Benny's World: Exit Left: Montana Maven and John Nichols about John Edwards

This morning I was cruising a few sites from my blogroll, and went over to Montana Maven's place. I discovered she had posted what she gleaned from John Nichols' piece from The Nation. First, these thoughts from Nichols:

After his third-place finish in South Carolina, Edwards knew he would not be the Democratic nominee. Within the Edwards camp, strategy sessions turned toward discussions of whether he could be a kingmaker in the race between Obama and Clinton. With the 300 delegates he might have won by soldiering on through Super Tuesday, Edwards could conceivably have held the balance of power at a closely divided Democratic National Convention.

snip

But even as Edwards spoiled Clinton's math in key states--in South Carolina, he won among white men--he had little taste for the petty politics of positioning and power plays.

It's true that Edwards was more about substance than rhetoric. But Montana Maven picked up a tone from Nichols that I overlooked, and it was the praise of Barack Obama. Here's what Nichols said, "Presumably he would have aided Obama, whose candidacy holds more promise of healing the divisions between the "two Americas" Edwards sees as pulling the country apart."

Montana Maven doesn't agree with Nichols and I cannot say that I do either how Nichols interprets what the Two Americas are. She believes instead:

The Two Americas that John Edwards talked about was the America for the powerful and their lackeys and the America for the rest of us. It was not rich versus poor. It was an America that we no longer recognize. The one America is filled with folks who believed like Adams and Hamilton that only a few men in a back room should rule the masses. The other American believes in shared goals and equal opportunity to try and reach those goals. The one America is exclusive; the best schools, the best clubs, the best wine, the best martinis, the best, the best. The other America is inclusive; best friends, best neighbors, best stories.

As I told a few friends privately, anyone who thinks that Obama is going to bring bi-partianship back to the White House is misguided. If you heard the 72 times our low-30's approval rated President was interrupted by applause in his SOTU the other night, mainly by the most vocal of his ilk, you would know there is no chance in hades those people will negotiate with Democrats for what the American people want. They are too interested in keeping their own jobs, mainly propped up by special interests groups such as oil companies, drug companies, banks, etc.

Like I said earlier this week: I endorse no other candidate. I will still vote for Edwards no matter what. I have to vote my conscience and I can not follow anyone else.

To close, I replay the Dixie Chicks, "Taking the Long Way". It's tempting to replay "Not ready to make nice" but since I'm not in a vindictive mood, it's more appropriate to hear, "Taking the Long Way", which is what John Edwards did. And I identify with him.