I turned on the television after running around this evening to see that the networks were not interrupting their evening news to cover the Obama rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, but the cable news networks were running breaking news.  The cable news networks were saying that John Edwards, the very same John Edwards that both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been courting for an endorsement since he suspended his campaing in January of this year, the very same John Edwards who told CNN’s Larry King that now was not the time to endorse either candidate earlier this week, that John Edwards was endorsing Barack Obama.

I have been a John Edwards fan since he first appeared on the national stage when he was the senator from North Carolina.  I have enjoyed listening to his speeches as I believe he addresses issues that reach to the heart of America today.  I was heartbroken when he decided to suspend his campaign prior to Super Tuesday.  I was happy he was not immediately throwing his weight behind another candidate.  I did not think that either candidate supported enough of his views for him to compromise first thing.  I did not believe that he should compromise his views.

Tonight, I listened to his speech.  I listened to a man who was about to tip the scale tremendously in the favor of the crowd’s chosen one receive boos as he spoke of the other candidate, Hillary Rodham Clinton.  I listened to a man who sounded like he was still running for office.  I listened to a man who discussed an initiative he announced in Philadelphia be endorsed by Obama.  That was when the lightning bolt went on.  He is making a pitch for the vice presidential nominee again.

I listened as John Edwards talked of the two Americas that have not been spoken of since he left the campaign.  I listened as John Edwards spoke with passion about education for all in this country.  I listened as John Edwards said Barack Obama would be president in January of 2009.  That is when I stopped listening.

I believe John Edwards, as any citizen of this country does, has the right to choose who he wants to vote for in the presidential election process.  I do not believe John Edwards has made his case to those who supported him or those who believed in him, in the speech he made this evening, that those individual voters or organizations should endorse Barack Obama.