slate.msn.com/id/2085343
Unless we learn something awful about Howard Dean in the next several months, the Democratic race for president will probably come down to him and one other, more openly centrist candidate. If money, experience, and military service govern the decision, that candidate could be John Kerry. But theres one other candidate I can see filling the centrist slot, surviving the Dean insurgency, and giving President Bush a tougher fight. I know, Edwards has served just four and a half years in the Senate. And hes a trial lawyer, and hes rich, and hes unfamiliar with the nuances of some policy debates, and hes got no military record. I wont spend this column pointing out that Bushs rsum was equally thin when he ran for president, that he had less foreign policy experience than Edwards does now, that Bush and Kerry are rich, or that Bush is still unfamiliar with the nuances of most policy debates. The journalistic case for Edwards is that hes got the most interesting message in the race, distinct from Deans and Bushs, plus the talent to make it stick. Hed put up a hell of a race against Dean and, if he prevailed, a hell of a race against Bush. Edwards doesnt have Deans fearless clarity or his fire at the podium. What he has instead is a working-class background unlike Dean, who grew up on Park Avenue, an ear for plain language, candor about his caveats, and a Clintonesque knack for relating to people and engaging complex issues. Monday evening, he displayed these virtues at a town hall meeting in Concord, NH Sweating in the heat, he fielded questions from an unfiltered audience with more one-on-one ease than any other candidate has shown. A year ago, Edwards batted his eyelashes and talked down to audiences like an oily courtroom lawyer. He hedged his statements in a way that suggested ignorance or cowardice. If Deans strength is speaking bluntly to the right, Edwards, like Joe Lieberman, has shown a facility for speaking bluntly to the left. Like Dean and Kerryand unlike Dick Gephardt and Dennis KucinichEdwards emphasizes fiscal realism. In Concord, he said he favored the death penalty but opposed its unfair administration;
On national security, however, he struck a tone very different from Deans: I believe in American strength and believe it strongly. And I dont take a back seat to George Bush or anybody else on that issue. While calling the anger of many Democrats at Bush understandable, Edwards warned that the party must also be forward-looking, positive, and optimistic. Democrats would paint Bush as a divisive, right-wing imperial president and corporate crony. Like Clinton, Edwards refuses to accept the conventional border between Democrats and Republicans. He wants to move that border to the right, by redefining the spirit of capitalism and turning it against the GOP. In Concord, Edwards summarized the clash of worldviews this way: President Bush honors and respects only wealth. He comes from a world where wealth is largely inherited, not earned. The difference between George Bush and John Edwards is, while he honors and respects only wealth, I honor and respect hard work. Addressing the town hall audience, he wove many of his ideas into itcollege scholarships, tax cuts for the middle class, savings accounts, tax breaks for first-time home buyers, expensing stock options, and a bill of rights for workers and shareholders as well as the recent accounting scandals. Bush had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do absolutely anything about corporate responsibility, Edwards charged. But more broadly, he argued, Bush has shown a pattern of striving to eliminate the taxation on wealth and the income on wealth.
The president wants to shift the tax burden in America from wealth and income on wealthpeople who sit at home and get their statements every month from their investments and see how much money theyve madeto people like my father. There are numerous themes in this message, and Edwards will probably spend the rest of his campaign unpacking them. Its a belief that our markets can do well, but in order for them to do well, we need honesty, we need truth, we need responsibility. The other is the work ethic, which Edwards reinforced as he proposed college subsidies for students who work 10 hours per week. Edwards closed his presentation by framing the election this way: Do we believe in an America where the family youre born into controls your destiny? Our ancestors left a place of princes and paupers and masters and servants. What we believe is that wherever you live and whoever your family is, and whatever the color of your skin is, if youre willing to work hard, if youre willing to take responsibility, you ought to be able to go as far as your God-given talents and hard work will take you. I dont know whether Edwards can beat Dean or Bush with that message. William Saletan is Slate s chief political correspondent and author of Bearing Right: How Conservatives Won the Abortion War .
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