To the forum taking place at Daily Kos,especially Hunters diary on Why Clinton Lost, I would like to add the impact that John Edwards had on the campaign. Hunter basically said that most Democratic presidential candidates try to play it safe and not offend anyone. They take a moderate, defensive position and try to appeal to the center.
John Edwards was different. He was progressive, the most left candidate I have seen run in my life time to make it to the top, the one with the radical anti corporate pro labor policies.
Let's not forget, that although Edwards was the white guy, the corporate media blocked him out.
His strong and clear policies and passion ultimately pushed Obama and Clinton to take stronger positions on national health insurance and the war and economic populism. And I think it affected both of their campaigns.
What happened to Edwards tells us that this is not just about race and gender but also about social class. And that is what Edwards represented, the voice of poor folk, working people- he offered a corporate critique that threatened the whole political and economic structure.
Had either Obama or Clinton taken as strong a position as Edwards did initially, they would have been knocked out in the first round too.
Obama had to run as a post-racial candidate that had trascended his African American roots and connections. He had to be very cautious--- or he would be demonized as the much feared symbol of a racist society- the black man. He could ultimatley not escape this demonization given our country... a fact that the Clinton campaign understood well. Forced to respond to the kitchen sink and all the distortions that were thrown his way, Obama, fortunately, emerged as an even more forceful and confident candidate.
Clinton had to run as a post-feminist candidate--- the best commander in chief or she would be demonized as acting "just like a woman..." and worse. And then of course she was demonized for the very thing she felt that she had to do to reassure men: act like a man. And her better than any man, old-style, ball breaking politics turned off democratic voters anyway who went for Obama. Pushed first by Edwards, then Obama and then the response of voters late in the campaign, her feminism and progressive economic ideals led her to attract the powerful base she has now won.
It was a white guy like Edwards who pushed the boundaries. But being white and a man could not protect him from the response to his anticorporate stand. The media dismissed him as the pretty boy with the expensive hair cut--- or later as too angry. He had become the angry white man.
People who run for office are in a terrible bind in this country. And our uncritical media is no help. So it is truly historic that an African American man and a white woman were even able to run and become frontrunners. And even more historic that both their campaigns by the end were pushed beyond their more moderate beginnings -- by the voters, by Edwards and even by each other.
Neither Obama nor Clinton quite stepped out of the post racial and post gender narrative that they had adopted. But within that framework, they were able to come closer to making race and gender and finally class more visible... as well as many important progressive issues that are so dear to our heart. It is an inspiring step.