HE'S AMERICA'S pretty boy. He was named the "sexiest politician" in the U.S. by People magazine in November 2000. He's also one of the worst things to happen to the Democratic Party. Meet John Edwards, the former one-term senator from North Carolina who ran a failed vice-presidential bid in 2004. In his handful of years in office and his failures at the ballot box, Edwards demonstrated no particular policy knowledge or political acumen. In spite of this, many seriously consider himto be a top Democratic presidential contender. If the Democrats want any chance of winning in 2008, they had better ditch Edwards.
According to his campaign website, Edwards "dedicated his career to representing families and children." To anyone not on Edwards' staff, this means he was a trial attorney who made millions of dollars by profiting from people's misery. His website continues that he bravely stood up to "the powerful insurance industry and their armies of lawyers." In other words, he dedicated his professional career to expropriating money from honest doctors working hard to save lives. More colloquially, he was a scumbag ambulance chaser. While Edwards may make a good poster boy for so-called personal injury lawyers, the prevalence of these types of attorneys is having an insidious effect on the healthcare industry.
One of the biggest expenses doctors must face, especially when setting up their own practices, is medical malpractice insurance. Thanks to lawyers such as Edwards, awards to patients for these types of suits have been skyrocketing. This drives up the costs of malpractice insurance thereby forcing both doctors and HMOs to charge more. The good news is there's a solution to this problem: tort reform. If Congress places a cap on the total amount a plaintiff can be awarded in a malpractice suit, then insurance costs will fall; this will both lower medical costs and encourage more competition. Too bad Edwards had to enter politics.
The biggest opponents of tort reform are trial lawyers, such as Edwards. They take millions from doctors' pockets and gleefully spend it on high-powered lobbyists to ensure that they keep winning bigger awards (and therefore fees). They also have millions to contribute to Edwards' campaigns. Edwards managed to get himself elected to the U.S. Senate in 1998 with no prior political experience by pretending to be a moderate, taking advantage of a pro-Democrat mood and, most importantly, spending all his lawyer buddies' money. They were happy to stake their fortunes behind him because he was a sure vote to block tort reform and prevent middle class Americans from having reasonable medical bills. Yet somehow Edwards claims healthcare as one of his top issues.
Once he secured his Senate seat, Edwards proceeded to ignore the electorate for the next six years. In 2003, the National Journal ranked Edwards as the "fourth most liberal member of the Senate." From the economy (Edwards has continually supported minimum wage increases) to abortion (100 percent rating by NARAL), Edwards has staked out some of the most liberal positions of any senator. By 2004 with reelection prospects looming, Edwards' realized he had completely alienated the voters of North Carolina. In fact, he was so out of touch that he had a better chance of being elected president than being reelected to his Senate seat. Soon after, Edwards announced his intentions to run for president on the Daily Show.
Edwards' performance as a vice-presidential candidate was, in the words of Politics professor Larry Sabato, "disappointing." He demonstrated to the American public in the debates that he had no knowledge of foreign policy whatsoever. All he ran on was a boyish smile, a trite stump speech about "two Americas" and money pouring in from law firms across the country. He could not even deliver his own state. But somehow Democratic Party insiders have decided that because he ran for vice-president, he is now qualified to be president.
For his part, Edwards bills himself as a leftist alternative to Hillary Clinton and has been touring the country with the same speech that didn't win him the election in 2004. The Democrats currently have a wide array of well-qualified, moderate, electable presidential candidates ranging from Barack Obama to Bill Richardson.
Edwards brings nothing to the table other than appeasing the far-left. The Democrats had best forget him and move on if they want to capture the White House in 2008.
Josh Levy's column appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at jlevy@cavalierdaily.com
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