Onetime hawk John Edwards ran away from his pro-war Iraq vote long ago. At the time of his vote, the politics were good for the then senator from North Carolina. Saddam would be deposed and his wmd uncovered. Edwards, like Kerry, could then claim credit for being a tough Democrat on national security but progressive on economic and social issues to gain favor with Democratic primary voters. Today, of course, his vote is an impediment to the nomination, so he’s now running as an anti-war candidate. CNBC’s Larry Kudlow summed up Edwards’ appearance on ABC’s This Week this morning this way:
[I]f John Edwards somehow managed to reverse this tide and win his party’s nomination, he would lead his party to a crushing defeat in 2008. For starters, he wants to cut and run from Iraq. Such an ill-conceived policy would leave this budding nation in shambles, with terrorists following us back to the United States. It would extinguish the candle of Iraq’s democracy experiment — an experiment that could still pay enormous dividends if the United States follows through with a bold, new troop surge strategy and a refurbished plan of economic reconstruction. These are the actions that will stabilize Baghdad and their democratically elected government, not cutting and running.
Will Hillary Clinton follow the “no surge” parade? Probably.
