John Edwards Answers My Question

[NOTE: I forgot to mention this, but this video was taped on December 26th in Laconia, NH. The occasion on which I spoke to Mitt Romney was on Sunday December 23rd at a small Italian restaurant the name of which (and the town of which) escapes me at the moment, but they serve wonderful Canolis! --Liam]

This week, I finally got a chance to ask my favorite question of two different candidates for President. John Edwards hit the ball out of the park and reaffirmed my opinion that he's the best man for the job.

My question varies depending on the day, because it's actually too large a question for even the longer answers of a question-and-answer campaign event, so there are slight differences to how I asked it.

Of Mitt Romney, I asked "Over the course of my lifetime, we've seen the balance of power in this nation shift, both in terms of tilting more towards the executive from the legislative and judicial branches, and also more towards the Federal government over the states. What is your opinion of this?" (Paraphrased, but that's the general gist)

Mr. Romney did a great job with the Federal vs State power, talking about how he agreed that far too many powers which should not be Federal powers have been usurped by the Federal government, and that we need to move to re-balance power along constitutional lines, returning power to the states when it clearly belongs there. He even quoted one of my favorite (and least well known) of the Bill of Rights, that powers not expressly granted to the Federal government by the Constitution belong with the states or with the people.

Where he did not do nearly as well, in my opinion, was on the Executive vs Legislative and Judicial question. He began his answer by saying that we've recently seen the Legislative and Judicial branches taking power AWAY from the Executive, and that this needs to stop, that we need the Executive to be strong.

Ladies and Gentlemen of my reading audience, I submit to you that at no time in my life time have we had a stronger Executive branch and a greater push to marginalize the co-equal branches of Congress and the Judiciary than we have had in the last seven years. So Mr. gets an A for his answer on Federal vs States, and an F on the three co-equal branches of the Federal government, for an overall C average.

Of Mr. Edwards, I asked the question somewhat differently, assuming that I already know what his opinion on the matter would be. It was something like "I'm not terribly much younger than you are, and over the course of my lifetime, we've seen the balance of power between the federal branches tilt further and further in the direction of the Executive Branch, against what the Constitution says if you actually read it. Do you think this is a bad thing, and if so, what kinds of specific things would you do as President to solve the problem?"

In my opinion, he hit the nail on the head. We videotaped the answer (on a digital camera, not a video camera, so the time was limited. I apologize if the video cuts out before the answer is done).

Here's the answer:



By the way, like Barack Obama, he stressed that he wants his advisers (cabinet and such) to be people who will challenge him, the best and brightest from both parties, because he feels a President works best when he is confronted with all sides of the issues, not just one. It is the strategy which worked so well for both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, and which has been largely abandoned (in my opinion to horrible effect) by the George W. Bush administration. (I don't remember if that was part of the answer in the video or part of another answer.)

Enjoy.

Liam.