Populism's Candidate

[jackson_dem]

The triumph of global capital and crony capitalism over the past several decades has created a country of Silicon Valleys and Berlins, SoHo lofts and storm-ravaged Lower Ninth Ward bungalows. The last time Edwards ran for President, he called this the "Two Americas" and promised to stitch them together. But from the day Edwards announced this campaign in the Lower Ninth, he has presented himself as a warrior for one of those Americas as it fights to wrest back some of the ill-gotten gains from the other one--the "moneyed interests" and "entrenched corporate power" that have a "stranglehold on our democracy."

This populism makes the establishment media uncomfortable: consummate Beltway pundit Stuart Rothenberg recently worried in a column that the stock market would tank the day after Edwards was elected. When the Des Moines Register endorsed Hillary Clinton, it chided the 2008 populist incarnation of Edwards for his "harsh anti-corporate rhetoric." But "harsh" pretty accurately sums up the country's judgment of the past seven years. In New Hampshire exit polls, two-thirds of Democrats and half of Republican voters said they were "angry" with the Bush Administration. The economy was the top issue in both parties, with nine out of ten voters expressing anxiety about it. All of which should redound to Edwards's benefit. The coalition envisioned by his campaign would stack different classes atop one another until the sum towered over a conservative minority of plutocrats. It would bring together the urban poor, the working poor in far-flung exurbs, the white working class in shuttered mill towns and the deeply anxious college-educated middle class. But it has been unable to put such a coalition together. When election day had come and gone, Edwards managed only 23 percent even on the favorable terrain of Berlin; Hillary Clinton won the town easily with 50 percent of the vote.

Edwards and his campaign point out that they've been fighting uphill: out-fundraised and outspent in Iowa six to one (probably closer to three to one, when independent 527 expenditures are figured in) and constantly contending with a press corps that, in the words of one Edwards staffer, "has never found a place for us in their story." These disadvantages are compounded by the shortcomings of Edwards's message. He almost never, unprompted, says a word about foreign policy; his pugilism can get the better of him (as when he took a cheap, sexist shot at Clinton for tearing up); and his stump speech, sharp and focused and righteous as it may be, is also so full of pathos it prompted something close to muted despair in me every time I heard it. Watching Nataline Sarkisyan's family give a raw, emotional account of their daughter's death in a hospital after Cigna waited too long to approve a liver transplant, I felt like someone had driven a railroad spike through my sternum. I couldn't imagine calling voters or knocking on doors or even going to polls. And I don't think it was just me. Unlike at Obama and Clinton rallies, where the crowds cheer at the slightest provocation, during most of Edwards's stump speech you can hear a pin drop. It's a bit like attending a funeral for the American dream.

New Hampshire proved that writing off campaigns or predicting outcomes is a mug's game. But no matter who wins the Democratic nomination, the fact remains that the Edwards campaign has set the domestic policy agenda for the entire field. He was the first with a bold universal healthcare plan, the first with an ambitious climate change proposal that called for cap-and-trade, and the leader on reforming predatory lending practices and raising the minimum wage to a level where it regains its lost purchasing power. Edwards's rhetoric has started to bleed into his rivals' speeches as well. "Too many have been invisible for too long," Clinton said in her victory speech Tuesday night. "Well, you are not invisible to me. The oil companies, the drug companies, the health insurance companies, the predatory student loan companies have had seven years of a President who stands up for them. It's time we had a President who stands up for all of you."

http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20080128&s=hayes

[Joanne98]

1. GO EDWARDS!!!!!!!!!!!

[Yael]

2. "Edwards's rhetoric has started to bleed into his rivals' speeches as well."

He is on message, and everyone from Obama and Clinton to Romney and Huckabee are playing parrot to it.

[saracat]

3. And isn't it odd that it would be Hillary who would pick up John's message? While I prefer it be

John, good for her.Now if she will divest herslf of the lobbyists , I might begin to believe her!

[Desertrose]

4. Actually, wasn't much of this what Kucinich was saying in '04?

Really?

I remember Dennis saying these things before Edwards began to echo them.

Thing is with Dennis, I believe he is sincere about these thing...with Edwards, not so sure..but not because I don't want to believe.

[caligirl]

5. Silicon Valley use to play a driving role in the USA , with manufacturing

outsourced that is no longer the case. You cannot imagine how angry I am to read how much money Bill and Hil were taking from Indian business leaders, that Hil is getting a communications building named for her at a tech university in India because of the close relationship she and Bill have to Indian business leaders. they have taken millions in donations and given one the job of co chair of finance in her campaign. Silicon Valley is no longer the economic engine of this country, job losses to Americans are staggering here. My husbands division at his company once employed 1700 people, its now 200 and a republican hatchet man wants to outsource two more sections of that to India and he recently outsourced another to India. At the high teck company he had previously worked at in the manufacturing end before taking the job where he is now, all those people including the one who filled his old job were laid off as their jobs went to India, a friend of his lost his job and never found another in high tech. At my husbands company they also make every effort to lay people off and hire temps or contractors that can be easily let go. Paying them far less than the people laid off. These aren't mills, they are high tech companies that brought in millions to California and this country. Its gone and Nafta, by Bill, did this. As people were loosing their jobs here Bill and Hil were making numerous trips to India and taking in millions of dollars from thankful Indian leaders.

It is personal for me Hil. You won't get my vote.