I woke up to the news that John Edwards is projected to drop out of the race today. While I can't say I'm shocked, I am definitely sad. Edwards kept his playing field focused on the issues and focused on the human beings who need his message most. He was the one candidate who specifically addressed poverty and his passion for alleviating poverty touched a nerve deep within me. Spending a decade working with the homeless and in shelters has allowed me to straddle the fence of the darker side of America, the one where many do not have enough to eat or a roof over their head. People, amazing, beautiful people who are forced to allow illnesses to go untended and can't feed their children. People who by virtue of poverty alone are systematically stripped of their basic human rights until they've lost everything, hope included.
And for a brief while we had our leader, a man who I was entirely convinced would address this worst kind of human suffering from one of the most important offices in the world.
John, thank you for bringing poverty and suffering center stage. I can't wait to see what you decide to do next.
This post is cross posted at MOMocrats.