Kate’s Take: Edwards’s “Other America”
http://www.nationalreview.com/kob/kob200401230833.asp
by Kate O'Beirne
Senator John Edwards's stump speech stunningly shows that the genial, upbeat, fresh face in the Democratic field has found the rationale for his candidacy in a bleak past, unrecognizable to most Americans. Edwards has adopted the portrait of widespread, dire poverty famously depicted in Michael Harrington's The Other America — without checking its publication date. The passionate call to arms for anti-poverty warriors was published in 1962, when John Edwards was eight years old. Over 40 years, and hundreds of billions in welfare spending later, Harrington's, and now Edwards's, "Other America" doesn't exist.
Senator Edwards passionately talks about the deprivation facing the 35 million Americans identified by the Census Bureau as living below the poverty line. His audiences seem enthralled. Maybe they think he's cute when he gets on a roll? In fact, the incidence of material poverty has been dramatically reduced and those defined as "poor" today have a higher standard of living than those considered middle-class in my grandparents' day. Thanks to the Heritage Foundation's indispensable Robert Rector, we know that government studies paint a dramatically different picture about the well-being of our nation's poor than John Edwards's delusional portrayal. A judge would tell the experienced trial lawyer, "Argue the facts, counselor."
Someone should tell the excitable Edwards, "It's Nashua, 2004, Senator, not Appalachia, 1962."
Another point about Edwards' speech:
:Perhaps the most notable thing about "Two Americas," at least as it delivered from Iowa to New Hampshire to South Carolina and beyond, was that it said nothing — literally nothing — about the issue of terrorism. Nor did the speech cover the war in Iraq, which Edwards voted to authorize. Nor, for that matter, did it discuss foreign affairs in general. In fact, the only mention of foreign issues in "Two Americas" was Edwards's promise to restore America's image in the world to "the image we used to have, America as the shining light on top of the hill, beacon of freedom, democracy, human rights."
A look at exit polls conducted after Democratic primaries shows just how little Edwards appealed to voters concerned about national security. In New Hampshire, for example, among voters who felt the war in Iraq was the major concern facing the United States, just three percent voted for Edwards, placing him barely ahead of fringe candidate Dennis Kucinich. Among those who felt that terrorism/national security was the top issue, just five percent voted for Edwards. The results were much the same in several other primary states."
http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200407061111.asp