Friday, August 15. 2008The View from the Couch: AppearancesSo, things are not as they seem. Or, even it they are as they seem, the MSM (first time I've ever typed that abbreviation, since it is usually used with disdain) will not bother to report it till they've been scooped by grocery store tabloids or the blogosphere. Which brings us to John Edwards, he of the hot forty sweetie saga and her late motherhood good luck. (Dick Morris's prostitute was in her forties, too, she of the delicious toes, when his scandal broke during the '96 Clinton campaign.) Amongst all that has been published of the Edward mess, there was one photo particularly apt: Edwards smiling at the women in question a smile so big and delighted, he could have been auditioning for the role of the Joker in the next Batman flick. All of this does provide one answer to a question a lot of folks had, even if most of them didn't articulate it. Why doesn't Edwards' message fit the messenger? Why does it seem so off kilter? Well, as he himself boasted in one of the home made videos his honey was paid so much for making, I want to the world to see who I really am, not some plastic Ken doll.... Well, now the world does see him for who he really is, a guy more hollow than anyone expected. Edwards' wife provided him with a graceful way to exit the presidential primary race, when her cancer roared back. But, he didn't chose to bow out then. His private life would have remained more or less private then. Without running for the presidency, Edwards would have been just the higher-class of ambulance chaser that he was, so he stayed in for the glory of it all. His presence in the Iowa caucuses certainly had an effect on the election, since he broadened the choices. When it came to the primaries where it was a two "man" race, Hillary won most of them. Both Hillary and Barack share the leg-up syndrome. Each had one. In Clinton's case, it was ol' Bill, the former president. Some women during the campaign made note of that, that the first woman to almost get the prize had to be one whose husband was a former president. And, in Obama's case, it was the is-he-black-enough grumblings heard earlier on from some in the old establishment civil rights movement. Obama may be the first African-American (only one generation removed!) to become president, but he is also half white. Neither of these leg-up qualities are particularly appetizing or admirable, just the way they are, but, it is, in both cases, a fact of life. And another fact of life is that I keep hearing Evan Bayh is going to be Obama's veep, but I still feel things, in this regard, aren't as they seem. But, if so, it's yet another reason for Democrats to get behind big time the gubernatorial candidacy of Jill Long Thompson. Go Jill! (And, for those keeping track, an east coast trip may again make me skip next Friday's entry, but look anyway; they'll be other things to see.) Trackbacks
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