Voice to the Voiceless by E.J. Dionne, Jr.

Voice to the Voiceless by E.J. Dionne, Jr.
Post Date Thursday, February 21, 2008


WASHINGTON--If you want to talk about candidates borrowing from each other, consider how much Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are taking on loan from the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, the affable populist killed in a plane crash shortly before the 2002 election.

"I don't represent the big oil companies. I don't represent the big pharmaceutical companies," Wellstone said in the final television ad of his last campaign. "I don't represent the Enrons of this world. But you know what? They already have great representation in Washington. It's the rest of the people that need it. I represent the people of Minnesota."

And here's Hillary Clinton in a television ad run during the Wisconsin primary campaign: "The oil companies, the drug companies have had seven years of a president who stands up for them. It's time we had a president who stands up for all of you."

As for Obama, he noted in Ohio this week that "year after year, politicians in Washington sign trade agreements that are riddled with perks for big corporations but have absolutely no protections for American workers. It's bad for our economy; it's bad for our country."

Wellstone called for a trade policy that "doesn't just work for the multinationals, but also works for the environment, for safe food, for living wages; a trade policy that promotes democracy and the right to organize and bargain collectively."

No, this is not a column about "plagiarism." On the contrary, it's good news that both Clinton and Obama are echoing one of their party's most effective practitioners of egalitarian, grass-roots politics. As the Democratic presidential primary campaign enters its climactic stage, both candidates are focusing like a laser on white blue-collar voters. The language of choice is populist.

more...

http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html?id=4d149808-2542-4790-adb7-8ca2b3dfd5a1