Reply #13: I was Kucinich then Dean in 2004 . . .

[Broke Dad]

I was sooo tired of hearing the "son of a mill worker" speech in 2004.

Edwards has worked on a lot of Habitat for Humanity houses the last three years. He has spend a fair amount of time in New Orleans helping rebuild houses too. Most of the work in Iowa was done with no press around. Just local folks in need. I felt like he finally saw how 50 - 60 million of us struggle every day. The Democratic Party used to be the party of the blue collar worker and the working poor. I blame the Clintons, among others in the DLC, for throwing in with the corporate elite against the rest of us. NAFTA, GATT, the list goes on and on. After six years of more of the same and "stay the course" I want a president who can admit he was wrong, make corrections, and most of all remember that he is the voice for those of us without a lobbyist or a PAC. Jimmy Carter was the last president to talk about the "common good."

My problem with Dennis this cycle is that he is like John the Baptist in the desert. He is a prophet, but he is not a leader. If Dennis was a leader, he would have at least 225 other congresspersons backing his initiatives. Leadership is about bringing people to your point of view, it is about building consensus. Dennis is not doing this. It looks like he is not even trying. Seeing Dennis on the trail, it seems like it is more important to him to be right than to build a consensus.

I believe that John Edwards, and to a lesser extent, Barak Obama, have the skills to convince America to change, to build consensus and to return the Democratic Party to its roots.