Posted on 09/16/2002 10:04:36 AM PDT by jern
WASHINGTON - U.S. Sen. John Edwards is ratcheting up criticism of President Bush as he unofficially seeks the Democratic nomination to challenge the president in 2004.
While Edwards says it's not a deliberate strategy, others say North Carolina's junior senator must increasingly take on Bush directly to win national attention and establish himself as a presidential contender.
"The need is purely political," said Jennifer Duffy of the Cook Political Report in Washington. "The ratcheting-up is partly the importance of being heard but it's also about staking out some ideological ground for himself."
Edwards has taken Bush to task on:
Iraq. Hours after Bush spoke to the United Nations about Iraq on Thursday, Edwards criticized Bush for not better making his case to the American people. And he said Bush hasn't planned properly for filling the dangerous power vacuum that would exist after Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is gone.
Education. Speaking to Democrats under a tent in Iowa last month, Edwards attacked Bush for his education policy. "I listen to this president go around the country and he loves to say over and over: `No child left behind.' He's leaving millions of children behind every single day."
Tax cuts. "Our country is trying to fund homeland security, we're in deficit spending, we're fighting a war on terrorism, we're in a recession," Edwards said during the same Iowa speech. "How responsible is it to implement a tax cut for the richest 1 percent of Americans? We should roll back that tax cut."
Edwards said he has not made any conscious effort to criticize Bush more lately. And, he said, his political ambitions have not had any influence on his statements.
"What I have said is what I believe," he said Friday. "I say when I think he's wrong."
But earlier this year, Edwards' stump speeches across the country were tightly limited to vignettes about his childhood and explanations of his basic ideals of government. Rarely did he mention the Bush administration.
White House spokeswoman Jeannie Mamo declined to discuss Edwards' political aspirations, and only said: "President Bush is focused on winning the war on terrorism, sustaining economic growth, making sure every child gets a first-rate education and dealing with threats around the world."
While other possible presidential contenders such as Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt are routinely turned to for negative reactions to Bush and his policies, Duffy said, Edwards must try harder to be heard.
Nevertheless, it's a risky approach. Bush's popularity remains high in the polls amid the U.S. war on terror.
"It's a game that's fraught with perils," Duffy said. "But it's a game he has to play anyway."
Edwards has also spoken out against Bush for his environmental policy, health-care positions, response to terrorism and handling of post-Taliban Afghanistan.
"We just have a different view of the world than this administration or this president," he told Iowa Democrats.
Edwards' rhetoric apparently has not gone unnoticed by the Bush administration, or unreciprocated.
When Bush decided to launch his campaign against personal-injury lawyers (Edwards was one for 20 years) for driving up insurance and health costs, Bush picked Edwards' home state for the rollout. He then named one of Edwards' cases as a prime example of what's wrong with the current system.
Talk about an empty suit.
He makes Bill Clinton look like a man of gravitas!
By the way, it's "mykdsmom" not "mykids'mom"... they are two different Freepers.
"mykdsmom" is the one from NC.
mkm ~~~ My apologies.
Yup, nothing like a tax increase to snap an economy out of a recession. Of course, the Democrat solution for everything - from a recession to a booming economy - is a tax increase!
Edwards is the perfect illustration of Coulter's book Slander.
What does some "psychic" who talks to the dead have against Bush?
Edwards is a classic slick sociopath and is, in far too many ways, a Clinton clone. He is utterly corrupt and is a chunky hurl trial lawyer (a redundant statement).
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