Thursday, July 19, 2007

The Poverty Tour

While the staff here at Xmastime are huge fans of the UG, we respectfully take umbrage at the idea that John Edwards’ campaigning on poverty doesn’t “feel” right. Of course UG isn't the only one who has thrown out this sentiment, but I just read his post and so he'll be getting the horns :). Haven’t we seen enough when dealing solely with feel and perception? Already, Obama apparently is being quietly urged to start showing up with “regular folks” beer and to tone down the professionalism of his speeches. Soon we will be witnessing the mysterious absence of the very intellect and reason that had people interested in Obama in the first place and replaced by “aw shucks!” talks about hating golf and the French. Feel and media perception over brains and ideas.

You can say Edwards is a bit of a huckster, that’s reasonable to think when landing eyes on him, I kinda see him as a bit of a jv Clinton myself (Bill, not Hillary!) but the fact is he DID grow up poor in a mining town and then was raised up to middle class with his father’s rising in the ranks. Yes, he went on to become tremendously rich as a trial lawyer. While it’s quick and easy and fun to portray him as an ambulance chaser, he did actually represent victims of corporate negligence and malpractice: those that couldn’t help themselves. Of course the scale is crazy - $25M here, $15M there but I don’t think John Edwards invented getting paid well for a job well done. I suppose it would’ve been better if he refused the money and lived in a shack in the woods. Yes, he became rich. But to suggest that this means that he somehow cannot relate, cannot be a “man of the people” is to suggest Bruce Springsteen had to stop writing about poor, trodden-upon people the day after he got his first check for Born to Run. Isn’t is up to those who have so much to help those who have nothing; or is it fuck ‘em make those who have nothing fix it themselves?

As for “feeling” or “believing” whether Edwards is really intent on doing something about poverty or not, let’s remember he was the only one to bring up the dreaded “p-word” when no one else would; other candidates would always roll their eyes and wonder why are we even bothering with this issue, move on, these people don’t vote so fuck em. (Again, confusing to me as every candidate in the last decade has talked endlessly about Jesus and faith and the Bible; no one knows less about the Bible than me, but isn't one of it's main tenets to help the poor and needy? Wouldn't running on faith and God mean this issue should've been #1 all along? Is this another book I'm thinking of, am I confused?) Edwards talked about it in and before the 2004 campaign, and in early 2005 he was appointed by the Univ. of Carolina as the director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity – an agency which worked to move people out of poverty. So it cannot be said that Edwards’ didn’t have the guts to speak up about poverty, make it a major issue and then work on it. If these things mean less to you than how expensive a candidate’s tie or haircut is, then I don’t know what to tell you.

But now that Obama is making a speech about poverty, we are to believe that the issue should somehow naturally be his. That it is his divine right to step up for the poor and get their vote, even if this will be the first time he’s taken a “stand” on the subject. My thought is of course it’s a political move – feeling the final two standing will be he and Hillary, he will co-opt the issue before she does. A wise move. But is that enough? While at this time in history I have no problem with a black person saying fuck you, I'm voting for whomever's black, in my own rationale while voting I wonder if it's okay to assume that since Obama is black he should get my vote on poverty after doing nothing over some rich white guy who has actually tried to do something about it?

The politics of feel and perception can be dangerous; attaching a sort of Baggar Vance quality to Barack Obama in the campaign can be very cool and tempting but in the end, the right thing to do? I don’t think so. If Obama is as great as we all think he is, he should be able to say and do great things, not just lure us into some "vibe" or "feel." Not in these times, not this election.

To be honest, I don’t have incredibly high hopes for Edwards winning the nomination. Ironically, I can’t help but feel that if Edwards does lose, poverty may be better off for it - like Gore, he can say eff Washington and dedicate himself to his real passion. And UNlike Gore, I hope he sticks to his guns during the campaign and hammers away at the issue, even if it means costing him votes cause nobody wants to hear about poor people. But in the meantime let’s not write him off because of how he "looks", "feels" or "seems" just yet.

11 comments:

ope said...

from john edwards for president:

A proud product of public schools, John became the first person in his family to attend college. He worked his way through North Carolina State University where he graduated with high honors in 1974, and then earned a law degree with honors in 1977 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

For the next 20 years, John dedicated his career to representing families and children just like the families he grew up with in Robbins. Standing up against the powerful insurance industry and their armies of lawyers, John helped these families through the darkest moments of their lives to overcome tremendous challenges. His passionate advocacy for people like the folks who worked in the mill with his father earned him respect and recognition across the country.

from barack obama:

Remembering the values of empathy and service that his mother taught him, Barack put law school and corporate life on hold after college and moved to Chicago in 1985, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group seeking to improve living conditions in poor neighborhoods plagued with crime and high unemployment.

The group had some success, but Barack had come to realize that in order to truly improve the lives of people in that community and other communities, it would take not just a change at the local level, but a change in our laws and in our politics.

He went on to earn his law degree from Harvard in 1991, where he became the first African-American president of the Harvard Law Review. Soon after, he returned to Chicago to practice as a civil rights lawyer and teach constitutional law. Finally, his advocacy work led him to run for the Illinois State Senate, where he served for eight years. In 2004, he became the third African American since Reconstruction to be elected to the U.S. Senate.

Xmastime said...

a weak, belated "stance" on poverty from him at best. you're right, after his upcoming speech dusts edwards off, poverty wont be peeping out again. like i said, the issue to him right now is like the yankees acquiring someone just so the sox cant have him. Edwards needs to pound, pound pound away at this.

jugular, no gov'nar!!! ;)

ope said...

i expect no quarter!

all i ask is you comapre bios. see: saul alinsky. edwards cannot touch obama on experience fighting poverty. period.and ive never gotten the sense obama has strayed from message, tho he does tout self-reliance.

Anonymous said...

For immediate use Feb. 4, 2005 -- No. 41


UNC-Chapel Hill creates Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity;
names former Sen. John Edwards as director

CHAPEL HILL -- The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is launching a Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity that will be led by former U.S. Senator and vice presidential candidate John Edwards.

The Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity will be a nonpartisan initiative, bringing together UNC-Chapel Hill faculty and other national public policy experts to examine innovative and practical ideas for moving more Americans out of poverty and into the middle class..."

He seems pretty committed.

Here's an interview with Edwards

http://www.southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2006/07/senator-john-edwards-on-poverty.asp

Xmastime said...

has Obama addressed it during his campaign before this week? will he run away from it once he really has to worry about votes? Edwards we know will not; he's virtually bet his presidency on it. Obama, we have no idea (and I have my doubts, as might you by what you had said, or how i read it, in your post.) I'll be willing to wait and listen to Obama, but so far thats one "absolutely" and one "well, maybe, nobody seems to know." Thats a huge difference to me right now.

ope said...

dig his announcement speech from feb, it begins:

Let me begin by saying thanks to all you who've traveled, from far and wide, to brave the cold today.

We all made this journey for a reason. It's humbling, but in my heart I know you didn't come here just for me, you came here because you believe in what this country can be. In the face of war, you believe there can be peace. In the face of despair, you believe there can be hope. In the face of a politics that's shut you out, that's told you to settle, that's divided us for too long, you believe we can be one people, reaching for what's possible, building that more perfect union.

That's the journey we're on today. But let me tell you how I came to be here. As most of you know, I am not a native of this great state. I moved to Illinois over two decades ago. I was a young man then, just a year out of college; I knew no one in Chicago, was without money or family connections. But a group of churches had offered me a job as a community organizer for $13,000 a year. And I accepted the job, sight unseen, motivated then by a single, simple, powerful idea - that I might play a small part in building a better America.

My work took me to some of Chicago's poorest neighborhoods. I joined with pastors and lay-people to deal with communities that had been ravaged by plant closings. I saw that the problems people faced weren't simply local in nature - that the decision to close a steel mill was made by distant executives; that the lack of textbooks and computers in schools could be traced to the skewed priorities of politicians a thousand miles away; and that when a child turns to violence, there's a hole in his heart no government alone can fill.

It was in these neighborhoods that I received the best education I ever had, and where I learned the true meaning of my Christian faith.

After three years of this work, I went to law school, because I wanted to understand how the law should work for those in need. I became a civil rights lawyer, and taught constitutional law, and after a time, I came to understand that our cherished rights of liberty and equality depend on the active participation of an awakened electorate. It was with these ideas in mind that I arrived in this capital city as a state Senator.

It was here, in Springfield, where I saw all that is America converge - farmers and teachers, businessmen and laborers, all of them with a story to tell, all of them seeking a seat at the table, all of them clamoring to be heard. I made lasting friendships here - friends that I see in the audience today.

It was here we learned to disagree without being disagreeable - that it's possible to compromise so long as you know those principles that can never be compromised; and that so long as we're willing to listen to each other, we can assume the best in people instead of the worst.

That's why we were able to reform a death penalty system that was broken. That's why we were able to give health insurance to children in need. That's why we made the tax system more fair and just for working families, and that's why we passed ethics reforms that the cynics said could never, ever be passed.

It was here, in Springfield, where North, South, East and West come together that I was reminded of the essential decency of the American people - where I came to believe that through this decency, we can build a more hopeful America.

And that is why, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol, where Lincoln once called on a divided house to stand together, where common hopes and common dreams still, I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for President of the United States.

I recognize there is a certain presumptuousness - a certain audacity - to this announcement. I know I haven't spent a lot of time learning the ways of Washington. But I've been there long enough to know that the ways of Washington must change.

The genius of our founders is that they designed a system of government that can be changed. And we should take heart, because we've changed this country before. In the face of tyranny, a band of patriots brought an Empire to its knees. In the face of secession, we unified a nation and set the captives free. In the face of Depression, we put people back to work and lifted millions out of poverty. We welcomed immigrants to our shores, we opened railroads to the west, we landed a man on the moon, and we heard a King's call to let justice roll down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Each and every time, a new generation has risen up and done what's needed to be done. Today we are called once more - and it is time for our generation to answer that call.

For that is our unyielding faith - that in the face of impossible odds, people who love their country can change it.

That's what Abraham Lincoln understood. He had his doubts. He had his defeats. He had his setbacks. But through his will and his words, he moved a nation and helped free a people. It is because of the millions who rallied to his cause that we are no longer divided, North and South, slave and free. It is because men and women of every race, from every walk of life, continued to march for freedom long after Lincoln was laid to rest, that today we have the chance to face the challenges of this millennium together, as one people - as Americans.

Xmastime said...

thats a nice speech, and a nice laundry list of his resume. but nowhere after "I stand before you today to announce my candidacy for President of the United States" does he mention poverty. the usual Obama - exciting list of vagaries, nothing in particular. well said while saying nothing. when he comes out and says "as president i am going to fight to end poverty" and KEEPS saying it, then i will take him seriously as a candidate who intends to do something about it. he did some nice things in the past, but is he going to push those things aside to get elected? we'll see.

Anonymous said...

Keep your love tropes accurate.

Edwards is the son of a mill worker. As in, straight out of his campaign bio:

"John Edwards was born in Seneca, South Carolina and raised in Robbins, North Carolina, a small town in the Piedmont. There John learned the values of hard work and perseverance from his father, Wallace, who worked in the textile mills for 36 years, and from his mother, Bobbie, who ran a shop and worked at the post office. Working alongside his father at the mill, John developed his strong belief that all Americans deserve an equal opportunity to succeed and be heard."

He is not, as you say, from a mining town, unless ore has been found in the Piedmont. Nor did he grow up poor.

But when your politics and your Springsteen become a confluence of goo, that's a sign.

(there's another guy that trumpets his humble beginnings to sell you something - Bill O'Reilly)

Anonymous said...

"If these things mean less to you than how expensive a candidate’s tie or haircut is, then I don’t know what to tell you."

Haircuts. Shoot. If he woulda knowed it was coming down to the haircut, had the old lady give him a buzz cut at the kitchen sink. Stupid asses with their sarcastic nonsense. The Post is the worst. I hope you are not being poisoned by that garbage.

Gina said...

...but did he say "No mo to po foke"'? I don't think so.

Anonymous said...

Is Obama just being tactful, trying not to put his foot in his mouth? Saying as little as possible? I just cant imagine he's not ready to fight the good fight when (if) the time comes.

PS+ I love when UG and XMASTIME go toe to toe... you'd think these two brawlers would be breaking noses and bloodying lips, but it's more the Michael Scott style, "Hug it out beyotch!".