Elizabeth Edwards Takes On John McCain

Part of the battle for the White House this fall will be fought on domestic turf.

Whoever the Democrats nominate, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama, will be fortunate if Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of former presidential candidate John Edwards, is actively involved in the campaign.

Edwards said today that uninsured Americans with life-threatening illnesses would be "outside the clinic doors" under John McCain's health care plan. Over the weekend, Edwards pointed out that, as cancer survivors, "Neither one of us [herself or John McCain] would be covered by his health policy."

McCain's campaign likes to dismiss Edwards' comments, claiming in an interview in the Los Angeles Times that Edwards doesn't understand McCain's health care plan.

Edwards has been treated for breast cancer. I think she understands more about health care issues than she's being given credit for.

While we're on the subject of health care issues, it might help the health care debate if the "war on drugs" came to a merciful conclusion, and the money currently being wasted on that could be re-directed to more constructive pursuits.

Read Timothy Egan's column in today's New York Times and see if you don't agree with what Obama said in January: "I’m not interested in legalizing drugs. What I am interested in is putting more of an emphasis on the public health approach to drugs and less on incarceration."

Much has been said about Obama's confession in his 1995 book about his youthful experimentations with drugs. Not much can be added to that discussion, but Obama isn't alone in the annals of drug abuse.

"It’s been largely forgotten," Egan writes, "but Cindy McCain, the wife of the presumptive Republican nominee, was once so hooked on the opioid painkillers Percocet and Vicodin that she resorted to stealing from a medical charity she ran."

Treating people for their afflictions or helping them with their weaknesses makes more sense than denying people treatment because of money or locking them up.