So
John Edwards met with
Martin Luther King III yesterday, and
received a gorgeous letter as a follow-up. One point really struck me, as I've been saying the same thing about Edwards for a while now:
There has been, and will continue to be, a lot of back and forth in the political arena over my father's legacy. It is a commentary on the breadth and depth of his impact that so many people want to claim his legacy. I am concerned that we do not blur the lines and obscure the truth about what he stood for: speaking up for justice for those who have no voice.
I appreciate that on the major issues of health care, the environment, and the economy, you have framed the issues for what they are - a struggle for justice. And, you have almost single-handedly made poverty an issue in this election.
You know as well as anyone that the 37 million people living in poverty have no voice in our system. They don't have lobbyists in Washington and they don't get to go to lunch with members of Congress. Speaking up for them is not politically convenient. But, it is the right thing to do.
So in most of the debates, those watching and being polled have tended to say that Edwards won these debates...but the media only respond to (and report) conflict, so they claim it was all about Clinton and Obama. Now each of these candidates has their strong points (and weaknesses), but their recent behavior has been, at best, childish and, at worst, divisive. I'm particularly sickened (though I wish I could say surprised) at the Clinton camp.
Why, why, why won't the media acknowledge that Edwards is hitting a very significant nerve with the American public? - the ones who actually manage to hear him over the media nonsense, anyways. Without the money to send his message to all 50 states every minute of the day, it's getting lost in the din of pissy rhetoric and backstabbing (wtf President Bill Clinton?? I thought you'd figured out how to be above all this crap!)
The Dems have an excellent chance of winning the White House in November, but ONLY if they stick together and keep it clean, civil, professional and grounded in real issues and real values (not those amorphous 'family values' no one can define to my satisfaction).
Enough already!!
