Why Hasn't John Edwards Done Better?
By Prorev.com Editor Sam Smith
When Democrats talk about things they don't like about John Edwards, they typically express skepticism about a wealthy
trial lawyer advocating populist positions or his $400 haircut or the size of his 10,000 square foot home and 15,000
square foot barn. These same Democrats - and the media - never talk about Hillary Clinton's $1200 makeup job or the fact
that when you add up the size of her Washington and Chappaqua homes, they surpass 10,000 square feet, not to mention her
husband's 8300 square foot office with a $30,000 a month rent is picked up by taxpayers.
The difference is another example of how some politicians get away with the same things that do others in. In the end,
it isn't about the haircut or house at all; it's about who is getting it or living there.
In fact, John Edwards falls into one of the smallest and most appealing classes of politicians: a reformed sinner who is
better than he used to be. Hillary Clinton is not only unreformed, she has never uttered the slightest words of remorse
for behavior that almost got her prosecuted, let alone for all her other offenses against integrity and decency. And
Barrack Ohblahblah is still trying to convince people that he deserves the White House primarily by regurgitating
endless bromides like a bulimic fortune cookie.
It is true that Edwards could be lying to us, but it is curious that those most inclined to think so are the same who
have yet to notice any hint of mendacity in Mrs. Clinton - and thus may not be all that equipped to judge deception. My
guess is that a combination of mundane success and extraordinary tragedy left Edwards feeling an emptiness that he has
attempted to fill with a heavy dose of conscience. It would be nice to see the other candidates give it a try. And it
would be nice if some of the Democrats sniping at Edwards' wealth would recall that Franklin Roosevelt and John F
Kennedy weren't poor either.
While falling far short on some issues like Iraq and healthcare, what Edwards has proposed would represent the most
fundamental shift in social and economic policy in several decades. He proposes returning the Democratic Party to its
roots in the New Deal and Great Society; he proposes restoring some of the social democracy that Bill Clinton and George
Bush so successfully dismantled; and he proposes reintroducing collective responsibility to a society that has become
obsessed with individual acquisition.
It is small wonder that the establishment - including the leaders of the Democratic Party and the sycophantic media -
finds Edwards so troubling. If he were to live up to his promise, a President Edwards might change this country for the
better in a way not seen since LBJ's domestic programs.
This scares a generation of greed - Generation G - which has outdone the 19th century robber barons in abusing the
advantages of this land by turning them solely to their own benefit.
But this same phenomenon has also misled those who have not benefited - i.e. most of the country. The destructive myths
of imaginary free markets, privatization and globalization have destroyed this country in a manner no would-be foreign
invader has ever achieved. The RBCB years - of Reagan, Bush, Clinton & Bush - have trashed social democracy, our constitution and sense of common purpose, leaving us run by an avaricious
adhocracy and running into the ground our sense of honor and standing in the rest of the world.
So Edwards has been up against two formable forces: a bipartisan Generation G that recognizes the threat he would be to
their narcissistic game and a potential constituency that should support him but has been too deeply deceived to do so.
Yet even if the tide doesn't turn, even if we end up with the rotten apple campaign of Clinton vs. Giuliani, Edwards has
performed a service. He has reminded us what a decent mainstream American leader can be like. And those he has
encouraged and those who have encouraged him won't disappear even if he loses. Let's hope he doesn't desert them if
things don't work out, but instead uses the campaign as the first step in creating a coalition of conscience that helps
America find its way back home again
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FROM UNDERNEWS
FROM THE PROGRESSIVE REVIEW
EDITED BY SAM SMITH
Since 1964, Washington's most unofficial source
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