Day: December 30, 2007

Why I’m Endorsing John Edwards for President

Trish

JohnEdwards.com

Plus his bumper stickers are made in the USA with the union label

It’s early for endorsements outside of Iowa and New Hampshire, but for what it’s worth, mine goes to John Edwards.

Edwards is saying stuff that matters. He gets it. And he has the air of a man who would like you to come along, but either way he’s going there.

It’s not just about being turned utterly off by Hillary Clinton’s business as usual blather, or that Barack Obama’s fresh-faced, can-do optimism doesn’t make up for debate missteps, excessive reliance on star power, and simplistic arguments. I think Obama would make a great vice president and Clinton a great senior senator from New York.

But Edwards is saying stuff that matters. He gets it. And he has the air of a man who would like you to come along, but either way he’s going there.

No doubt part of this is due to his wife’s fight with cancer, the loss of his son, and finding out in 2004 what pulling your punches gets you. But it’s this very history that makes me think he’d be a good leader. Obama’s life, while inspiring, has been pretty sweet. And Hillary’s seems based on a combination of ambition, parsing the truth, and pretending things that hurt don’t. Those are good survival skills but I think they lead her to do stupid things like vote to authorize Bush to invade Iraq and distasteful things like having surrogates slam the competition. And as Tom Tomorrow points out so clearly in This Modern World, she has “high negatives and excessive baggage.”

Fellow Pensito Review editor, Jon, worries that Edwards’ decision to accept public funding, and therefore limit private fund raising, will hamper his ability to compete. I’m not, although I am saying, “Thank you Supreme Court, for refusing to restrict ‘issues advertising’ earlier this year.”

You’ll notice I didn’t discuss platforms here. That’s because, unlike the Republicans whose stands differ on things like abortion, immigration, and the role of religion in government, all the Democrats are headed in the right direction. The exception, of course, is Clinton’s willingness to play nice with the powers who run the status quo and Edwards’ battle cry against them. Edwards also is the only Democrat I’ve heard besides Al Gore who verbalizes the importance of saving the planet.

The big differences, just like with job applicants, mates, and American Idol contestants, come down to personal qualities. I think John Edwards has what it takes in that department, and I plan to support him in 2008.

Environmental Urban Legends

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We’ve all heard folks who don’t want to be bothered tell us we’re wasting our time when we save our water bottles until we can find a recycle bin, or unplug our appliances along with switching them off.

The Sierra Club’s “Mr. Green” columnist has been on the receiving end of the “don’t bother” argument as well. Here was his answer when someone said you can’t recycle recycled paper.

One of the amazing things I’ve discovered in this gig is the power of urban legends. Among the most persistent are: (1) that recyclers are unscrupulous tricksters who never actually ship cans back to manufacturers; (2) that it takes as much power to fire up a fluorescent light as it does to keep it on for a day; (3) that gas taxes pay for all highway construction and maintenance costs; and, the most enduring fable of all, (4) that automakers invented–and have been hiding for half a century–a device that can boost mileage to 100 miles a gallon. All 100 percent wrong, just like whoever told you this tall tale. Recycled paper is generally indistinguishable from the virgin product and, though the fibers eventually get too short to reuse, it can be recycled again.

Guess we’re not off the hook after all. Our individual habits, much as we might wish otherwise, matter.