John Edwards was of course John Kerry's running mate in 2004. And it appears the indecisive legacy of John "Flipper" Kerry can be used as a weapon against him--by Barack Obama.
From ABC News' Political Punch blog:
"We are less likely also to win an election with somebody who had one set of positions four years ago and has almost entirely different positions four years later," Obama continued, speaking of Edwards. "We've been through that. It's a problem and so if you are concerned with electability having somebody who has been consistent, who has opposed the war from the start so the opponent can't say he was for the war just like I was. Having someone who did not support NAFTA, did not support the China trade deal, did not support a bankruptcy bill that would make it tougher for people to make ends meet. That will give me the ability to go strong in the general election. My intention is not just to have you elect a nominee, my intention is to have you elect a president."
Later Saturday in Keokuk, Obama said of Edwards, "Part of the problem that John would have in the general election is that the issues that he's taking out now are not the issues or the things that he said four years ago, which always causes us problems in general elections."
Interesting.
More from that blog:
To me that sounds like Obama is alluding to Democrats being less likely to win with a nominee who can be tarred as flip-flopping. Looking at a roster of Democratic nominees over the last 30 years -- Carter, Mondale, Dukakis, Clinton, Gore, Kerry -- I can only see one, Kerry, who was tarred as a flip-flopper.
Barack Obama of course, as the Hillary machine likes to point out, had a habit of voting "present" during his legendary (to him) time as an Illinois state senator. Obama represented a liberal district on Chicago's South Side, and to get re-elected, all he had to do was vote the left-wing party line, and take "hard" stands like opposing the Iraq War and NAFTA. (Did those issues ever come up for a vote in the state legislature?) But clearly Obama had his sights on higher office as soon as he arrived in Springfield, which can be the only explanation on why Obama was so "present" there.
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