John Edwards on Book Tour

Former Senator John Edwards is still thinking about the 2008 presidential race and is currently on a book tour touting his book on the idea and value of home. ABC News has a story and several excerpts from the book:

"Home: The Blueprints of Our Lives" compiles 60 Americans' thoughts on the place in their lives that that has meant most to them.

Some of the contributors are well-known, like actor Danny Glover and football star Joe Montana. Others may not be household names but are notable for their work, like social worker Robert Carr.

(snip)

From the Introduction of Home:

Home. The place that helps to define how we see ourselves and how we choose to make our way in the world — the blueprint of our lives.

Where we learn to dream. Where we become who we are. And where we can always return. The A-frames and split-levels and mansions and ranches and apartments in this book are as different as the people who have lived in them. But this isn't a book about houses; it's a book about homes. About the values they rest on, the dreams they are filled with, and the people they have shaped.

The houses and circumstances are different, but much of what you find inside will be familiar. Much of what you find will be what you already know — that America at its best is a place of amazing opportunity, deep values, and unlimited optimism. That, given half a chance, we are a people who can accomplish anything. And that no matter where we come from or what we have done, our values are common and our dreams are shared.

There's three more pages of excerpts. I particularly liked the excerpt from Danny Glover's contribution where he talks about hunkering down by the heater. When I was a kid, I was always cold when I woke up so I was first to get the heater going in the winter and would stay there until the heat soaked into my bones.

At a book reading in Maryland, John Edwards had a few things to say:

Stopping in Maryland to promote his new book, Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards came bearing a warning for his newly empowered Democratic colleagues: don't pop the champagne corks yet.

"What really happened was people said, 'look at what's happened the last six years, America's better than this both at home and abroad...and we may as well give the other guys a chance,'" he said, cautioning Democrats not to let their sweeping victories in both the House and Senate allow them to grow complacent and corrupt. "The question is now, will we step to the plate and meet our responsibilities?"

(snip)

...questions quickly turned to politics and whether the former North Carolina senator plans to run for president.

Edwards, the Democratic vice-presidential candidate in 2004, said he "might very well" run and coyly told the audience to check his Web site in the coming weeks for "something new and interesting."

Standing on a makeshift stage at a suburban bookstore, Edwards decried what he described as the pervasive "toxicity" and lack of candor in American politics.

(snip)

...now that Democrats are finally in power, he said the stakes are too high to behave irresponsibly.

... "If our leaders or our party allow power to corrupt us, it won't be just the Democratic Party that pays the price, it's America and the world that will pay the price."

I have promised myself to listen to what all the other candidates have to offer but I have to say that John Edwards seems to get it. I get the strong feeling he's paying close attention, perhaps more so than any other potential candidate (too bad Russ Feingold and Al Gore aren't running). The media is making a mistake by overlooking him, though he almost always is mentioned as a third or fourth choice in a crowded field. It's important to find a candidate that can convey optimism but it's also important to find someone who knows what he's talking about and knows we're entering an era where we can't kid ourselves anymore. He's still very much worth watching. I suspect a lot of people who have met him in the last three years would agree.