Less forgivable is John Edwards, the Democratic presidential candidate. He put on quite a performance in New Hampshire the other day (as you can see in this article).

Let’s review a little history: Back in the Carter days, a lot of people said that the presidency had gotten too big and powerful, and that it was too big a job for one man. Maybe we should split up its responsibilities? This was a quite common view, or concern. Then Reagan came along — and, when he ran for reelection in 1984, his men ran an ad that said (something close to), “Remember when they asked whether the presidency was too big a job for one man? They’re not asking that anymore.” Glorious shot of Reagan, waving while riding in an open car, I believe.

Anyway, a lady in New Hampshire says to Edwards, “Would you be willing to say [the presidency] is too much power for one person?” And Edwards responds, “I would absolutely say that.” Not just yes, but absolutely yes. In this case, Edwards perhaps should not be running for the job.

But there is considerably worse. I will quote the AP:

“(Bush) was not given authority to police a civil war, which is what he is doing now,” Edwards said.

He borrowed an analogy from his wife, Elizabeth — sitting nearby on the floor, leaning against a couch — and said the U.S. approach is like a parent scolding a child for not making his bed and then making the bed for him repeatedly.

“We’re continuing to enable this bad behavior,” Edwards said.

Is that not disgusting? Iraqi politicians, and ordinary Iraqi citizens, are putting themselves on the line every day. They’ve made mistakes, sure, but most of us would. And they’re getting shot at — murdered. Blown up. They are facing a vicious terrorist campaign, as they go about trying to reconstitute their country, and this is a problem that John Edwards and the rest of us comfortable Americans will never have to face. And he likens these people to children who won’t make their bed?

What a disgusting way of thinking. Edwards is a man running for president of the United States. If this is what our country has become, then maybe America is as bad as the colleges say, but for different reasons.

One final note from the report on Edwards: A woman at his campaign event said “she sees a bit of her political hero in Edwards. ‘He’s a Jimmy Carter-kind of guy’ . . .”

Yup, he’s a Jimmy Carter kind of guy — my point exactly. -Jay Nordlinger