positions they must be middle of the road.
2. Unlike some of the other candidates, his positions seem to be part of a comprehensive vision for America rather than a list of responses to the issues du jour. Part of the reason for this approach may be that he's been honing his approach since the 2004 race, but at least some portion of his ability to approach issues in context has to be because of his world view being more integrated and less piecemeal.
3. He has a broader variety of experience than many candidates. He's been a trial lawyer, a U.S. Senator, a business owner and a consultant. He's also worked in non-profit. Sure he's "young" but he's got breadth to his experience.
I only found two issues in my brief research that bugged me. Not enough to make me say I don't like him but enough to keep me from saying "This is my guy."
The first is a quote. "...small towns and rural areas are the keepers of American values like family, work, community and freedom." Okay, I get that he comes from a small town and that such apple-pie rhetoric is especially appealing to that demographic. But c'mon. "Keepers of American values?" There's no way Republicans are going to mistake you for Dubya, John. Stop hijacking his misty-eyed, erroneous and patronizing idealization of a rural America that (maybe) existed in the 1950's. I grew up in suburbia and I feel quite sentimental about the way suburbanites are "keepers of American values like family, work, community and freedom." I imagine folks who grew up in the city feel much the same. Yes, our rural areas need revitalization. But you don't need to convince me of that by painting me a sepia-toned word picture of Ma and Pa on the farm.
The second is that he's pro-death penalty. I am not. (Don't lose sleep over that, Dale...I just never have figured out how killing illustrates that killing is wrong.) However, I can agree to disagree with him on this point even though it's close to a litmus test for me.
For those of you keeping score at home, here's a quick summary of his positions--Edwards is for an Iraq withdrawal, capping greenhouse emissions, women's "right to choose", affirmative action, investment in rural economy, gun ownership, making a stand against genocide in Darfur. He also has some interesting ideas on a universal health care and he wants to roll back the Bush tax cuts for the rich few.
So, a tentative thumbs up from me for Edwards. And the research yielded a new bullet point for my "In Search of a President" criteria. A bonus for my efforts.
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