Edwards: The Choice Where Head and Heart Agree

Todd Beeton from the Courage Campaign blog recently wrote a revealing comment, after seeing the candidates at the California Democratic convention:

"Yesterday I wrote that Barack has their heart and Hillary has their head. Today, Edwards came closer than any other candidate to showing that he could win both."

Indeed.  John Edwards has long had the capacity to appeal to our ideals, and our nobler motives, to reach into our hearts and find there the highest expression of our love for humanity.  Not content to merely stir up our longing for a better world, he presents to us a carefully thought out roadmap for how to get there.  His sensible policy proposals convince our heads that we can have what our hearts desire, in public life at least. His ability to create connection is one of his greatest strengths.

This joining of head and heart in agreement that comes after hearing one of his speeches is nothing new to me.  For me, he has done it consistently, and for a long time.  His speech to the California Democratic Convention presents a stellar example.

Near the opening of the speech in California, he introduces the overarching theme.  He knows that we are hungry for leadership and aching to heal the wounds in the world that we have helped to create.

"You know, we are past the time for cautious, poll driven politics.  It is time for us to lead again.  It is time for us to lead bravely, boldly to take America where it needs to go.  It's time for the rest of the world to see our better angels.  It is time for the rest of the world to see an America that is compassionate and understands its responsibility to humanity."

Chief among those wounds is what Edwards describes as the "bleeding sore" that is the war in Iraq. He knows that ending the war when the president refuses to cooperate will be difficult, but he presents the only plan that makes sense as a way to end the war before Bush's term is over: refuse to back down.

"I want to say just a word about what's happening right now because we are in a historic moment.  The Congress, the democratically led Congress -- and by the way elections have consequences, don't they?  Our victory in 2006 means something.  And our leaders in the Congress have submitted a bill to the President under their funding authority that establishes a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.  The president of the United States has said he intends to veto that bill.  Here's the truth.  Here's the truth.  If the president of the United States vetoes that bill, it's George Bush who's not supporting the troops, not the Congress.  And we need, we need the Congress to stand firm and strong.  If the president vetoes this bill, they should send him back another bill with a timetable for withdrawal.  And if he vetoes that, they should send him another one back with a timetable for withdrawal.  They should not back down from this president and let him continue on this horrible course in Iraq.  We have to show strength and courage. This is about life and death. This is about war.  And we have to be strong."

(Video excerpt)

For Americans who care about our place in the world, our hearts feel great shame, because the world thinks of us as a bully, as Edwards points out.  In the foreign policy portion of his speech, he paints the broad outlines of a plan to change that.

"The next president of the United States needs to travel the world, and speak to the world, as great American presidents have in the past.  And the message needs to be, and I'm not the first to say it, the message needs to be America's not just a place, America's an idea, and that idea is equality and diversity.  It is who we are as a nation.  The world needs to hear that from America because they don't believe it.  The world believes we're at war with the Muslim world. That has to change."

Speaking to the world.  What a concept!  So simple, yet we know the effort has not been made by the Bush administration.

In heartbreaking language about the genocide in Darfur and the AIDS epidemic in Africa, Edwards shows us the painful picture of how the world sees us.  Not content to merely break our hearts, he then shows us a realistic path to salvation in the world's eyes.

"Here's what they see.  The most powerful nation on the planet has declared that a genocide is occurring -- years ago -- and then stepped back and watched it continue.  What would you think of us?  How can we be surprised?

 

Today there will be thousands of children born in Africa with AIDS because their mother can't pay four dollars for a dose of medicine.  We spend four dollars on coffee in the United States.  And the richest nation on the planet stands by and watches an entire new generation of children born with AIDS.  What would you think of us?  

We're better than this.  The United States of America is better than this.  We are not the country of Guantánamo and Abu Ghraib.  The world needs to see our humanity.

And here's an idea.  Here's an idea, and I'll be the first to tell you I have no idea how popular this is politically, but I'm going to stand for it because I believe it's the kind of thing America should be doing.  Suppose, instead of spending $500 billion and counting in Iraq, America actually led an international effort to make primary school education available to every one of the hundred million children in the world who have no education at all, in Africa, in the Muslim world, in Latin America.  This could be literally transformational in the way the world views us.

The world must see America as a force for good again.  And I want to say one thing very directly.  When I am president of the United States, on the first day. On the first day in office, you have my word that Guantánamo will be closed."

But how, Edwards asks, can the world see us as a force for good, when we are such a major contributor to the problem of global warming?  After describing the problem, he briefly summarizes his sensible, yet bold energy plan.

"For goodness sakes, people in California, the leaders in California, have understood this for a long time.  We need America to understand it.  And we need a president of the United States that will lead America to addressing this crisis.  To make certain that America understands that if we have a four to eight degree temperature rise on the face of the planet over the course of the next 75 years, we're going to see migration of millions of people.  Not enough food.  Not enough water.  It's going to make world war look mild.  America must understand that.

 

Here's what I think we need to do.  I think we ought to cap carbon dioxide emissions in the United States of America.  We ought to ratchet that cap down every single year.  Below that cap, we ought to auction off the right to emit any greenhouse gases. That'll generate thirty to forty billion dollars. That money should be used to completely transform the way we use energy in America -- investment in clean, alternative sources of energy -- wind, solar, biofuels, biodiesel.  We ought to put at least a billion dollars into the development of carbon sequestration technology.  We ought to put a billion dollars into making sure that not somewhere else, but in the United States of America, we build the most fuel-efficient vehicles on the planet.  With union workers!"

No one could fail to be stirred when John Edwards describes the issue closest to his own heart, the one he's been talking about for years, in spite of being repeatedly told it's not politically expedient.  He raises his voice to a shout when answering the question of why he keeps talking about poverty: "BECAUSE IT'S WRONG!" Yes, it certainly is. Who would not be moved?

"I also want to say a word about what I believe is a huge moral issue.  The reporters always say to me by the way, why do you continue to talk about this?  No one else talks about it.  Why do you keep talking about 37 million people who wake up in poverty every day?  I'll tell you why.  BECAUSE IT'S WRONG in the United States of America to have 37 million people who have to wake up every day worried about feeding and clothing their children.  We're better than that!

 

(Chants of Ed-wards! Ed-wards! Ed-wards!)

And I have to tell you, if my party can't be the voice for the poor, for the elderly, for the disabled, for the disenfranchised, for what reason do we exist?  We have got to stand up for those who have no voice to speak for themselves."

You can bet he has some ideas for solutions to poverty.  More of them are laid out in the new book which he edited, Ending Poverty in America.  Those ideas start with a living wage, and the organized labor movement that he supports so firmly.

"You want to know what the greatest anti-poverty movement in American history is?  The movement that actually built the great middle class that all of us are so proud of?  Organized labor built the middle class.  Organized labor stood up against poverty.  Organized labor created good wages with good benefits."

After a brief summary of just a few of his anti-poverty ideas, Edwards cautions us that we will never end poverty in America, as long as we have a dysfunctional health care system.  No wonder he challenges the other Democratic candidates to offer a specific health care plan, as he has done.

"I want to say to all of you: we have some wonderful candidates running for president of the United States on the Democratic side.  They're good people.  I respect them, but it is not enough to say you're for universal health care without laying out the specifics of how you intend to do it."

No, it's not enough, and anyone considering supporting another candidate should demand that they come up with a specific, comprehensive, universal health care plan.  Is it too early to expect that from all the candidates?  No.  Let's not forget that many a presidential campaign of the past has come and gone without the candidates providing the kind of specifics that Edwards does in his plan.  Can we assume that plans from the other candidates will be forthcoming if we don't demand them?  No, we cannot.

Here's how Edwards summarizes his plan:

"I think we ought to require every employer to cover their employees or pay into a fund.  We ought to create choices, so that Americans can choose in health care markets either a private choice, or a government choice, and this may very well end up with single-payer, if the American people choose that that's the way the health care system should go.  We ought to subsidize health insurance premiums up to just under $100,000 of income.  We ought to fill in all the cracks in our health care system, starting by banning the idea of pre-existing conditions outright! -- No longer a part of our health-care system in America.

 

We ought to cover preventive care, long term care, chronic care, and we ought to make sure that people can take their health care with them, no matter where they go.  So, no more of this job lock. Every single American required by law to be covered.  My plan costs 90 to 120 billion dollars a year and I pay for it by getting rid of George Bush's tax cuts for people who make over $200,000 a year."

Challenging us to open our hearts to all, Edwards confronts the problem of race in America.  He then offers a concrete idea that could help to break down barriers.

"If you are a man or woman of color in America today, you are more likely to live in poverty, you are more likely to not have health care coverage, you are more likely to get cancer, you are more likely to have heart disease, you are more likely to have diabetes.  We have to face up to this and do something about it.  First of all, we have to be honest about the problem.  The racial and economic segregation that still exists in America is not alright.  Those pictures coming out of the ninth ward of New Orleans -- they're not alright.  We have to do something.  We can either put our head against the wall, or actually try to do something about it.

 

Suppose -- here's an idea -- suppose we create a million new housing vouchers in America, and instead of concentrating poor people together, we allow families to use them to move across some of these economic and racial barriers, so they can live in better neighborhoods, have a place -- live where they choose to live."

Our hearts having been awakened by the reality of the wounds that we need to heal, he now confronts us head on with another reality: all of these wonderful plans we might wish to achieve will come to nothing, unless we can get a Democrat in the White House.  Furthermore, a Democratic president is not enough without a strong Democratic majority in Congress.  Let's think about coattails for a minute.  Only a candidate who can compete everywhere in America can have coattails everywhere in America.

"And I just say to all my brothers and sisters here in California, that we need a candidate for president who can campaign and compete hard in California and New York, but who can also campaign and compete hard in Iowa, in Missouri, in Georgia, in Kentucky, in Virginia, everywhere in America.  

 

We have such an extraordinary opportunity, and it's not just the presidency.  We're so proud of Nancy Pelosi as speaker of the United States House of Representatives, but all the good that we want to do requires that she remain the speaker.  It requires that we be able to win these tough House seats all across America.  It requires that we be able to hold and win United States Senate seats.  That's the way we bring about the bold, transformational change that America needs.  That's the way we change the way the rest of the world looks at America."

It's not enough to just support Democrats and to vote.  Edwards has a challenge for us all.  Now that your heart and mind are engaged, what are you going to do?

"I want to say to all of you, if you don't remember anything else I said today, there's one last thing I want to say to you.  The fact that you're here, and that you're this involved and this engaged, demonstrates your commitment to the country, but I think every one of us has to ask ourselves, what are you willing to do?  How much are you willing to do?  How much do you love America?"

Joining One Corps would be a start.  After reminding us that the great movements start with the people, not the government, Edwards closes with a rallying cry:

"God bless you, California!  It's a great honor and privilege for me to be with you here today.  Keep fighting!  And keep working!  And we're going to build the kind of country we believe in!"

Senator Edwards, I will stand with you, because you have reached into my heart, scraped through the layers of denial and the hard crust of withdrawal, and shown me the dreams for my country, so deep in the center of my heart.  Not only that, but you have given me realistic plans to realize those dreams. I'm not given to using religious words much, but God bless YOU, John Edwards, and may God bless America so much that you become our next president! Now THAT would be a blessing indeed.

Reviews of his speech:

Todd Beeton at Courage Campaign

Paul Hogarth at California Progress Report

Erik Love at Courage Campaign

Mark Z. Barabak and Maeve Weston at LA Times

Martin Wisckol at OC Register

Adam Nagourney at New York Times

Action Item on Iraq:

Send a postcard to your representative. Tell them they must not back down to Bush on ending the Iraq war!

As Chris Cillizza at the Washington Post points out, Edwards is taking aim at the veto. Shouldn't you?

UPDATE:

Here's the Edwards ad against Bush's veto!