John Edwards made his big announcement

(click here for the Romanian version)

John Edwards made yesterday the big announcement. So, it's settled: he will seek the presidential nomination for 2008. The announcement was made in New Orleans. John Edwards was participating in a voluntary activity there, so he was dressed very casually: jeans, rolled up sleeves, the blueberry at his belt.
John Edwards started as a trial lawyer (like Ralph Nader). He entered politics as a Democrat and became eventually a senator representing the state of North Carolina. He remained in the Senate till 2004 when he ran unsuccessfully for vice-presidency.
John Edwards represents the traditionalist wing of the Democratic Party, linked to the unions, on the track opened by Roosevelt (New Deal) and followed by Trumann, and then by Johnson (Great Society), considering a strong system of support for the poor people with the necessary raise of taxes. Edwards is for the withdrawal from Iraq and for changing the course in the relationships within NATO and UN (in such issues as the Kioto Treaty, or the International Penal Court). Like any other Democrat, he supports the unconventional techs, to reduce the energy dependence.
A few words about his charisma - very necessary, of course, if you want the vote - Edwards has a nice smile and generally is agreeable looking. The kind of nice guy (the look cultivated also by Obama - I saw him yesterday on a show of Oprah Winfrey - Mrs. Obama is a wonderful lady, I sympathized for her on the spot - she has a great Harlem accent). Edwards' smile reminds me the smile of Carter (it seems that this kind of smile is possible only in the South - just my two penny opinion).
Edwards is the third Democrat to make the big announcement (after Tom Vilsak and Dennis Kucinich). January will bring most surely the announcements of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Who will represent The New Democrats ? I mean the center, where the former president Clinton belonged? The guys who understand better the realities of globalization, the guys who understand the need for a balanced budget. The former governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Mark Warner, renounced at the race. Evan Bayh, senator for Indiana, also renounced. Two major names remain: Bill Richardson, governor of New Mexico, and Tom Vilsak, governor of Iowa. I cannot see too many chances for them - which is bad, because America is no more in the industrial age (when John Edwards or Hillary Clinton would have been what the doctor says) - America este in full post-industrial age, in a flat world (according to Friedman), in competition with India and China.