Saturday, March 24, 2007

Elizabeth and John Edwards

The NYT interviewed the Edwards about their decision to continue John's presidential campaign despite Elizabeth's metastatic breast cancer:
Facing a New Battle, Mrs. Edwards Set Campaign’s Fate - New York Times:

...Mrs. Edwards — whose decision to push her husband to run for president in spite of her life-threatening illness provoked an intense discussion across the country about illness, ambition, child-rearing and death — said her husband’s candidacy was not only about his needs and desires, but also her own life and her wish to be something other than a woman best known for her life-threatening illness.

“I expect to live a long time,” Mrs. Edwards said. “I expect us to have lots and lots of years together. I do believe that. But if that’s not the case, I don’t want my legacy to be that I pulled somebody who ought to be president out of the race. It’s not fair to me, in a sense.”

Saying she hoped to be “heavily involved” in her husband’s campaign, she said: “My feeling is, if we gave up what we have committed to as our life’s work, wouldn’t I be getting ready to die? That’s what I’d be doing. This cause is not just John’s cause, it’s my cause.”...
The Edwards' know a bit about hard times. What I think is irrelevant, but in fact I'd have "approved" (like that matters!) whatever they decided. Bad things happen to even the luckiest of us mortals, we can't fall over every time tragedy whacks us -- though some tragedies will put most anyone down for a while. An early death of a parent and partner is a bad thing, but they've lived through worse.

Anyway, the odds are decent that Elizabeth will live a through at least part of a second term, and she knows how badly we need the leadership John and his team can deliver. This is her legacy. I hope we are wise enough to justify her gift.

In the absence of Al, I've been leaning towards John. I'm glad I'll have the opportunity to learn more about him.

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