Thank Your Lucky Stars, Democrats...

..that Obama came along, because otherwise John Edwards might well have been your candidate. Edwards' entire political persona, that of the hardworking, honest family man who had worked his way up in the world by doing the right thing and sticking up for the little guy, was a monumental edifice of pure bullshit, one I'm glad to see is finally crumbling. I distrusted him the first time I heard him open his mouth - he struck me as a sniveling, overambitious, glad-handing huckster right off the bat - and that distrust grew into a sort of intuitive loathing the more I heard him, but lots of my liberal friends at one time viewed him as their best hope. How lucky they were that events unfolded as they did.

I do, of course, feel terrible for his wife Elizabeth, for whom this news is undoubtedly another blow - to be put through such emotional trauma while already battling cancer is a truly awful fate. But the fact is, it was her husband's selfishness and mendacity that brought this fate upon her, which only heightens the contempt I feel for him. It's likely he will never again achieve prominence or political power, and I couldn't be happier about that.

Update: I just came across an interesting piece speculating on possible ways recent history might have played out had Edwards been the nominee.