Reply #68: Edwards's father worked his way from the floor to LOWER mngt. He got to

[AP]

train college graduates to do the job that he did, so they could move up to upper management. His father couldn't get promoted because he didn't have a college degree.

Edwards's father worked his ass off to make it that far. His son inherited the same dedication to self-improvement. Because Edwards was enough to grow up a child of FDR only two decades later than his father during a time in America when this nation created a lot of wealth (it was the golden age of American economic development) the scale upon which Edwards could achieve was so much higher.

But it's a lie to say that Edwards grew up with ANY privileges (other than, say, being a white man -- however, it's important to note that the valedictorian of Edwards's law school class was a black man...and that man had a fabulous career, but probably couldn't run for president).

The only privelege (other than gender and race) which Edwards enjoyed was the knowledge that he had a fallback career at the mills. He knew his father could hook him up.

Some privilege. When Edwards's parents visited Edwards at his first job in private practice in TN, they went to the top of the tallest building for dinner. They had never been that high and seen so far in their life. In other words, in their late 40s, they'd never flown in an airplane. So that's some privilege Edwards had knowing that he could get a job working at the will at which his father was in lower management. But at least he had a college degree.