On December 30th, 2006 I went to see John Edwards speak at the Brookland Health and Wellness Center in Columbia. I decided I should hear what he has to say, but I had one misgiving about him: his refusal to recant his vote on the Patriot Act.
My girlfriend was leaving for New York late that afternoon, but we had enough time to catch Edward's speech before the plane left. We knew we'd have to leave if it took too long for Edwards to present his case, but we took the risk of being rude to view this presentation.
Unfortunately, it turned out the Brookland Health and Fitness Center was the gym of a church. This didn't pose much of a problem, because atheists don't tend to burst into flame when they step into a church. Still, I packed some garlic in case it was necessary.
We arrived at the center 15 minutes before the event was set to begin. This proved to be a mistake on two levels. We arrived too late to get good seats and had to sit in the bleachers. We arrived to early to avoid some show that was put on before Edwards. We had to sit through what seemed like an eternity of Christian music. I did find some amusement in this, however. During a song must have titled "Fight for the Lord," some lady was punching the air as though she was Rocky Balboa. My amusement went sour when I realized the implications of such a song. If you don't get what I'm talking about, change it to "Fight for Allah" and imagine 9/11.
Suddenly, in grand theatrical fashion, John Edwards walked into the room and the crowd went wild! In reality, he merely walked in from a side door and he received a standing ovation. But hey, he's a politician, not David Copperfield.
Mr. Edwards then went into his spiel. I can save everyone a lot of time on the details and break it down into one message: "We must reclaim our status as the ideal democracy; an example to the world." Mr. Edwards has some great ideas on how to attain this lofty position we once held. He also realizes that it will require a lot of work, it won't happen overnight, and nothing is perfect. Still, he did present some of the best plans I've listened to so far for: citizen action, UN involvement in foreign affairs, health care reform, and regaining our lost civil liberties. However, it's nothing I haven't heard before, but it's nice to have it wrapped up in one package. I do hope the package is indicative of the contents.
Question and answer time came up. When I first arrived, I talked to a lady outside about my one misgiving on Edwards. She told me it would make an excellent question, so I ran through in my mind how I would ask the question on the off-chance I was called on.
The area closest to Mr. Edwards was able to ask questions first. I can't remember everything that was asked, but I do remember the crazy person who said we should hang Bush like was done to Saddam. That was rather awkward, but Mr. Edwards waved it off by disagreeing and explaining why he thought Saddam was a bad person. Nice turn around. The rest of the questions were straight forward: health care, bringing our troops home, etc. A good acquaintance of mine asked a question about abortion and women's rights, for which I understand she received flak from the church members. Sorry, but when you decided to rent out your gym for a political rally it's possible you're going to hear things you might not like.
Then, somehow I was called on. Thinking back on it, I suspect Mr. Edwards thought I would ask about education. My plan was not to ask something that would get back stock answers, but to ask something that I feel was important he answered.
I stood up, and pointed at myself to make sure he meant me. There was an older guy below me with his hand raised, and I was afraid he had called on him. I should have caught the "young man" part, but I was somewhat nervous when I realized everyone was looking at me.
Someone came up and put a microphone in my face. My thought out speech left my mind as a completely surreal nervousness crept into my psyche. I started with my words coming out very shaky, but it slowly straightened out as I got the feel for the attention. The following is a paraphrase of my question, as I'm not sure exactly how I spoke it.
Hello Mr. Edwards and thank you for visiting us in Columbia. During the days following September 11th, Congress hastily passed a bill authored by the Bush administration that has seriously damaged our civil liberties.
Mr. Edwards interrupted, "are you speaking of the Patriot Act."
Yes sir. This bill was passed the same day it was published. Neither you nor your staff had time to read it, yet you voted for it. Do you regret this decision, and do you have any plans on correcting the damaged caused by it?
I was looking for a good explanation on why he voted on a bill he didn't read. I was also looking for a possible recant of his vote. I didn't receive either. Edwards mentioned that there are some good things in the Patriot Act; things such as the correcting of some antiquated laws that were inhibiting law enforcement. This is true, the Patriot Act corrected some silly laws. However, that doesn't excuse the fact that this gigantic bill (with a mixture of good and bad things) was passed on the day of its introduction. And he voted for it. Without reading it. Mr. Edwards then deflected onto the other abuses of authority by the Bush administration that had nothing to do with the Patriot Act. That's nice, most of us agree they're bad, now why don't you defend your record rather than hiding behind Bush's other misadventures.
After that was over with, Edwards took no more questions from my side of the room. Some people were rather annoyed with me because they felt I drove him off. However, people came up to me and told me it was a great question, so it is heartening to know that others feel that it is an important issue. It's also important to note that many people I've talked to since then felt the Edwards dodged it, and it's never a good thing when people see your dodge. It makes you look dishonest, embarrassed, and weak.
Still, despite his inability to correctly confront his vote on the Patriot Act, I do feel Edwards would be good for this country. He has a lot of amazing ideas on how to accomplish Democratic goals, and if he has the will to pull it off then our nation would be better for it. I went up to him after it was over with and told him I was sorry I had to ask him such a difficult question, but I felt it had to be asked. He told me that it was a great question, and he autographed my Edwards sign.
I then rushed to airport, dropping my girlfriend off just in time to have her luggage checked for mascara and lipstick before she boarded the plane. Isn't it great to live in such a fake democracy? (I meant safe, facetiously, but that Freudian slip seems so much better).
If I could speak with Edwards again, might I recommend he respond to a question like mine in the following way:
That's a great question. The Patriot Act came with many beneficial changes to our laws, but it did have some negative consequences on our civil liberties. When I voted on it, I voted on the changes I knew were necessary. However, there was no time to review the entire document as the Republicans forced a vote that day. I regret that we could not have more debate on it, but a good thing about a law is that we can amend it later. I am confident that the new Democratic Congress will step up to the challenge and correct the problems that have been revealed in the 5 years since the passage of the Patriot Act. I made the decision I had to make at the time, but I am completely in favor of revising our laws to better reflect a free society.
That is off the top of my head, and probably not well thought out. How about we help out Mr. Edwards and forge the best way for him to respond to this apparently difficult question. Please post how you would have him respond in the comments below.