John Edwards stopped by the National Press Club today to talk about some stuff. The video is up at C-SPAN John Edwards at Nat'l Press Club.
It was a robust speech. Although he focused on poverty, as he usually does. He gave us all as Democrats much to think about. In advance of the speech Bob Herbert of NYTimes wrote this editorial: America in 2026. Kos diaried the op-ed here Edwards' Big Idea. The full remarks can be viewed at OAC: National Press Club Policy Address.
But is more than just the poverty issue. This is the greatest strength in the Edwards message. I follow him closely, can you tell? I think his message is so strong because it's integrated. It ties in from every angle and it's easy to remember. The message centers on the fundamental belief that every person is of equal worth. Everyone. Period. Follow me below the fold for some highlights and discussion.
"We should ask the following three questions and we should demand answers from our leaders." The frame for the speech is in three questions:
- What kind of leadership should America be providing for the world?
- What kind of America do we want to live in 20 years from now?
- What kind of Democratic Party do we believe in?
Off to the races, the highlights:
Question 1: What kind of leadership should America be providing for the world?
- "We desperately need to restore... the legitimate moral core of leadership that America needs to provide in the world."
- "Over the last six years the idea of American leadership has become a contradiction in and of itself, even among our friends." Hostility towards this country is rampant.
- Strengthen international institutions or in some cases create them where there is a void. "I want to live in the kind of America I grew up in." Where common people all around the world looked up to us with respect. They wanted to be like us. They don't anymore.
- Where are we on: proliferation of WMD? The genocide in Darfur? Global Poverty?
- "We have to have a real plan on Iraq." He's in the Murtha camp on this one, "we are fueling the insurgency." Reduction in troops will show that we don't intend to remain an occupier. Other countries in the region have a huge stake in the Iraq that emerges from the conflict. Where are they?
- The Global War on Terror cannot be won as long as we have no moral authority. Restoring that faith will undermine our enemy in a devastating way.
- The world is watching. They saw Katrina just the same as we did. It showed hypocrisy and undermines the country at every turn.
- Where is America on eradication of preventable diseases? Malaria, vaccinations, aids. Where is America on the alleviation of poverty? Half the planet lives on 2 dollars a day.
Question 2: What kind of America do we want to live in 20 years from now?
- An America that is on the way to ending poverty in this country. Not alleviating it or addressing it - folks, ending it.
- "A country where every single American has healthcare coverage." The accent really kicks in here, like when Oprah gets all ghetto on us, "And I'm not talking about some weasel words or wiggle words. You know we're gonna give them access to healthcare. We're gonna try to reduce healthcare cost. I'm talking about every American has healthcare coverage. That's the America I want to live in 20 years from now."
- An America with a "fair and competitive international market place". A country where every American has a chance at living in the middle-class.
- An America "that is free from it's dependence on fossil fuel", a country "where we have environmental policies that reflect our pride in this extraordinary place that we live." Energy security, energy sanity, environmental responsibility. This is going to be a hard one. It'll require, "shared sacrifice, innovation, conservation. It'll require all of us to act together."
- An America where we will not be debating our commitment to civil rights and civil liberties. An America where we don't make excuses for violating those sacred rights. "The test of liberty is in those moments when those excuses start to sound reasonable. In moments of fear."
- An America that values work in the same way that it values wealth. "Our country is great because people work hard." Not just elites but the little people, "Any disrespect to them is a disrespect of the values that made America what it is today."
- A country without two education systems. This is so key. And it's so pervasive.
Question 3: What kind of Democratic Party do we believe in? I've only read about real democrats in books, until I started following this guy. May be my own ignorance, may be the DLC. This is what John Edwards wants the Democrats to be. I tend to agree, can you tell.
- A party of big ideas. "with backbone and courage to turn those ideas into workable policies that actually change people's lives."
- A party that stands up for those that have no voice. The forgotten middle-class, the poor, retirees who have worked their whole lives.
- A party that stands up for those who speak truth to power even when it's not popular. "That's what made this country what it is today. It's absolutely at the foundation of our democracy." A party that fights for what is right when people think it wrong.
- "We do not have to accept compromise or mediocrity or give away our principals in this process."
- NOT a party "obsessed with incrementalism, half-measures, positions based on yesterday's polls.
- If we want to lead then we have to represent something that is more than our own self-promotion. "We have to decide that what's best for America is more important than what's best for us individually."
He ends the first half of the speech this way:
These times are critical, so I want to be clear about something. This battle for the soul of the Democratic Party, in this battle for the soul of the Democratic Party there is no less at stake than the future of America and no less at stake than the future of the world.
As Democrats, we need to be specific with ideas about how we're going to address these issues. Some of which I just talked about. We need to make clear that when we see hard challenges we're not going to run away from them. We're going to be called to service; we're going to be called to action.
To me there is no better opportunity to do that than the great moral cause, I believe, of our time. Which is 37 million of our own people that wake up everyday worried about feeding their children, clothing their children and having a decent place to live in the most prosperous nation on the face of the planet.
The truth of the matter is that how we decide as a country to deal with poverty says everything about the character of America.
And that's just the first 15 minutes folks. He goes on with the poverty speech, that's always the best part of his speeches. I know most people thinks it's a bummer so I'll not dissect that portion here. There are some astounding quotes in that half of the speech. Check the video if you're interested. You won't be disappointed. And yes, he "is the son-of-a-mill-worker," if you didn't already know that.
Although people tend to pigeonhole the guy, poverty or domestic concerns, the way forward as a country on foreign policy as well as domestic policy depends on us renewing our commitment to each other as citizens with a common vested interest in what happens in our neighborhoods, our cities and towns, our states, our country and ultimately our world.
If we can't put up our end in that commitment then we can't live in the kind of country that our parents grew up in and thrived in. We're just a bunch of sharks swimming in the dirty waters. And everyone at home and abroad knows it.
Just one part from the poverty speech because the guy is five years ahead of the curve. And he deserves some recognition for that.
When I talked in the 2004 campaign and some of you heard me talk about poverty in America, there were so many political experts, I know I have some of my friends here who heard it, so many political experts said, 'why are you doing this?' You know this is futile. It's not gonna work. They said, "nobody cared".
Well I'm here to tell you they care. And you don't have to take my word for it. All you have to do is look at how this country responded to the hurricane hitting the Gulf Coast. The governement was a mess, everybody recognizes that. But America was not a mess. The volunteering, the contributions, the taking of families into homes, embracing those families.
Katrina showed us ... that there really are Two Americas ... [the victims] are the symbol of the poor... Katrina showed us the truth of Two Americas, but it showed us something else. It showed us that this country wants One America.
Put that in your pundit pipe and smoke it James Carville, Bob Schrum and the rest of you DLC sellouts.
He then tells us how to get there and like I said the poverty part of the speech is the best part. Check the video, 57 minutes.