Did Obama Blow a John Edwards Endorsement?

(hat tip to Matt Stoller at Open Left)

John Heilemann at New York Magazine seems to indicate that Obama had an Edwards endorsement in the bag:

So appalled was Edwards at Clinton’s gaudy corporatism—her defense of the role of lobbyists, her suckling at the teats of the pharmaceutical and defense industries—that he’d essentially called her corrupt. And then, not least, there were the sentiments of his wife. "Elizabeth hasn’t always been crazy about Mrs. Clinton" is how an Edwards insider puts it; a less delicate member of HRC’s circle says, "Elizabeth hates her guts."

The lobbyist is a huge issue for me, and one of the reasons I moved into the Obama camp after Edwards dropped out.

So what happened? For one, Clinton seemed to work harder for Edwards support:

According to a Democratic strategist unaligned with any campaign but with knowledge of the situation gleaned from all three camps, the answer is simple: Obama blew it. Speaking to Edwards on the day he exited the race, Obama came across as glib and aloof. His response to Edwards’s imprecations that he make poverty a central part of his agenda was shallow, perfunctory, pat. Clinton, by contrast, engaged Edwards in a lengthy policy discussion. Her affect was solicitous and respectful. When Clinton met Edwards face-to-face in North Carolina ten days later, her approach continued to impress; she even made headway with Elizabeth.

As an Edwards supporter who now supports Obama, I'm not surprised that Obama and Edwards collided over health care. This is a tremendously important issue, and one of the few pills that I still have trouble swallowing with an Obama candidacy:

Whereas in his Edwards sit-down, Obama dug himself in deeper, getting into a fight with Elizabeth about health care, insisting that his plan is universal (a position she considers a crock), high-handedly criticizing Clinton’s plan (and by extension Edwards’s) for its insurance mandate.

I respect Edwards for not bucking one of his principles. I bucked my strong feelings on universal health care and decided to support Obama anyway. Edwards clung to that principle. And I admire him for it.

The truth is Obama has done just fine without the support of the Edwards. He's done extremely well in the mid-west. He's done extremely well with African Americans. He's done extremely well in urban areas. The math already basically says that Obama has won.

But there's one reason why an Edwards endorsement would have been extremely helpful: to end this thing. Yes, Obama has won. But will he win big? Will he win with momentum? Will he win with the party united behind him? I hope so, but that's not so clear.

Hillary Clinton couldn't drop out, even if she wanted to. She overperformed in Ohio, and is likely to win in Pennsylvania -- two states where Edwards could really help Obama with working class voters. You can't really drop out after a victory, even a Pyhrric victory. From what I know about Ohio and NAFTA, Edwards could have shut Clinton down in Ohio, and allowed her to drop out while she still had a shred of dignity left...

My feelings on this are conflicted. I definitely don't want Edwards to endorse Clinton, and I don't think he will. And I want this to be over. I think an Edwards endorsement for Obama could wrap this up faster, and cleaner. But I also respect Edwards for sticking by universal health care.

And who knows... maybe he's keeping his powder dry, in case things get really messy after Pennsylvania.

(EDIT: forgot the link. My bad, people. Naturally, take this with a grain of salt. It's what one person said about what one person said about what happened behind closed doors.)

(UPDATE: This account really doesn't add up. I know Edwards and Obama didn't agree on health care. But did they really get together just to collide on this issue one more time? Moreover, Edwards supported single payer health care, and saw his plan as the first step in getting there. Obama has also said in the past, to the AFL-CIO, that he supported single payer health care. And has said he supports it in principle. For a guy that's supposedly so good at building coalitions, these two couldn't find common ground? So while this is interesting speculation, it's probably safer to treat this as gossip.)