Just the Facts, Ma'am -- PunditMom and Elizabeth Edwards

It was an amazing honor to get to ask a couple of questions on behalf of the DC Metro Moms on Saturday's conference call and meet-up with Elizabeth Edwards.  The only thing that would have made it nicer was if I had been able to hop on a plane to California to be in the same room with her and all those great Silicon Valley moms!

My head was spinning when I got off the phone after an hour of Q&A.  Elizabeth Edwards can really talk the talk, and if her husband John is really going to do the things he says he wants to do, then I know it was a good use of space to put an Edwards '08 button on my blog.

I had to run out right after the phone call (Saturday night is date night sometimes here at Chez PunditMom!), so I'm still processing and thinking and pundit-izing!  But here are some  highlights of her comments:

1.  The role of being the First Lady is "impossible to imagine."  But if she lands in that spot, one of her goals will be to advocate for military families.  As a child of a military family, she knows what it's like to have loved ones be away and to move from place to place.  She doesn't think military families are being well-served these days, and if she gets to move in to the White House, that's one of the causes she wants to focus on.

2.  We need to get more women registered to vote. If we're the key to the election, then someone has got to do the work of getting women to sign up and get to the polls.

3.  Cancer?  "I know there are answers.  I don't know how soon we will find them, but think of the [beneficial] impact on long term care and Medicare there would be."

4.  Let's put public health care resources in or next to elementary schools instead of putting them in out of the way places, so people can get to them and we can de-stigmatize them.

5.  If we built schools and health clinics in the Middle East instead of engaging in a war, and America was seen as a benefactor rather than an invader, think of what we could accomplish in the world.

6.  A College for Everyone program.  Bold, huh?

There was lots more, especially about health care and her husband's vision for the country, but I do want to say this -- the conversation wasn't about broad strokes.  The details that went along with each idea were astounding. 

This is a campaign that has thought through how to approach and fund each initiative they're proposing and they aren't afraid to explain it.

And as I was listening in on the call with some of the other DC Metro Moms (and IM'ing at the same time -- I know, we're such geeks!), we all had the same thought -- where are the details like this from the other campaigns?  If we had the chance to ask Hillary or Barack or the others the same questions, would we get the level of thoughtfulness we got this afternoon?

I'd like to find out the answer to that question. So candidates, if we're the "key" you need to open the door at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, why not have a sit down with the moms of D.C., Silicon Valley and Chicago? 

We've got lots of blogs, people who read them and we want to know what you have to say -- in detail.

Cross-posted from PunditMom and DC Metro Moms Blog.

Comments

[Glennia]

Great recap! Sorry I had to miss the call and the meeting. I was at the wedding of a friend of 25+ years or I would have been there. I don't think we've seen the last of Elizabeth Edwards, and hope to meet her again soon.