MARSHALL ADAME
                        “WHY AMERICA NEEDS JOHN EDWARDS AS OUR NEXT PRESIDENT” 

The clamor for the White House is on. Clinton, Bush, Kerry, Obama, Gore, McCain and a fountain of other well known Washington insiders, steeped in years of cozy relationships, cloak and dagger histories of deal making and inside political trading, not focused on Americas well being, but aimed  and purposed for the retention of power or extending one’s influence. Political dynasties somehow permitted by the electorate to remain, in many cases, at the expense of America’s democratic health and vitality. We have permitted old money, old influence and all the political experience and seasoning it could buy to get us where we are today, drowning in two wars and a nine trillion dollar debt, trillion with a “T”.   

America’s infrastructure is collapsing, and her education system is lagging behind many third world countries. Our reputation and standing in the world community has fallen off a cliff and over forty million of America’s citizens cannot get health insurance or earn enough income to put any away for a rainy day. Poverty in America is growing at an astounding rate.   

The onslaught of attacks, by our government, on our personal liberties, in the name of keeping America safe, is unyielding and stifling freedom of thought, speech and the press, all of which represent the very foundations of a free society. The overreaching of Homeland Security, the Patriot Act and the Detainee Bill, are simultaneously chipping away at the very fabric of what makes America great; Freedom. 

Health care issues are plaguing greater numbers of Americans, poverty is growing and security at our borders with Canada and Mexico is dismal. America’s international esteem, education and the inclusion of average Americans in the conscience of the person occupying the Oval office is all but absent.   

America needs change. The American people want a new direction for our country. Change is a natural derivative of Democracy and it is the citizens of democracy who mandate the timetables for that change to occur. The time is now. Americans want our national esteem back. Leading the world in freedom and peace has been America’s hallmark. Strength and wisdom had been America’s calling card in the world and can be again. A new path, born of old traditions of principle, honor and integrity is America’s future.   

Washington D.C.’s old blood has prevented the flow of free ideas and constructive participation. Freedom and liberty have been slowed in the pursuit of power and advantage in the Washington DC halls of power. We need a new leader. America needs a visionary. America needs the type of leadership that inspires us to be awed at the power of freedom and liberty. In our great history, these kinds of leaders have answered the calling of their country. Just to name a few;

George Washington, a man who would not be king.  

Abraham Lincoln, a man of humility and awe inspiring presence and spiritual strength.  

Harry Truman, an unassuming man of deep conviction and strength when America needed it. 

Martian Luther King, a great man of peace, humility, suffering, example and leadership.  

John F. Kennedy, who caught the world’s imagination and who inspired us all by leading us to be greater than our own circumstances and to reach just beyond our grasp.  

Each one a great leader and a confirmation that, in the midst of chaos, calamity and uncertainty, a champion of the people and democracy can emerge to hold the lamp and lead the way.  America needs a leader who can once again inspire us all to greatness, a leader who understands personal suffering and the humility of pain, born of humble beginnings and who has himself aspired to the American Dream.  America needs John Edwards as the next President of the United States. 

Edwards was born on June 10th, 1953 to Wallace R. Edwards and Kathryn Juanita Wade in Seneca, South Carolina. During John’s childhood the family finally eventually settled in Robbins, North Carolina where his father worked in a textile mill and his mother was a postal employee. Edwards was the first person in his family to attend college. He graduated with in 1974 from North Carolina State University, and later earned his law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where he also met his wife Elizabeth Anania.. They married in 1977 and have four children. Their first two, Wade and Cate, were born early in their marriage. Later, then sixteen year old Wade, was killed in a car accident. Following Wade's death, the Edwards had two more children, Emma Claire, born 1998, and Jack, born in 2000.  

John Edwards and his wife have known the pain of great suffering. Losing one’s own child is the greatest fear of any parent. Knowing the otherwise unimaginable pain and the incalculable sense of loss that comes with the death of a young son, or daughter is part of who they are. As many other parents in America who have lost a child through accident, war, sickness, or violence John Edwards and his family also share the experience. As with many other American families, the Edwards have come through this terrible time knowing more than before, understanding that unknown part in all of us that allows us to endure and helps us to overcome that which seems overwhelming and impossible.  

Strength of character is not common today in Washington. Over the past six years our halls of greatness in Washington D.C. have turned into passages known well by the elite and privileged. A place where corporate influence and the pursuit of personal gain and advantage has managed to drown the will of the people, where even those elected representatives of conscience and morals are quickly derailed or compromised, leaving them to no effect. I believe John Edwards has the strength of character and the moral temperance to overcome the forces in Washington that are so easily succumbed to and to overcome them for the sake of the greater good and security of the American people.    

Before becoming a US Senator, Edwards was a personal injury attorney. He represented families and children, and specialized in corporate negligence and medical malpractice claims. The people he represented, in many cases, may have otherwise never had their day in court had John Edwards not represented them.

Of the 2008 Democratic presidential contenders who voted to give President Bush authority to wage war in Iraq, only one, John Edwards, has openly and publicly stated his serious regret for having casts his vote in favor of the President.  As with many others in Congress, he had no reason to believe the President had misled America into engaging militarily in Iraq.

Edwards called attention to his vote in fall 2005, writing an op-ed piece in The Washington Post that began with: "I was wrong." 

"It wasn't just the weapons of mass destruction I was wrong about," Edwards said. "It's become absolutely clear - and I'm very critical of myself for this - looking back, that I should not have given the president this authority." 

During a recent broadcast interview Edwards said he believes that "anybody who wants to be president of the United States has got to be honest and open, be willing to admit when they've done things wrong." I was wrong," Edwards said, but he added that voters should also consider "who has the depth, the maturity, the judgment to be president of the United States." I believe John Edwards has grown to the extent he stands alone in the flood of contenders to the Oval Office. 

I believe he is qualified, ready, sincere and determined in his quest to do what is right for America and I have decided to support John Edwards for President. 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR 

 

Marshall Adame is a retired US Marine Vietnam veteran who became an Aviation Management/Logistics consultant in 1992. 

Marshall worked in the Kuwait recovery of 1992-93. 

He the Senior Aviation Logistics Manager for Kaman Aerospace in Egypt US Government programs for four years.  

Marshall was in Iraq from mid-2003 until late-2006 where: 

In 2003 he was the US Coalition Airport Director for Basrah Int'l Airport in Iraq.

In 2004 he was VP for Aviation Development with The Sandi Group Int’l, Iraq.

In 2005 Marshall was a Department of State US Diplomatic Advisor to the Iraqi Ministry of Interior and with the Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRT) where he was on the staff of the National Coordination Team (NCT) in Baghdad. 

Marshall returned to the USA in September 2006 and is currently on staff as a Senior Analyst for a DOD project. 

Marshall and his wife Becky (3rd grade teacher) have been married for 37 years and have four children, Paul, Veronica, William and Benjamin, and eleven grandchildren.  

Their sons William and Benjamin, served in Iraq in the US Army. William was wounded in action on July 2nd 2006.  

Marshall and Becky reside in Jacksonville North Carolina.  marshall_adame@yahoo.com  

Note: Marshall Adame is a likely 2008 Democratic candidate for Congress in NC and is a supporter of John Edwards for President