John Edwards – a candidate who needs some help with his math
Last night I joined several hundred Washington DC residents at a bar at 1223 Connecticut Ave, paid my $15 donation, and listened to John Edwards explain his plan for leading America.
I have a reasonable quality recording of the event that I plan to process and share via The Atomic Show feed, but that effort and the needed commentary is going to take a day or so.
After listening to the plan (twice, since I played it back on my way back home), I have a few first thoughts to share with you.
Senator Edwards is a fine speaker whose heart seems to be in the right place in terms of building an America that works for all its residents. He also wants to restore an America that earns the respect and affection of people outside the country and serves as an example of hope and prosperity.
That said, I have some real difficulty with Senator Edwards’s specific plans and his mathematical ability. No single issue should ever be the determining factor in choosing a president, but I strongly believe that they need to be able to understand basic arithmetic since they will be making serious budgetary and policy decisions that should hinge on facts that add up.
I have to go on to my day job now, but please come back for a discussion about the challenge of cutting America’s emissions of CO2 by 80% while not building any new nuclear power stations, and the difficulty of converting large portions of Africa into biomass fuel plantations for Asia and Europe.
(That, my friends, is a teaser almost suitable for the evening news.)
