Populist Rhetoric Defines John Edwards

[draft_mario_cuomo]

Populist Rhetoric Defines John Edwards

==Edwards has couched many of his campaign issues--the absence of universal health care, the growth of wage inequality within the U.S. workforce and the "entrenchment" of the "ultra-wealthy"--in "populist" terms. Significantly, these appeals are aimed at both middle- and working-class members of the electorate. Although the other major Democratic candidates, including Sen. Hillary Clinton, have used more restrained language, their campaigns have often employed similar themes: contrasting the daily struggles of the working poor with the special privileges of the rich.==

==Edwards' campaign has introduced populist appeals into mainstream politics with greater success than any politician since Perot. Recently, his grass-roots campaign tour has focused on poverty. Edwards' language--he calls the tour "The Road to One America"--elegantly expresses the integrative and widespread appeal of U.S. populism. Beginning in the devastated post-Katrina New Orleans, Edwards has taken this message on the road through other hardship areas in the Mississippi Delta, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia. Significantly, he has emphasized rural poverty and the absence of health care facilities in smaller towns as much as urban blight.

Edwards' economic themes are the core of his populist message. His own underprivileged upbringing gives this stance an authenticity sufficient to offset the personal wealth he now enjoys from a lucrative legal career. In areas such as eastern Kentucky, where Edwards has campaigned extensively and 25% of the population lives below the federal poverty line, his anti-trade and pro-worker messages have been well received. However, he has also made an effort to address job insecurity and the lack of affordable health care, which are typically middle-class concerns.

Although Edwards is well behind his major Democratic rivals in the polls, his exploitation of populist rhetoric to highlight a fairly distinctive message will make him a serious competitor through the end of January 2008. He is unlikely to secure the nomination, but populist appeals, particularly on trade, will clearly play a major role in the general election campaign.==

Read the rest at http://www.forbes.com/home/business/2007/08/06/edwards-populism-democrats-cz_0807oxfordanalytica.html

[jpgray]

1. Say what you want about Edwards's flaws (and he has many)

But he deserves lots of respect for bringing up the income gap in a significant and consistent way--even though it's media poison, and may not be totally genuine.

[movonne]

3. I would like to know his flaws...this is not to be nasty, I just want

to know other peoples opinions...I have been leaning towards him and would like to find out things about him I don't know..

[jpgray]

5. Check his Senate term. Some conservative and not-worker-friendly votes in there

[saltpoint]

2. Reasonably calm and respectful tone for FORBES magazine.

A lot of people who read FORBES magazine would "not do as well" under an Edwards' presidency.

Just the same, I think the Edwards campaign has picked up the forgotten threads from the scrappile and is weaving them anew, leaving those paying attention to wonder why such vivid, true colors were ever abandoned in the first place.

[draft_mario_cuomo]

4. Well said

==Just the same, I think the Edwards campaign has picked up the forgotten threads from the scrappile and is weaving them anew, leaving those paying attention to wonder why such vivid, true colors were ever abandoned in the first place.==

:)

[saltpoint]

7. Hi, draft_mario_cuomo. Agree with you and others here in this

thread that Edwards is having a significant impact on the issues the 2008 campaign will be run on, and of course the more he talks about have-nots the more the haves get edgy.

What staggeringly different kinds of visions for the country Edwards and George Will have. The Constitution entitles both to their views. But only one of those views is inclusional. And it ain't George Will's.

[OHdem10]

6. We have to keep Edwards in the race as long as

possible.

He is forcing issues that otherwise be ignored.

Globalization, Trade Policy, Health Care, the real
Democratic Party Issues.

This is important.

[polichick]

8. How sad that classic Dem issues could be ignored...

I'm so glad Edwards is keeping them front and center!