So we got the VP nominee many progressives wanted. John Edwards\u2019s greatest attraction is his vitality, especially compared to Kerry\u2019s dour, some say sour, disposition.<\/p>\n
For Edwards, it\u2019s a no-brainer. If Kerry loses, Edwards becomes the front runner for \u201908, if he can figure a way to keep his profile high without being in the Senate. If the Dems wins, , he gets four or perhaps eight years to cement his place as Kerry\u2019s successor.<\/p>\n
The worry is that against Cheney, Edwards will be perceived as a lightweight on foreign policy. But then, Cheney\u2019s record isn\u2019t all that impressive the last few years. His tenure recalls the old saying that it\u2019s better to keep your mouth shut and be perceived a fool, than open it and remove all doubt. I hope Edwards, when confronted with such attacks, reminds us that Bush had even less foreign policy experience when he became president. So even being a heart beat away, he can\u2019t be any worse.<\/p>\n
In a debate, Edwards\u2019s skills will take him a long way against Cheney, especially on domestic issues, where Edwards\u2019s \u201ctwo Americas\u201d speech resonates with many voters.<\/p>\n
But there\u2019s likely to be only one VP debate. What will be interesting to see his how much media coverage Edwards\u2019s campaign can attract. <\/p>\n
And will Edwards assume the typical VP role of being an attack dog? That wasn\u2019t his style during the nomination races. Will he abandon his sunny optimism or use it to provide contrast to the mean-spirited obscenity of Dick Cheney? <\/p>\n
More than anything, the benefit of Edwards may be that he will energize the grassroots. Or at the very least, he won\u2019t deflate them as a Gephardt nomination would have.<\/p>\n
I think it\u2019s a great choice.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So we got the VP nominee many progressives wanted. John Edwards\u2019s greatest attraction is his vitality, especially compared to Kerry\u2019s dour, some say sour, disposition. For Edwards, it\u2019s a no-brainer. If Kerry loses, Edwards becomes the front runner for \u201908, if he can figure a way to keep his profile high without being in the… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1241"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1241\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/griendling.com\/wordpress1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}