Senator Edwards and the plight of the poor

[kdmorris]

Now that Edwards has endorsed Obama, do you think that Obama will actually make poverty and justice part of his platform? I have mixed feelings about Obama, but they are mainly because I am too tired to wade through all the bullshit to find out what he believes in. After John Edwards dropped out, I figured it didn't really matter, since I'm would vote for either of them rather than McCain.

But, do you think it will change anything? Do you think that we will ever be able to change the way society looks at poverty ("lazy", "worthless", "don't want to work")? Can changing politicians do anything for the real issues facing the poor today?

I just wondered how you all felt about this, what you thought of this recent development. I could ask in GD:P, but since I'm not either praising Obama to the heavens or gutting him like a fish, my posts sink. It's like a freak show in there.

[saltpoint]

1. Working class people in significant numbers are paying very close

attention to how little attention or compassion the Bush administration (and their local and state GOP delegations) paid the last 8 years generally and in the Katrina aftermath particularly.

It damaged Bush politically, along with a long list of other things, to be seen as both aloof AND incompetent. You don't claim to represent all of the people if all you're really doing is stuffing the bank accounts of the rich few while you abandon U.S. citizens in the wake of a hurricane.

Which Bush did.

Obama and Edwards today made a potent pair. Yes. I think most voters will pay respectful attention to their words in the roles they both play as long-awaited medicine for Bush disease.

[kdmorris]

4. As a comparison to Bush, Obama comes out looking like a saint

They did look great together and Sen. Edwards is a very powerful speaker. So many people are hurting in the US right now. I do hope that they listen.

McCain's birthday cake party in AZ should be shown every hour on the hour on every major new network with a picture of the people drowning in NO the same day superimposed on it. But I doubt the media will do that.

I want to have hope. But some days, I just wonder if it will ever change.

[saltpoint]

5. I hear you. I think the Bush administration generated despair as a

byproduct of greed.

We can't let any government pull that one off again.

I don't know how successful the Democrats will be in addressing these issues, but most Democrats still keep them in their hearts.

It's the GOP who left the premises long ago.

[kdmorris]

7. Despair as a product of greed

That is spot on. Of course the people that got everything don't despair. They are sitting pretty.

[saltpoint]

8. True, they're sitting pretty on their landscaped patios.

But we got the heart.

Compassion doesn't need a pacemaker.

[rwheeler31]

2. Edwards is spot on. Obama knows.

[grannylib]

3. I hope so; I think that his own humble background and his work in

Chicago have certainly given him both first and second hand exposure to some of that gritty reality, at least. And heaven knows we need a candidate who honestly gives a shit about ALL hard working Americans, not just the white ones. Although as a white, near 50, <$50k woman, I certainly don't mind my share of attention as a worker and a consumer :-)

As to whether or not politicians can change the climate that has devalued work and workers, and in which there is a greed (not a need) for low wage workers, I think SOME politicians can, if they have the leadership skills and the talent surrounding them to help the business community line up behind policies that are good for the nation overall, as well as for themselves (I don't hear many people mention that, if 70% of GDP is driven by consumer spending, shit wages are hardly going to keep the economy going, wage earners also being consumers (or at least, potential consumers)

Wage inequity; anti-labor climate; corporate greed; overall tax burden inequity; gap between uber-rich and the rest of the nation growing ever wider; there are a whole host of issues that need to be addressed in that area. I think if there is a politician who maybe CAN do it, Obama would be it - superficial though it may seem, there's a lot to be said for charisma and eloquence if it's useful in either persuading, or in helping to broker compromise, between parties/ideologies/viewpoints/etc.

Just my $.02 worth

[kdmorris]

6. He does have the charisma

I blame myself for not paying more attention. After Edwards dropped out, I just stopped digging so much. As I said, I knew that I would vote for Obama (or, probably Hilary, for that matter) if he was the nominee.

Between Obama and Edwards, I do hope that they can spread the message that the "Two Americas" sucks for everyone except the upper 1%. I'm just in a funk tonight. I want to see Obama start acting like Edwards, I guess :). I do miss having him talk about the inequity in America.

"if they have the leadership skills and the talent surrounding them to help the business community line up behind policies that are good for the nation overall," Good point.

I've known Edwards has that. I wonder if it can transfer to Obama (again, if Obama already has those qualities, it is my OWN fault that I don't know that.)

[grannylib]

9. I guess it's my belief that he does have them, again, based on what

I know of his work experience. God knows lawyers could be making a hell of a lot more money doing things other than community organizing, or politics...while I don't think every pol should be a lawyer, far from it, to me that speaks to some of his values and his talents.