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Inappropriate response to Edwards campaign decision |
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Wednesday, 28 March 2007 |
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by JAMISON DORAN
The announcement that John Edwards and his wife Elizabeth gave last Thursday was heart wrenching, even for people who do not share their political views.
Elizabeth’s cancer has returned and has metastasized to her bones; something that while treatable is not curable.
Most people, including myself, thought that John Edwards would likely pull out of the presidential race, or at the very least suspend his campaign to stay at home. However, with Elizabeth at his side they both announced that they had every intention of continuing the campaign.
I really shouldn’t have been surprised. This is a family who has gone
through many hardships, yet they never give up or fade away away.
They’ve continued to push forward despite the tragedy of losing their
son Wade in a car accident when he was 16 and despite Elizabeth’s
diagnosis of breast cancer in the fall of 2004.
I, as well as everyone else, should’ve realized that they would
continue to push forward with the campaign, because they believe that
it is for a greater good.
The news the last few days in regards to this decision have been rather
shocking. Instead of well wishes and talk of her bravery during this
time, some people have begun to judge them for continuing the campaign
(however I am quite sure that if John Edwards had dropped out of the
race they’d be criticized for that decision as well).
Two of the worst offenders have been Rush Limbaugh (not a surprise) and Katie Couric (which is surprising).
On his March 23 radio broadcast Rush Limbaugh had this to say: “[Most] people when told a family
member’s been diagnosed with the kind of cancer Elizabeth Edwards has,
they turn to God. The Edwards turned to the campaign. Their religion is
politics and the quest for the White House.”
He also, as reported on the March 22 edition of MSNBC’s Countdown with
Keith Olbermann, hinted that whether or not John Edwards would suspend
his campaign had to do with whether or not he got a bump
in the polls due to this announcement.
Yes, I’m sure that John Edwards, who appears to be a completely decent
human being who loves his wife unconditionally, would use her cancer
for his political gain.
To even insinuate such a fact is appalling and honestly makes me more than a little sick to my stomach.
Limbaugh also makes it sound like that you have to have God in your life to be able to deal with cancer.
What about those people who don’t believe in a higher power? Are they just doomed?
Many people after given life changing news, push forward with their
every day lives, not wanting to stop and “let the cancer win” so to
speak.
While most people, me included, can just write Rush Limbaugh off
because of his extremism and his outrageous comments, I could not do
the same thing when Katie Couric was involved.
Katie Couric interviewed both John and Elizabeth Edwards the Sunday
after they made their announcement that her cancer was back and the
campaign would continue.
This interview on 60 Minutes was billed as “their first interview since revealing that her cancer has returned.”
I thought that this would be an interview about how Elizabeth was
doing, how much her cancer had spread and perhaps why they chose to
continue with the presidential campaign.
However, it was the last part that Couric decided to focus on.
She told John Edwards at one point that he was putting “work first and
his family second”- when most people believe that it should be the
other way around.
She also said he is being “judged by a lot of people” and while some call what he’s doing “courageous, other’s say its callous.”
It was almost if she was attacking them for continuing to run.
The reason her line of questioning was so surprising was because of her own personal history.
Couric’s husband was diagnosed in 1997 of colon cancer and later died.
It was a tragedy and Couric has been an avid spokesperson for colon
cancer awareness and yearly colonoscopies to prevent cancer from
happening, which is something I applaud.
However I don’t think she would’ve appreciated people interrogating her
about her decision to keep working on The Today Show during her
husband’s illness. That was her personal choice and likely a coping
mechanism.
It also showed the world that life doesn’t stop because someone gets
cancer, you have to keep moving and going forward, or else you just
might go insane.
That’s what the Edwards family is doing. They don’t feel that it is
right for them to sit at home all day, when they truly believe that
they can make a difference in this country and can do it by continuing
this campaign.
If Elizabeth had wanted her husband to suspend the campaign, he
would’ve in a heartbeat. If they really believed that Elizabeth was too
sick to continue, he would’ve stopped his run.
However, while her cancer is serious and not curable, she has some of
the best doctor’s helping her and will continue to get treatment and
hopefully have as much time as possible.
I think what they’re doing is a great message to not only cancer victims and their families, but for everyone.
Bad, tragic and awful things happen but sitting around feeling sorry for yourself isn’t going to solve anything.
Sadly people get diagnosed with cancer every single day, yet life goes
on and the earth continues to spin around its axis. Time doesn’t stop
for people with cancer, it keeps going and many people believe that
keeping normalcy in their lives is the best thing they can do.
That’s what the Edwards family is doing.
As Elizabeth said so eloquently during the 60 Minutes interview,
“Either you push yourself forward with the things that you were doing
yesterday or you start dying.”
And she’s going to continue pushing herself forward with the campaign, because she’s certainly not ready to go yet.
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Nothing that Couric said was especially cruel or malicious. But she did not tip-toe through the interview because of a sensitive issue. These are public figures, and this is a presidential campaign. Serious questions must be asked. The Edwardses are well aware of this. And Elizabeth appears to be a very strong woman. That family has been through a lot, and they can handle some straightforward questioning.
Also, it is a mistake to perceive a hard line of questioning as being reflective of Couric's own personal opinion. It is a journalist's job to anticipate what questions their viewers (or readers) might have for public figures, whether those viewers be supporters, skeptics or critics.
Do you let people like Limbaugh and other skeptics speculate that the Edwardses are using Elizabeth's diagnosis for political gain, or do you ask them those questions to their faces and allow them a chance to respond?
Furthermore, it would be a disservice to both viewers and the Edwardses to play a sympathy card and toss in a lot of softballers. The Edwardses said themselves that they don't want a sympathy vote. They needed a chance to address their critics.
And, the Edwardses obviously anticipated the hard questions and were very prepared for them (otherwise, why in the world would they agree to be interviewed by Limbaugh?)
So if people "interrogated" Couric about her decision to work through her husband's illness, I'd venture to say that as a journalist, she probably understood.
As an aside, it's funny that people would "expect" figures like Edwards and Couric to put their jobs on hold to care for an ailing spouse. Unfortunately, the working class is not afforded that opportunity.