The Remarkable Elizabeth Edwards

I wanted to write the title of this post before we found out that Elizabeth Edwards' cancer had returned. Now it's more true than ever.

Here's a story on Elizabeth Edwards by Lynn Duke and Lois Romano of The Washington Post:

Not once did the shadow of fear cross her face. Elizabeth Edwards stood before the nation, a graceful fighter steeled for personal tragedy again. The cancer is back and in her bones, a lung and possibly elsewhere. The news seemed worse than bad. Yet Edwards conveyed no hint of being hobbled by an incurable cancer. Self-pity was nowhere on the scene.

"Is this a hardship for us? Yes, it's yet another hurdle," she said. "But I've seen people who are in real desperate shape who don't, first of all, have the wonderful support that I have and have no place to turn."

(snip)

In the hours before yesterday's noon news conference, there had been speculation that her husband might suspend some of his campaign activities. But friends says they are certain that his wife would have been dead-set against any change in his campaign.

The real question friends and political observers have is not whether she'll tough it out -- but whether he can stay connected and focused without her. Though Edwards said he expects his wife to be with him on the campaign trail when she can, he also added, "Any time any place that I need to be with Elizabeth, I will be there, period."

Friends say this turn of events, as distressing as it is, was handled in pure Elizabeth Edwards style: head on.

We need a president in 2008 who is who he says he is. Sometimes you can measure a candidate by the people who are around that candidate. John Edwards measures up. There are other good candidates so this is not an endorsement. Not yet. But I'm leaning, I'm leaning.....

Tomorrow, the Democratic candidates will be talking about healthcare. Now John Edwards has the money to take care of his wife's medical needs but he knows his roots and he knows that millions of Americans have concerns about whether they can afford to take care of their medical needs. Our country has the best medical research in the world but more and more Americans cannot afford the benefits of that research. As usual, Republicans, particularly right wing Republicans, do not have the answers. And bandaids are no longer going to fix our broken medical system. Whether it's John Edwards or one of the other Democratic candidates who might go all the way, we can hope that the time to reform healthcare has come and that Republicans and their wealthy campaign contributors will stop obstructing something a majority of Americans know needs to happen.

In the meantime, let's hope Elizabeth Edwards' cancer remains treatable and that she remains reasonably healthy and in the thick of things.