I watched John Edwards on Meet the Press this morning.  It’s a good thing for him he has impeccable hair because he is a quite lacking after that.

Russert really busted his chops about his Johnny-come-lately Iraq war stance.  He played a clip of Edwards from 2002 citing very unequivocally why he supported the authorization of war and why Saddam needed to be removed.  Edwards responded that he has since changed his mind.  Russert then played a clip of Edwards from 2004, a year and a half into the war, where Edwards said very directly that he would have still voted in favor of the war if he knew in 2002 what he then knew in 2004.  Edwards couldn’t honestly say the real reason he is a fervent opponent to the war now, namely that the poll numbers have shifted and it is no longer politically advantageous to support it.

It was pretty clear that Edwards was taking some oblique shots at Hillary Rodham Clinton when he explained why he supported the war in 2002.  He said that he reviewed all available intelligence and consulted with several [Bill] Clinton advisors.  He mentioned the “Clinton advisors” twice, which smacks of a scripted talking point.  The inference is that Hillary might use some of the same advisors that Slick Willie used and they supported the now unpopular war.

I think the one term senator has a serious problem in the credibility/experience arena.  Obama also shares this problem, but he has a trump card - he publicly opposed the “dumb” Iraq war in 2002, a position that will make it appear he has exceptional judgment despite his political youth.  Not two sentences after admitting that he was wrong and Obama was right Edwards dismissed Obama by saying the people want a leader, someone with good judgment.  Indeed.

The real turn off for me is Edwards’ “universal health care” plan, which he admits will cost $120 billion (that probably means $500 billion).  How to pay for it?  He didn’t waste a minute saying that he would raise taxes.  At a time when the savings rate (the money left to be spent after paying taxes) is the lowest since the Great Depression he wants to further pinch the American people.  To his credit he says the right things about his plan (”more competition”), but he offers no explanation about how more government interference will foster increased competition.  I look forward to the details.

I was disappointed that Russert didn’t ask him how he squared his populist, anti poverty rhetoric with the mammoth mansion he is building.

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This entry was posted by Brian on Sunday, February 4th, 2007 at 10:36 pm and is filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Please note the copyright policy.