I think the most important point that John Edwards makes in this interview is the fact that George Bush does not like dissent. You are with us or against us. I read vapid Neocon comments on the web such as, "Why do Democrats hug terrorists and boo military personnel?" What?
So this is what dissent has gotten us, more tired labels and bumper sticker phrases. We didn't just make this stuff up here, the whole, we the people? Dissent is the basic principal of our Democracy and freedom of speech is the first amendment for a reason. I don't think our founding fathers arbitrarily numbered these things, they knew dissent from the people and press was the first line of defense against a Government hell bent on taking away such personal freedoms. First talk, then you can carry your gun.
But not only does Edwards call for dissent, he wants to be clear that he doesn't want to hug it out with Lobbyists and large corporations where profits come before people. It hasn't worked for the last few years has it? We still don't have universal healthcare, livable wages and the security that our 401(k)'s won't wind up in someone eleses pocket.
Edwards dismisses Obama's argument that more consensus is needed in Washington. The difference between them, Edwards told me, is the difference between "Kumbaya" and "saying, 'This is a battle. It's a fight.' " When I asked whether he's a populist, he lifted a riff from his stump speech: "If it means you're willing to stand up for ordinary people, the kind of people that I grew up with, against very powerful, entrenched interests, then yes, I am a populist."
HuffingtonPost
Of course there is context here, Edwards is telling us that he's going to fight for us! He knows this won't be easy, that once he's in the White House the majority of our Representatives aren't going to roll over for his legislation, he knows that special interests for large corporations are the status quo.
David Sirota put it so well in the following:
I've written a lot about Obama, including a major piece for The Nation magazine last year. In my time studying his career, it became obvious that this is a person who wants to do the right thing and has genuinely strong convictions. But he also seems to believe that the reason our country has such challenges is because all sides of every issue have not come together in unity (I've gone back and forth wondering whether this is a sincere belief or merely a justification for overly cautious behavior, but I'm not a psychoanalyst, so I have no idea).
The problem with this outlook is that it fundamentally misunderstands why we are at this moment in history. Forty-five million Americans are uninsured, and millions more underinsured not because low-income health advocates and the insurance industry haven't sat down together and sung Kumbaya. It's because, unlike every other industrialized country in the world, we have a government that has been bribed into allowing the insurance industry to profiteer off sick people. Our global warming problem did not happen because environmentalists and the auto industry refused to hug each other. It happened because the auto industry has bought off enough politicians to make sure we don't increase fuel efficiency standards.
Dissent. It's not just about the war in Iraq, it's about the battle we are fighting here in American, the battle for those who can't fight because they can barely get through their days. The battle that hasn't yet begun for those who are not insured or who are underinsured that could find themselves bankrupt because of a sudden illness or catastrophic injury. Lets end the game of we can work it out. It seems that when Congress compromises with large companies and their powerful lobbies it's the ones who hurt the most that gain the least. Please, lets stop it now.
So, that's why he doesn't take lobbyist money! That's why election funding must change and K Street needs to go away! It's all connected and it's all a form of dissent that we can particpate in.
John Edwards - Reno Town Hall: Two Americas!
Unfortunately it seems this section is needed
Kumbaya - Ironic usage
Though the song was originally associated with unity and closeness, it is now often referenced sarcastically to connote a blandly pious and naively optimistic view of the world and human nature.
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
And for more, please check this post at JohnEdwards.com.
Arianna Huffington used Kumbaya re Bill Clinton (1+ / 0-)
Recommended by:TomP
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/...
Tracy Ullman used it to describe "left-wing Nicaraguan theatre". Rick Santorum used it in a debate against Harris Wofford (describing his program thusly: 'Somebody is going to do one year of community service picking up trash in a park and singing 'Kumbaya' around a campfire, and you're going to give them the equivalent of a G. I. Bill!'). Then-president Bill Clinton's spokesperson used it to reference a political meeting with Asian leaders (references here: http://en.allexperts.com/...
There are no racial undertones to the usage of the word in political discourse.
Thanks GrannyHelen!