Shakes on a Campaign

I've got some news, Shakers.

I have been offered and have accepted a position as the Netroots Coordinator for John Edwards’ presidential campaign, joining an outstanding internet team that now also includes Pandagon's Amanda Marcotte, with whom I'll be working closely. (Watch out, world!)

To answer what I imagine are the immediate questions: I'm not relocating nor leaving Shakes, and Shakes won't become the all-Edwards all-the-time blog. In fact, I'll be blogging about the campaign at the campaign blog, not here, so you'll probably get less Edwards than you're used to! And it should be noted that while I'm blogging at Shakes in the capacity of John Edwards' netroots coordinator, none of the other contributors are. Their opinions expressed about any candidates are their own, and their content will not be limited as a result of my affiliation with the campaign.

So, basically, you'll still be getting the same old shit around here, Shakers. And I hope you're as happy about that as I am.

As for The Big Question: Why Edwards? A lot of reasons, none of which I've been too shy about sharing as my personal support for him has increased over the last months, although you can read more in my first Edwards blog post here. I will, however, mention the three little words that ultimately got me: "I was wrong." That's how John Edwards started his Nov. 13 op-ed in the Washington Post, referring to his Iraq war vote. "I was wrong," he said, and more than that: "I take responsibility for that mistake. It has been hard to say these words because those who didn't make a mistake—the men and women of our armed forces and their families—have performed heroically and paid a dear price. … [A] key part of restoring America's moral leadership is acknowledging when we've made mistakes or been proven wrong—and showing that we have the creativity and guts to make it right." I don't need a president who never makes mistakes; those don't even exist. I need a president who's willing to admit them. Those have been in short order as of late, you may have noticed.

Quite some time ago, a staffer for another then-potential presidential candidate called me to pick my brain about what it would take to get my support. One of the things about which I was most adamant was that the candidate had to say, quite plainly, that s/he was wrong on Iraq. The staffer ran a couple of options by me: "What if s/he said this? What if s/he said that?" I said what I wanted to hear was "I was wrong."

John Edwards gave me what I wanted. And I believe he offers America what it needs.