I read the announcement by John Edwards today with a mix of feelings. He's going to keep campaigning for the 2008 elections. He still wants to be President when his wife, Elizabeth (high school sweethearts if I'm not mistaken) has her cancer reoccurring and its been deemed "incurable but, treatable". Not exactly positive words.
Maybe the C word is a touchy subject for me, losing both my Mom and Grandmother within 6 years of one another to the disease, but I've decided that if Edwards does get the Democratic nomination, I'm not voting for him. Running for President isn't just a "oh I'm going to switch lines of work" sort of thing.
He'll never ever be with her, and if she's doing any sort of treatment, there's no way she's jumping on the bus to NH or Iowa to campaign with him.
I know every relationship is different, maybe they don't even like each other anymore, who knows... I guess I just think back to the time when I knew my Mom wasn't getting better, knowing that the time we had together was so finite and precious. I refused to leave the state during that time!
I just can't imagine that this presidential hopeful could do his best in either venue: Husband/Father or Presidential candidate without both suffering as a result.
Okay, I'm done.
Hmmm... V interesting question, and good to get an perspective from someone with actual experience in the area. I had a little debate in my head when O'Connor retired from the Supreme Court to be with her sick husband (father?) whether someone with that much public responsibility had kind of a calling more important than ANYTHING that could happen in their personal life. But I think clearly Edwards doesn't have the same pivotal responsibility that O'Connor did... (His potential replacements are pretty similar, whereas O'Connor's retirement really has the potential for huge social change.) But perhaps he THINKS he does. Maybe he really hates Obama and Clinton and thinks he has some serious calling. If not, then I agree, it's kinda sketchy. He doesn't come across as a dude with a power addiction though, so I have to give him the benefit of the doubt. But then I have to question his judgment, cuz Obama rules. He does have some unique perspectives on health care policy. Maybe he thinks that is so important that it just trumps personal issues. I'm not sure I agree with that, but I suppose you could construct a reasonable argument for staying in the election along those lines. -Tdog
ReplyDeleteBTW, I just got a Mighty Mouse that rocks the house! And I nearly started salivating when I was in the Apple store yesterday... -Tdog
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