Time for Edwards' Exit
By: Dick Morris and Eileen McGann
FrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, January 18, 2008
The Democratic nomination for
president will likely be decided by the subtle pulls of ego against duty that
tug at the conscience of John Edwards. He manifestly can no longer win - but he
helps Hillary Clinton if he stays in the race and boosts Barack Obama if he
pulls out.
After a vigorous campaign, Edwards has fallen irreparably
behind - the real race is now a grueling test of strength with Clinton. The
contrast between the party's insensitive establishment and the determined voices
of change couldn't be clearer.
Edwards divides the
anti-Clinton vote - and so undermines the prospects for the changes that
he so passionately demands in our government. By staying in, he's helping
deliver the nomination to the person whom he has described as the defender
of the status quo.
The votes already cast and the polls of coming
primaries all tell the same story: Edwards can't win. After a dis- tant
second-place finish in Iowa, he still had some basis for hope. But when he
finished far back in New Hampshire, his chances for victory vanished.
Just how hopeless is his candidacy? Realclearpolitics.com's
average of national polls has him in third place - with Clinton at 41
percent, Obama at 35 percent and Edwards at just 15 percent. Even in South
Carolina (right next door to his home state), he's polling at only 15
percent to Obama's 42 percent and Clinton's 30 percent.
To date, Edwards has been a passionate and
effective advocate of the need for change. His opposition to special-interest
funding of our politics and his good example in refusing to take funds from
political action committees both merit our praise and admiration.
But at
this point, the practical impact of any support for Edwards is to help Clinton
defeat Obama. Polling shows that the second choice of Edwards' followers is
overwhelmingly Obama.
By staying in
the race after he has lost any realistic chance of winning, Edwards is making it
possible for Hillary to win and to bring with her precisely the policies he most
opposes: dependence on special interests, a determination to maintain a presence
in Iraq and a reversion to dynastic politics.
Edwards deserves a special place in our politics
for his efforts to bring poverty to national attention and to revise national
priorities to take account of the needs of the poor. But now it's time to read
the writing on the wall and obey the verdict of history. It's time for Edwards
to pull out.
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