MOMocrats™

Go Read It: Elizabeth Edwards on Tony Snow's Death

It should not be a surprise to anyone that the always eloquent Elizabeth Edwards has a wonderful commentary on the passing of Tony Snow.

It's online at Newsweek, called Finding Common Cause,  and worth a read just to give us a reminder about what's really important, even in this heated political season.

Virtual Hugs to Elizabeth Edwards Who Still Rocks Our World

Elizabeth Edwards took the stage at the Personal Democracy Forum today virtually - via Skype. As her flight was cancelled at the last minute, she was unable to make her in-person slot for us or "Good Morning America" so she did them both from home. As I watched the program - questions from PDF cofounder Andrew Rasiej directed to Elizabeth, who was projected on a huge screen in the theatre at Lincoln Center's Rose Hall - I wanted to go up and give her a big virtual hug from all of us at the MOMocrats and the Silicon Valley Moms Blog & sister sites, but since it was no easier to do from that venue than this one, I decided it was better done from here. (It was the request everyone made when I said I was "going to see Elizabeth Edwards at PDF". They said "give her a hug for me!")

So here, Elizabeth, is a big virtual [**HUG**] from all of us, along with an official invitation to blog here any time you like. One of the apropos questions Rasiej asked of Elizabeth during the program (sorry, I just can't use her last name in this forum - seems too formal) was about what she was going to do next with "her constituency" and she, of course, replied that she would like to liveblog more and cross post more about policy issues important to her. So since I couldn't just stand up and yell to her that she could blog for us any time since she would have caught every third word, we're asking here. Please, pretty please!

It's not party hopping. It's going with your convictions.

I recently had a conversation with a good friend and awesome blogger about politics.  Let me just say it can get heated when we talk politics.  Mainly because she really knows her stuff and has for quite a while, and me?  Well, I am just learning and just jumping into this arena with this election. 

The question arose (as it does many times when people know that I have always voted Republican and then found myself a county delegate for Obama):  How can someone who has always been loyal to one party suddenly jump ship and change their beliefs and their party affiliation?

The question itself is flawed.  It isn't like I suddenly woke up one day and said, "Republicans? Forget it. I want to go Democrat this election and stir things up!"  Here is what happened and why (and how) I become an Obama supporter.

Obama to partner with Elizabeth Edwards on healthcare

It rolled across my Twitter page this morning, an exciting update from MOMocrats contributor Erin Kotecki Vest:

I don't have cable (and I was listening to the WWDC iPhone announcement) so I hadn't heard it, but that news made my morning.

For many, the sharpest difference between Obama and Clinton policy-wise is that his plan does not have an individual mandate while hers did. If you are worried that Obama's plan won't cover everyone, perhaps this is a sign that his plan will soon be moving in the right direction.  With Mrs. Edwards advising (someone who is intimately familiar with the flaws in McCain's plan), I dare say, we're in capable hands.

This news trumps cheaper, faster iPhone news any day.

MOMocrats co-founder Stefania Pomponi Butler hearts her Blackberry.

How Long Will it Be Until the Next "Viable Woman Presidential Candidate?"

I didn't start out as a Hillary Clinton supporter.

John and Elizabeth Edwards were my presidential couple of choice.  In fact, when it became clear, lo' those many years ago, that Hillary was crafting her White House strategy I said to anyone who would listen that she would never be able to be elected -- partly because of her Clinton "baggage" and partly because I didn't think this country was ready yet for a woman president.

Uttering those words felt like feminist treason.

But as someone who grew up in a rural community and who has lived in some fairly red areas, I had a bad feeling in my gut that America wasn't ready.

It looks like I was right.

Many have argued that such a notion is nonsense,  After all, plenty of other countries have had women leaders, so surely it was time for the US to join those ranks.

But America lags in so many things that benefit women -- reproductive rights, numbers of women involved in government (we're behind plenty of countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Argentina just to name two), and maternity leave benefits-- that I doubted whether we as a country possessed the basic amount of respect toward women that would be needed to put one in charge of the whole country. 

Elizabeth Edwards: Class act and savvy capital manager

(Photo by AP.) Elizabeth Edwards should start a School for Political Spouses: a six week conference that provides diplomatic and smart ways to be honest yet political. Sort of a cotillion for grown-ups married to people with political leader aspirations.

I say this because every time she makes a statement it comes across very open, honest and sincere. It's not always the thing people want her to say, either. Yet, it's done so smartly and politely that there's really very little anyone can do except nod and understand.

Today I'm referring to her e-mail to Politico in which she explains that everyone can quit waiting for her to endorse a candidate because it's not going happen.

Except she was more diplomatic than that:

“If you listened to what I said and not to what pundits said I was thinking, you would know that I was never inclined to endorse,” Edwards wrote in an e-mail to Politico Sunday afternoon.

Although speculation ran rampant that she would offer an endorsement, especially after she openly supported Senator Clinton's health care plan, and criticized Senator Obama's, Mrs. Edwards said she would not endorse a person. Politico reports

. . .but she stressed in her e-mail to Politico that her support was limited to Clinton’s plan, not her campaign.

“If I say I like chocolate ice cream better than strawberry, it doesn't mean either (1) that I like chocolate or strawberry as much as vanilla or (2) that I dislike strawberry. I say what I mean. Hillary's health care plan is closer to what I want to see than Barack's,” she wrote. “As a spouse, it is not surprising that I have a very small change purse of political capital and I have repeatedly said that I was going to use my capital, such as it is, for the issues about which I care and not on an endorsement.”

She added that she doesn't influence her husband to her choices; he makes up his own mind, follows his own heart, she said.

Julie Pippert tells you what else she thinks about people and what they say at Using My Words and Moms Speak Up.

Elizabeth Edwards testifies before US Senate on Funding The Cancer Fight, Healthcare reform

Elizabeth Edwards and Lance Armstrong are backing legislation sponsored by Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, that would create a more comprehensive approach to fighting cancer. Both testified before the U.S. Senate today on the importance of cancer research, prevention and treatment funding.

Christine-Modern English

Go Read It: John & Elizabeth Edwards on Clinton/Obama

If you've ever wondered why the MOMocrats were founded to support John Edwards' candidacy, look no further than this week's People Magazine Article, "What We Like (and Dislike) about Clinton and Obama."  No endorsement from either one, unfortunately, but we do get a glimpse of the discussion around the kitchen table in the Edwards home.

The MOMocrats have been sitting around our virtual kitchen table for months discussing the very same topic as the Edwards, how we like and dislike things about both Clinton and Obama.  We have a few die-hard Obama Mamas, and some Hill-Raisers among us, but many of us still miss the Edwards' presence in the race.

How about John Edwards for Attorney General and Elizabeth Edwards for Secretary of Health & Human Services?  That's a dream team I'd like to see in leadership positions in either a Clinton or Obama administration.

Go read it: Elizabeth Edwards' Op-Ed in the New York Times

Elizabeth Edwards tells it like it is (like she always does): Bowling 1, Healthcare 0.

Please, go read it.

Follow the Leader -- Elizabeth Edwards at the Center for American Progress

It's no secret that many of us here at MOMocrats are big fans -- I mean BIG fans -- of Elizabeth Edwards.  She's long been a woman after my own heart -- politically-oriented, not afraid to speak her mind, at the ready to set the MSM straight when it's needed.

She's not afraid to take on the McCain, as she proved recently when she took him to task for his version of health care for America.

Even though her husband's race for the Presidency is over, Elizabeth is not resting her political voice.  She's joined the progressive think tank Center for American Politics as a senior fellow on health care issues.  Plus, she won't be far from the blogosphere -- she'll be contributing to the CAP blog, Wonk Room, as well.