[jdege]

He wasn't a leader, then. Or even campaigning to become one.

The job of Congress is to pass laws and to provide resources, not to set policy or execute it.

Clancy was asking what the country should do, what the government should do.

Edwards was answering with what Congress would do.

And as far as it went, it was the right answer - make sure the Executive had what it needed in order to do what needed to be done.

It's not a wrong answer, but it's not a very visionary one.

It indicates someone who's prone to looking only at the problem in front of him - who has difficulty seeing the larger context.

Someone who has problems with the "vision thing".

Which is not what we need in a leadership position right now.

[inkling]

True. He answered like a politician hedging his bets and burying his head in process. Compare this to another senator, McCain, who famously responded to the perpetrators of 9-11 with, "may God have mercy on their souls, because we won't."

Edwards shouldn't have yelled, "I'm in command" and started barking orders. But it is a little unsettling that his only reaction in a long interview was to sputter anemic vagaries. Remember how you felt the night of 9-11? No leader would have spoken like Edwards. Hell, any average American would have responded with more passion.