Edward's new clothes

Gerard Baker:

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But there has always been something a bit phony about John Edwards. Sure he was bright and articulate and good-looking. Yet the only obvious thing that plucked him from the obscurity of the senate at such a young age was his southernness. In their superior, condescending way Democratic leaders simply assumed that, since he represented North Carolina and spoke like that, he must surely have something in common with all those Bible-reading, gun-loving southerners. The party had finally found its southern star.

In reality Edwards was always a fairly reliable liberal. Most of his votes in the Senate were closer to Ted Kennedy's than Zell Miller's. He backed partial-birth abortion, gun control and higher taxes.

He had two credentials back then that seemed to come close to fitting the all-important image of the moderate, center-seeking Democrat. In the Senate he had supported free trade - most notably backing the bill that gave normal trading relations status with China. And he had, like all ambitious Democrats in those desolate years, tried to demonstrate that he was no softie on national security. In October 2002, he voted to authorize the president to use force against Iraq.

Free trade was the first to go, in the glare of the 2004 election campaign. This wealthy trial lawyer who had made unimaginable millions, turned himself into a regular economic populist, a fierce opponent of globalization and free trade. He attacked heartless companies who outsourced their jobs overseas. The better this played with an economically uneasy electorate, the more strident he got. Since the 2004 campaign his populist rhetoric has sharpened and deepened. He has moved as far away from the Clintonite centrist economic consensus as it is possible to be.

Then, of course, his national security credentials had to be remade. As the Iraq war turned sour in 2004, Edwards was among the first to say he should never have supported it in the first place. That decision has earned him much kudos in the party as a brave move. As the Democrats excitedly examine their presidential field, Edwards' denunciation of the war has played much better than Hillary Clinton's equivocation (which of course has meant she has started to sound less equivocal). But was it really such a brave move to speak out against the war two years after he had supported it? How brave is it of someone who holds no elective office to say that he no longer holds an unpopular view? If that's courageous, I'm a Medal of Honor candidate.

So less than a decade since he won election to the Senate as the favorite son of the Carolinas, John Edwards' transformation is complete. From the scion of the South, the Democrat in touch with the voters of Dixie, to the screeching anti-war, anti-free-market liberal, whose campaign blogger-in-chief crudely mocks religious beliefs and crassly panders to racial prejudices.

The man who was catapulted from obscurity to the front line of American politics because he sounded like Jimmy Carter and seemed to think like Bill Clinton is hoping to win the presidency on a platform borrowed from George McGovern.

His potty mouth bloggers are gone, victims of their own mistake. Staffers should never become the story and these bloggers were the story along with Edward's new house for the last week or so. It is easier to fire bloggers than to stop building an expensive house, so they were the first to go. It is really too bad, because I thought they reflected his values. Sure, they were profane and insulting, but they apparently supported his message. They were a reflection of left wing that he is appealing to. That is the ground he has chosen to fight on, but now he must change shirts again and pretend he is not with them.

The Belmont Club has further comment on the blogger's demise in the Edward campaign.

Update: The NY Times reports that Edwards has decided to keep the two potty mouth lib-fem floggers. I am glad to hear he is keeping someone who reflects his views. Perhaps he can garner support from more potty mouth insult artist on the left.