The John Edwards Endorsement Auction

Prediction: John Edwards will not receive a Cabinet-level appointment in the administration of either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.

While both are praising him effusively — and I have no private information on the subject — they must both be privately offended that he puts them through these ridiculous hoops to receive his endorsement.

Edwards raised some valuable issues during the campaign, but with all due respect, he made a lot of money from a hedge fund that evicted Katrina victims in New Orleans, then he went to New Orleans to build houses for the homeless, presumably for some of the homeless whom his hedge fund had evicted.

Then he attacked the monied interests in politics, having received substantial campaign money from his hedge fund that evicted Katrina victims.

Not the ideal candidate for this “holier than thou” process in which two candidates, Hillary and Barack, both of whom have long histories of helping the poor, should have to go through these hoops, with regular leaks to the press, presumably by the auctioneer.

I am sorry, but to put Hillary and Barack through this public vanity play, where they have to interview for his endorsement, is absolutely ridiculous. Even assuming he is not asking for anything for himself (about which I have no knowledge and offer no public opinion), the way Edwards is handling this is one of the great self-indulgent plays of the new century.

Whichever candidate he endorses, the victor in the John Edwards sweepstakes will not think very highly of him for this show-horse process, and I predict this will be apparent by the time of the inauguration of the next Democratic president.