"Lord Knows You Let Them Go on Forever"

Here's what cost John Edwards the media attention and ensuing votes: when he refused to get down in the sensationalist muck of personal animosity with Clinton and Obama in South Carolina. He gave them quite an upbraiding during one of the finest moments of any of the debates: "We have got to understand that this is not about us personally. It is about what we are trying to do for this country."

That last part of discussion about subprime loans and discrimination in predatory lending is the most daunting domestic challenge we have. It involves problems that market-based strategies won't solve, because market-based strategies got us in this mess--which pins poor families and African American families at the bottom of the pile disproportionately--to begin with.