Anyone here, like me, who loves the Edwards family...

[MonteLukast]

... but who also still loves the Kerrys?

Then you'll be extremely pleased at this:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/6/9/14855/25309/157/510395

This brought a smile to my face like nothing other, and for several reasons.

After JRE dropped out, I became an Obama girl and never looked back. And he had one small thing worrying me in an otherwise perfect progressive slate: health care.
I never fell for the line about him being too untested, but I worried about his health plan being so. Too vague, too insurance-focused, not big enough of a break from the current system... Hillary did seem to have him beat on that one.

And also, from a personal standpoint, I loved the team JK and JRE made in 2004. A real friendship, a real respect and partnership of complementaries that made each better than they were alone. Looking at them campaigning together made me feel I was in the presence of something special and inspirational.
I still hope they're friends. Anything I've heard about animosity between them makes me sad.

I suspect that the one who really had hard feelings toward the Kerrys was Elizabeth, between the election loss, a misunderstanding about Teresa's advice on doctors and, possibly, a general feeling of mismatch. After all, Elizabeth has become revered as a model of accessibility while the "elitist" narrative, unfortunately, stuck to JK.

Things couldn't have been helped by JK endorsing Obama, especially when thinking of health care. Remember when Elizabeth said, several times, that she preferred Hillary's health plan to Obama's?

There is nobody on earth that John Edwards trusts more than his wife. Nobody. He must have been very torn as to whom to endorse. Go with Hillary in agreement with his wife? Or go with Obama in accordance with his progressive instincts?

Of course, a month after I expected JRE to endorse Hillary, enough further campaign blunders had piled up that I couldn't see how he could not endorse Obama. And he did, and I was pleased... but I still wondered about Elizabeth.

This latest news has killed both birds in one stroke.
Obama drew Elizabeth-- and by extension, both Edwardses-- into his health plan, AND introduced them as part of his unified progressive front which already, of course, the Kerrys are part of.

He may just be the bridge that links their friendship back together, too.

I hope so.


(Crossposted on the Kerry group and the Obama group)

[asdjrocky]

1. Thanks for the post.

Elizabeth would have been the best first lady this nation had ever seen. My dream is to use the influence of the Edwards to bring Obama even further into the Progressive fold. I think you hit the nail right on the head in many ways.

[Yael]

2. Thanks for the link!

Will go check it out now.