Posted on 02/12/2004 1:57:29 PM PST by Jean S
By the time he reaches the end of his now-famous “Two Americas” stump speech, Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) has told crowds about an America in which a small group of rich people enjoys lives of untold luxury while everybody else can’t get healthcare, can’t pay the rent, can’t buy a house and in many cases, can’t get enough to eat.
It’s an ugly picture. But Edwards offers hope. And the hope is this:
“I can’t change this country alone, but I know that you and I can change this country together. The reason I know that you and I can change America together is I believe in you, and you deserve a president who actually believes in YOU!”
As Edwards speaks, members of the audience might reasonably be expected to turn to one another and say, “What the hell does that mean?”
But they don’t. In fact, Edwards’ crowds, from Iowa to New Hampshire to South Carolina to Virginia, love it. “I believe in you” is one of the candidate’s biggest applause lines.
The point is not to make sense but to show audiences that Edwards cares deeply about them.
In the same way that television consultants advise local news departments to put the words “you” or “your” in every promotion — “Working 4 You!” or “Seven On Your Side!” — so Edwards wants you to know that he is working for you.
At one event in South Carolina, after a TV anchorman asked whether Edwards had become so rich and successful as a trial lawyer that he might find it difficult to relate to poor people, Edwards turned to the audience — made up of, among others, poverty activists from around the country — and said, “I grew up the way you grew up. I come from the same place. I spent 20 years in courtrooms fighting for YOU!”
He fought against big corporations, Edwards said, against big insurance companies, against the powerful — all for YOU.
The audience, which earlier had been wary of Edwards’s wealth, ate it up.
As phony as it sounds, Edwards’s “Working 4 You!” appeal is undeniably effective with a large number of Democratic voters.
On Tuesday, exit pollsters asked voters in Virginia, “Which one candidate quality mattered most in deciding how you voted today?”
The most important quality, cited by 26 percent of those polled, was “He can defeat George W. Bush.” Among those people, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) destroyed Edwards, 63 percent to 22 percent.
But the second most important quality, cited by 20 percent of those polled, was “He cares about people like me.” Among those people, Edwards handily defeated Kerry, 42 percent to 30 percent.
Democratic voters in Tennessee also ranked “he cares” as the second most important candidate quality. Among them, Edwards beat Kerry 40 percent to 29 percent.
And in South Carolina, where Democratic voters ranked “he cares” as the most important candidate quality, Edwards trounced Kerry 57 percent to 19 percent.
It’s not a trivial issue. In each of those Southern states, “he cares” was chosen as the
most important candidate quality by one-fifth to one-quarter of the Democratic electorate. In other states, the number was smaller but still significant.
The “I care about you” strategy explains some of the otherwise curious omissions in Edwards’s “Two Americas” speech.
Edwards says nothing, for example, about what is surely one of the most pressing issues facing America today, which is whether the war in Iraq will end in success or failure.
He also says nothing about his record in the Senate. If Edwards thinks anything he has done in government has qualified him to be president, he doesn’t say so.
In the place of such details, Edwards tells audiences he believes in them.
Now, clearly that isn’t enough to win the Democratic nomination. So far, Edwards has lost 13 of 14 Democratic primaries and caucuses, including three of four Southern primaries. His campaign is dead, although he hasn’t admitted it yet.
But Edwards’s “I care” appeal is the real secret of his value as a possible running mate for presumptive Democratic nominee Kerry.
Of course, Edwards would give the ticket some regional balance. But the most important thing he would give Kerry is emotional balance.
Kerry could tell you until he is blue in the face that he cares about you and you’d still find it hard to believe him. Do a Nexis database search for “John Kerry” and “aloof” and you’ll get hundreds of hits.
That’s where Edwards comes in.
Kerry could handle the actual issues — his stump speech is far more detailed and specific than Edwards’s — and Edwards could handle the emotions.
Edwards could tell crowds, in a way that Kerry could not, that “John Kerry believes in you, and you deserve a president who actually believes in YOU!”
Who wouldn’t believe that?
York is a White House correspondent for National Review. His column appears in The Hill each week. E-mail: byork@thehill.com
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.