Jackie Calms writes for the Wall Street Journal that John Edwards’ campaign theme will not be Iraq… but poverty in the U.S. Edwards calls it “the great moral issue of our time”. Jackie adds:
The North Carolina Democrat’s theme of ending the “Two Americas” of haves and have-nots dates to his 2004 presidential bid. Mr. Edwards didn’t win his party’s nomination then, but his strong reception among voters helped him to secure a place as Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry’s running mate. Mr. Edwards argues that the disparity between the richest Americans and the working class has widened since then.
“When I talked about poverty in the 2004 campaign, political types said it was futile,” he said in a speech this year. “They said nobody cares about poverty except for the poor. Not true, and we saw it with Katrina.”
Will it be a winning message? One might argue… no:
Many Democratic political operatives remain skeptical that the Edwards message will resonate among either Democratic or independent voters when antiwar talk is the rage, and could continue to be into 2008. On the eve of Mr. Edwards’s announcement, rival Sen. Joseph Biden of Delaware drew headlines with his pledge to oppose any increase in U.S. troops to Iraq.
Jackie also notes that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama might run on a somewhat-similar domestic agenda and… they might be more successful at it. At least, that’s what some Democrats think.
His plan:
In that speech [June at Washington’s National Press Club], he set a national goal of ending poverty in 30 years for the 37 million Americans living below the poverty line, lifting one-third of them above it in each of the next three decades. His “Working Society” agenda would mean a higher federal minimum wage, reduced taxes for low-income workers, universal health care, and one million new housing vouchers for working families, to help them find homes in neighborhoods with better schools.
Mr. Edwards proposes “Work Bonds” to provide tax credits to match low-wage workers’ own long-term savings. He calls for the government to partner with nonprofit organizations to create a million “stepping stone” jobs, to help welfare recipients and others get experience on local projects so they can go on to better-paying private-sector jobs. And he would open “second-chance schools” aimed at the increased number of high-school students who drop out before graduating.
I can imagine the ads already: images from Iraq, death and destruction, how many it has cost the U.S. then images of Americans living in poverty, stating that if a part of what has been invested in Iraq, would have been spent on fighting domestic poverty, those people – in those images – would not have to live in poverty.
It is a winning theme? I’m not so sure. It seems to me that the focus is – and should be for now – on Iraq. That being said, the combination of those themes… could potentially be a successful one. Remember: he has to appeal to moderates and independents (not necessarily the same thing of course). Is poverty the priority of these people? Probably not. Or at least, not yet. This means that Edwards’s job is doubly-difficult: first he has to make people consider it the top-priority and, second, he has to make them support his solutions.
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