Newsweek article: Edwards's poverty campaign echoes RFK's, but times have changed

A good but sort of sad article about Poverty and Edwards' platform. Its good to see the poverty issue getting some press recently, but it doesn't seem to attract much passion among people. To me, it seems like a majority of people just don't care about the issue as they used to back in the Kennedy era, although it is still a problem as it was back than. I find that sad. Hopefully, our next President does something about the issue.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19886671/site/newsweek/

The Down and Out Tour
Edwards's poverty campaign echoes RFK's, but times have changed (and Edwards is no RFK).
By Jonathan Darman
Newsweek

July 30, 2007 issue - John Edwards is a smart politician who knows the value of modesty. When asked about Robert F. Kennedy, he says simply, "I don't deserve to be compared to him." But throughout his campaign for the Democrat's 2008 presidential nomination, Edwards has not-so-subtly encouraged the Kennedy comparison. He notes that no presidential candidate "in 40 years"— since Kennedy—has run a campaign centered on the plight of America's poor. Last week he ended his three-day, 1,800-plus-mile "Road to One America" poverty tour in Prestonburg, Ky., the town where, four decades earlier, Kennedy concluded his own tour of impoverished Appalachia. "I want you to join us," Edwards told his audience, "to end the work Bobby Kennedy started."

Kennedy's crusade against poverty enthralled many Americans. So far, Edwards's crusade has not. Hoping for heavy press coverage for the poverty tour, the former North Carolina senator's campaign enlisted a national media entourage to travel with him on a large chartered jet. But by the time the tour reached its halfway point, Edwards was barely making the national papers.

There is something tragic about Edwards's failure to break through. Today, 37 million Americans live below the poverty line, 12 million more than at the time of Kennedy's death. And yet Edwards's call of conscience has not resonated. By all rights, Edwards, the son of a millworker, should have an easier time talking about poverty than did Kennedy, the son of a millionaire. His difficulty speaks to the candidate's inability to connect. It also speaks to the nation's inability to be moved.

they are far more interested in what catfight is going on. They have marginalized Edwards and have not let this issue come to the forefront and be a true issue.
How the press has treated Edwards this cycle is scandalous.

which means that RFK's message is more important than ever.

recognize its own corruption.

First, very few people WANT there to be one America. I forget which Michael Moore book talked about this (and he presented it in a different way than I am about to, but if you read the book, you will remember the concept). People in America mostly believe that they either are in or are GOING TO BE IN that "top tier" and thus, even the poor, for the most part, don't want One America, because they want to be in that other America they are not currently a part of.

The place where I disagreed with Michael Moore was his statement in the book that people should realize they are never going to be rich. That just isn't true. People can make it, but it takes tons of hard work, lots of luck and mostly a huge gamble.

It is one thing to call attention to the plight of the impovershed (as Kennedy did) and quite another to talk about the end of "two americas" and trying to create "one america" where you insinuate that you want everyone on the exact same playing field. Great idea in practice, but 98% of the population won't go for it.

What someone, preferably other than the untrustworthy Edwards, should be doing is simply calling full attention to the specific areas of poverty that everyone can relate to and agree upon.

EVERYONE should have access to healthy food.
* No, everyone shouldn't have access to lobster, crab and kobe beef. However, someone on food stamps should be able to get adequate quantities of quality food and not just "ground chuck" and other high fat, high sodium products. A huge proportion of the impovershed are overweight, not because they are eating soooo much, but because what they can afford is crap.


EVERYONE should have access to full health care.
* Health care ia s right, not a priviledge. However, this can also be sold as a money saving tactic. Proper prevenative care, healthy eating, etc.. will reduce the costs of medical care overall. And just remind people that when someone without insurance has a heart attack and can't pay the hospital bill, that cost gets passed onto them anyway, so it would behoove them to help the person prevent the heart attack in the first place.

EVERYONE should have access to a quality education.
* This people just have to accept. Again, it can be framed selfishly. The more educated a soceity, the less crime. High school and college graduates are less likely to try and hold you up for your wallet. Wanna fight crime? Start in the schools.


People in America don't want to be EQUAL. They want to believe that their hard work is ultimately going to pay off and one day they will be the one eating kobe beef and drinking crystale (or whatever that crap is called) and this goes for the poor, as much as the middle class and the wealthy.

Once you come to this realization, you can really work on this issue and target the areas that most people would actually believe we should all be equal on, no matter what.


In the end, Edwards' message isn't resonating for 2 reasons.

#1) It is coming from an untrustworthy source.

#2) Even those he is trying to help don't believe in the mission as stated.

A guy who gets $400 haircuts just doesn't come across as credible discussing poverty issues. On the other hand, Obama's community work makes him a more credible voice on poverty issues. I get a sense from Obama's past actions he really understands the people. I don't get that feeling from Edwards.