John Edwards speaks with passion... but what is his message?
I went to the Frank Jones Center in Portsmouth, NH to see John Edwards speak. Let me begin that Edwards was late to the event. Now, it's understandable to be somewhat late to an event, politicians are often in high demand and you still have to drive from point A to point B. That being said, the time was advertised as 11:45 am... the venue was full at 11:45 and the candidate didn't walk on stage until 1:25 pm. You could tell the crowd was antsy. I was little put-off by it, since I knew some people were there during a break in their workday. Without further ado, on to the issues:
Edwards came out on stage and began laying into corporations. Be they pharmaceutical, power, oil, or simply "big corporate," Edwards took issue with them. Now, there have been a lot of corporate excesses, greed, and abuse in the past decade, especially under the current administration, but I think Edwards is creating a bogeyman. The crowd loved it when he talked about his childhood and how he has been dedicated since day one to fight for others. It's dangerous to elect someone who is vowing to "fight" a part of society that has been instrumental in the success of this nation. Ethics aside, corporations and our nation's commitment to capitalism has made this country strong. Yes, it was on the backs of the working people, but it was also thanks to the minds of the business elite.
I was pretty disappointed that his presentation was solely the fluff of a stump speech. He did not lay out any major policy ideas while he spoke, except to promise universal healthcare and the removal of corruption from Washington, DC. Besides that, he simply spewed rhetoric against the corporate interests of America. Yes, they are out of control, but no, they are not the enemy. This is America... capitalism runs this nation! He highlighted stories of individual Americans wronged by corporate America and spoke with a populist tone about his childhood. Yet, when it comes down to it, that was all rhetoric.
To be fair, once the Q&A session began, the Senator laid out some key policy ideas. He spoke about his commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty--especially the clause about world-wide disarmament. It's radical and I disagree, but you have to hand it to him for being truly committed to the NNPFT. He talked about helping the victims of Hurricane Katrina (pretty sad that two years later it isn't fixed... shows the inefficiency of the federal government) beyond just throwing money at the problem. He has some ideas to change education in America--it's not a bad idea for the government to pay for teachers' education and, in return, extract a committment from them to teach in our nation's worst school systems. The question is if it's the purview of the federal govenment to do that. Perhaps state governments would be more adept at doing that.
On Iraq he advocated a prompt withdrawal of "combat troops." He was emphatic about saying "combat troops," so I wonder what type of presence he envisions for the US in Iraq. I’m not sure what exactly is the right policy for Iraq, but it’s interesting that he makes the distinction of “combat troops.” While Edwards is right that we need a forward-thinking foriegn policy, not ad hoc as it has been since the end of World War II, I think he overestimates our power to convince other nations to disarm their nuclear stockpiles. I don't see how we would convince Pakistan to disarm... or India... or China... or anybody else. Even the French wouldn't want to disarm their weapons.
Speaking of the French, Edwards came out against nuclear energy, despite its dependable use in European countries, such as France. Besides for his beef with nuclear energy, the rest of his energy ideas consisted of researching alternative, renewable sources, and a dedication to turning back Global Warming (which is a laudable goal). The question is when we'll finally see this “alternative energy” we've been talking about since the 90s. Not just E-85 Ethanol... but solar plants and wind power. A good question is if that is viable in a nation like ours. Sure Spain and Norway have windmills, but they don't have the same electricity demands as the United States. Food for thought.
On education, Edwards is right about ending No Child Left Behind, but for the wrong reasons. Edwards wants to replace NCLB with another federal government educational mandate. Instead, that tax money should remain with the states. New Hampshire is a good example of how local control, not state or federal control, allows education to excel.
The most alarming aspect of his speech, for me, was his universal health care plan. Not only did he not lay out any specifics, besides decrying the fact that there are 30-odd million starving/uninsured/impoverished Americans today (which is a sad fact), he declared that you can’t sit at the table with insurance companies… you have to take their power from them. The word take scares me. The US Government shouldn’t be taking anything away from an individual or a business (which is a collection of individuals). We should work for universal healthcare, but not by force.
In the end, I find that John Edwards is a great speaker. The true question is what he is speaking about. He uses a lot of rhetoric on the stage (which isn’t uncommon in politics) and is trying to frame his campaign as an “epic battle.” Let’s not start a class war with this campaign! I also question the ability of him and all the other presidential candidates to convince Congress to implement all these reforms, many of which will prove to be controversial and expensive. The biggest being “special interest groups.” How will Edwards convince the Congress to legislate against the very people who donate money to their campaigns? To Edwards credit, he has always taken the high road when it comes to campaign finance, and he is absolutely right that if you’re going to “talk the talk” about campaign finance reform, you ought to “walk the walk” and only take public funds, which Edwards has done. I’m left hungering for details about Edward’s plan for his “epic battle,” not fluffy promises that leave it up to our imagination.