A lot of people missed this — OK, I missed it — but it seems that John Edwards has put himself squarely back into the mix to be Barack Obama’s running mate. After earlier saying he wouldn’t do it, Edwards changed his tune in an NPR interview this week. “I’m prepared to seriously consider anything, anything [Obama] asks me to do for our country,” Edwards said. The entire exchange:
NPR: Yesterday, Senator Edwards, Virginia Senator Jim Webb ruled out accepting an offer to run on the Democratic ticket with Barack Obama. Now, it’s an open secret that you are on the short list. If you were asked, would you accept your party’s vice-presidential nomination?
Sen. EDWARDS: I’m glad to hear that’s an open secret, because I didn’t know it. I – my answer to that is, I’ve run for vice president, I’ve run for president twice, I would do anything that I felt I could do to serve this country. But I think it’s a huge presumption, from me or anybody else, to suggest what Senator Obama may decide. To answer your question directly, I don’t expect to be asked, have no expectation about it at all. I will – anything that Senator Obama asks me to do, including this, including campaigning for him, I intend to do, because I’m – what I’m going to do, I intend to take seriously. Because what I intend to do is everything in my power – use everything in my power to make sure that he’s the next president.
NPR: So, you are prepared, perhaps, to accept that or perhaps a cabinet position in a possible Obama administration?
Sen. EDWARDS: I’m prepared to seriously consider anything, anything he asks me to do for our country.