Opaque Lucidity

The "I" Points To The "L"

There are other emerging fissures, as well. The aggressively photogenic John Edwards was cruising along, detailing his litany of liberal causes last week until, during question time, he invoked the "I" word — Israel. Perhaps the greatest short-term threat to world peace, Edwards remarked, was the possibility that Israel would bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. As a chill descended on the gathering, the Edwards event was brought to a polite close.

John Edwards, who you last saw running with John "Did You Know I Served In Vietnam?" Kerry in 2004, is not a stupid man. He is a very wealthy lawyer; I don't think it's off base to say that such people's public words are often very well thought out in advance. In short, his comment about Israel was not off the cuff.

Why say such a thing? Simple: it panders to what the Democrats must now call their base. Gone are the days when the Dems could count on blue-collar workers and Catholics to bolster their ranks. Instead, they must appeal to 20- and 30-something slackers, special interest groups waiting for a handout, tenured professors and angry lesbians. On the outer wings are those who used to be the backbone of th e party. You know them---they're the people who still think the party is for "the working man". Yo, Kennedy and Truman are dead.

Edwards doesn't stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting the Democratic nomination, so what he says now really doesn't matter. The scary thing is that people like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama actually agree with Edwards but would never say so publicly. They're smart enough to hide their anti-Israel nutiness behind a facade of concern for peace in the Middle East.