Thursday, July 19, 2007
John Edwards Fires Up His PopulismBy Eric Pooley/Huntington, West Virginia
After three days on the road with John Edwards in some of the poorest places in America, it's not only the depth of human need that hits you, but the layered and interlocking complexity of it — the way a complete lack of health care, for instance, can all by itself consign someone to ignorance and joblessness. But you're also struck by how so many of the people who have been dealt these difficult hands manage to play them with grace and fortitude.
<>Edwards' populism was heating up — and threatening to boil over. Though he had sometimes seemed distracted on this tour, as if holding something back during so many sessions with so many needy people, his passion had been building since the night before in Pittsburgh, as he weaved stories from the past two days into his remarks and brought into sharp focus the themes of his poverty tour: That it is wrong for millions of Americans to have no medical care. That it is wrong for millions of Americans to work full time yet live in poverty.
And on Wednesday he began linking the problems of the poor to the economic anxieties of the middle class in a way he had not often done over the previous two days. It's a linkage he'll undoubtedly make again and again as he builds his message in the coming months and tries to reinvigorate his campaign.
"I've been asked by some of the media, 'Senator, the two Americas you talk about, is it the rich and the poor?' No. It's not. The two Americas are the very rich and everybody else."If our politics are entering a new populist phase, Edwards isn't about to be left behind. On Wednesday in Prestonburg, the same day Barack Obama was delivering a speech on urban poverty, Edwards went after the fat cats in his own income bracket with real fervor. "We have the greatest economic inequality we've had in America since the great Depression," he said. "We're now made up of a few rich people who are doing extremely well and everybody else. Washington's response has been 'Greed is good. Take care of the lobbyists. Take care of the special interests.' There's another two Americas that exist in this country: there's one for the lobbyists, for the special interests, for the powerful, for the big multinational corporations and there's another one for everybody else. Well I'm here to say that their America is over!"
He didn't spell out how he intended to shut down the America of the influence peddlers, but nobody really expected him to. It was a satisfying moment for the hundreds of people in the crowd, who shouted lustily as Edwards thundered away. At a press conference after the speech, Edwards was asked how he'll respond to the inevitable accusations of class warfare.
"I would say that we have in fact two different Americas," he replied. "It's a reality. I'm not against people doing well. I'm a leading example of someone who has done extremely well. Elizabeth and I have everything you could ever have. But the problem today is that the opportunities are being denied. That's actually why I'm running for President. If you call wanting to give everybody a chance 'class warfare,' then so be it. That's what I'm for."Whatever else happens to Edwards this year, whatever his candidacy becomes, it matters that he spent three days talking about the problems of people like James Lowe. Maybe Edwards succeeds in linking those problems to the concerns of the middle class and ignites his candidacy. And maybe he doesn't. Either way, he did some good this week and won at least one vote. "It means the world to me that he come down here," said James Lowe. "He's talking about helping working people? He's listening to people like me? To me, that means everything."
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1644961,00.html
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
