23 January 2008

Edwards As the Safe-Looking Gay Guy at the End of the Bar?

Boy, do I love the Rude Pundit. He's always got a, well, interesting take on the day's news. Like this post which make the metaphor I put in the title bar of this post.
You shoot some tequila for confidence and limb looseness and head out to dance as that awesome Rihanna remix kicks in. The secret truth is, though, that looks are deceiving. For, you see, what you fail to realize is that the one whose cock is gonna rock your rectum and have you begging for more is Mr. Ordinary-Looking at the end of the bar. He's sitting there, toasting away, waiting for someone to sit down next to him so he can order that lucky dude a mixed drink and tell him all the hot shit he's gonna do. But no one notices him. And chances are, Mr. Ordinary's gonna go home alone. It's sad, really, that the thirst for symbolic difference makes us overlook the obvious.

So it was, speaking of obvious, that the winner of last night's Democratic debate was John Edwards, the odd average man out. While Obama and Clinton went at each other in an entertaining slap fight, there was Edwards, calmly speaking for the vast majority of Americans, even if that majority won't ever get to hear him. The only candidate to mention New Orleans during a Martin Luther King Day debate hosted by the Congressional Black Caucus, Edwards articulated again and again the vision of economic justice and empowerment that eluded his rivals. And he had to fuckin' beg for air time while the other two squabbled over who hates Republicans more.


I don't think Edwards is the greatest thing ever. But he's more honest and has more balls (metaphorically or literally) than either Obama or Hillary, and he recognizes the simple fact that the only way to fight for any form of universal health care is to take on the entrenched interests of the insurance companies. Liberals should cut him a lot more slack, and I'd rather he was the nominee than the other two, but it looks like I'm going to have to hold my nose and vote for either Obama or Hillary...

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