Edwards Likely to Endorse Hillary, Out of Self-Interest

ABC news reports: http://www.abcnews.go.com/Poli...

"As he weighs a possible endorsement in the Democratic race, former Sen. John Edwards is as split as the party he once hoped to lead - and is seriously considering supporting Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, despite the sharp criticism he leveled at her on the campaign trail, according to former aides and advisers."

Here are the facts as I see them:

1. According to Newsweek's Howard Fineman, prior to Edwards dropping out of the race, "[h]is representatives had been reaching out to Obama's high command for weeks, but I am told that they rebuffed him." http://www.newsweek.com/id/106153

2. John Edwards ran in 2004 as a pro-Iraq War moderate, which was consistent with his Senate voting record. By 2008, he had reinvented himself as a populist leader in the fight against poverty, with positions that were often inconsistent with his Senate voting record.

3. Prior to running for the Senate in 1998, John Edwards had worked as a plaintiff's litigator and made himself tens of millions of dollars.

4. Prior to running for the Senate in 1998, John Edwards only voted 50% of the time.

Now, Edwards is refusing to endorse the candidate he believes will be the best nominee of the Democratic party, and, instead, endorsing the candidate who promises to lavish him with the most flattery and who knows what else.

I'm not arguing that Edwards does not believe that the candidate he endorses will make the best President, I am arguing that we cannot know that because of the way he has gone about seeking to make that endorsement.