Edwards Outlines Obligation To Help The Poor

[Catchawave]

POSTED: 10:36 am EDT October 7, 2005

LITTLE ROCK -- Too many victims of Hurricane Katrina aren't getting the help they need, former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards says.

"Americans know that Katrina's victims shouldn't be out there on their own, that no one should be out there on their own,'' Edwards said Thursday in a speech on poverty at the Clinton School of Public Service.

In remarks to reporters before his speech, Edwards said America has an obligation to do what it can to eliminate poverty as it rebuilds the Gulf Coast following the hurricane.

"There's an enormous opportunity to do something about people who are struggling,'' he said, "and an enormous capacity to assist not only in the aftermath the hurricane but also to do something about poverty.''

In his speech, Edwards said the nation's hurricane-relief effort "has been our shame. I want the world, I want you, to see a different America.''

More: http://www.nbc17.com/politics/5070300/detail.html?rss=t...

[The Backlash Cometh]

1. kick

[Neil Lisst]

2. Edwards says some things I like, but ...

I can't see him winning the presidency.

When I see that thing on his upper lip, I'm reminded of the late, great, John Candy's admonition in Uncle Buck ... "here's a quarter, go downtown and get a rat to gnaw that off."

-----
my progressive political cartoon
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/neillisst

[ourbluenation]

3. He had it removed months ago...eom

[Neil Lisst]

9. ourbluenation, he did?

Did he really have it removed? I had a friend who drove him during the campaign in Florida, and he said the mole was really annoying up close.

-----
my progressive political cartoon
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/neillisst

[1932]

12. Perhaps you misheard "You are" as "that mole"?

:)

[ourbluenation]

17. Yep - after the election...

[1932]

4. I think the point of this is to make sure that N.O. doesn't fall out of

the public consciousness so that Republicans don't use it to give their friends a free ride and so that there's some kind of public mandate to make the lives of the victims better.

[Catchawave]

7. Exactly !

He wants the Gulf Coast residents to rebuild their towns, not Halliburton! Now that's an "opportunity" !

[Catchawave]

11. You forgot your "sarcasm smilie", right?

Sen. John Edwards (NC):One America Committee, Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity ... P2004 page
(Legislation: 108th, 107th, 106th)
PAC finances (1)
Consultant: Nick Baldick. Political Director: David Medina
>Following Hurricane Katrina Sen. Edwards has proposed a New America Initiative, modeled after FDR's Works Progress Administration. According to an online petition he started, "ur government would provide the victims of this disaster with the skills, materials, and planning they need to resurrect and revitalize their region, and they would in turn have good-paying jobs and the pride of knowing that their futures are in their own hands."
>Since the campaign Sen. Edwards has made fighting poverty the overarching theme of his efforts.
>Sen. Edwards has not neglected the foreign policy arena. In late May 2005 he visited London, delivering a speech "Towards a New Partnership: America, Europe and the New World" at the London School of Economics on May 25 and meeting with Prime Minister Tony Blair. Edwards is co-chairing, with former congressman and HUD Secretary Jack Kemp, the Council on Foreign Relations' Independent Task Force on Russian-American Relations, which held its first meeting on May 31, 2005 and is scheduled to release a report in Fall 2005.
>Sen. Edwards is working on a book about people's childhood homes, tentatively titled Blueprints: The Architecture of Our Lives, with publication targeted for Fall 2006.
>Excluding Sen. Kerry's thank you visits to New Hampshire and Iowa in December 2004, former Sen. Edwards was the first Democratic prospect to venture into these key early states, visiting New Hampshire on February 5, 2005 and Iowa on March 31-April 1, 2005.

Director of the new Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at UNC School of Law (announced Feb. 2005) >. Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004; sought the Democratic 2004 presidential nomination. Elected to the U.S. Senate in Nov. 1998; retired in 2004. Successful trial lawyer. J.D. from University of North Carolina School of Law (Chapel Hill), 1977 and undergraduate degree from North Carolina State University, 1974. Born June 10, 1953 in Seneca, SC.

**********from: http://www.gwu.edu/%7Eaction/2008/dems08.html
(also other dems listed too!)

[bluedawg12]

5. Get rid of the word "obligation" it's "opportunity"

When I hear "obligation to help the poor" I get a tight noose feeling and immediately think fck it and fck the poor- but if you say we have an opportunity to lift the poor out of poverty and help them achieve prosperity and the American dream I am for it.

why is that?

Perhaps, for decades I have been hearing about my "obligation" to this and that.

usually after obligation comes a collection plate or tax hike...

my only obligation is to myself and my family beyond that everything I do is because I want to do it and I think that it is right.

we have an imperative to ensure access to good paying jobs for all Americans because a strong middle class makes for a stable democracy.

[Catchawave]

6. Yes, I agree....

As he states in the article....it's the gov's obligation to give the working poor the "opportunity". If you read the whole article, it does mention raising the minimum wage to 7.50/hr for starters, even though I think "livable" wage is around $11/hr ?

More details about his "Working Society" initiatives here:

http://www.oneamericacommittee.com/20050919-factsheet.asp

[bluedawg12]

8. Agree pay people fair damned wages and give jobs

we have poor because of corruption, and outsourcing of jobs even as we speak...even in the wake of Katrina...when I posted about getting the people of the gulf states back and set up tent housing or whatever temporary shelters and give them WPA style work-with decent wages.

What did chimp do?

No bid contracts to multinationals- fluorcorp. and cheneyburton, cut the minimum wage, and is now bringing in illegal aliens- to cut the throats of those Americans who have lost everything and desperatly want a way to support themselves and regain their independence and dignity through work.

Chimpy is fostering welfare-

[Catchawave]

14. Chimpy is also lining the pockets of his Halliburton

cronies! It's so obvious Cheney's boys were on the scene faster than FEMA :grr:

[1932]

10. I'm starting to think that the huge polarizations of wealth within the US

and around the globe are the biggest threats to global stability.

There has to be a better word than opportunity or obligation that captures the idea that if we don't eliminate these gulfs that we're going to fail to aleviate immense impending misery that could have been prevented.

[bluedawg12]

13. The other word is: desperate need to change world wide

You are right- Charlie Rose has been talking about this and interviewing world leaders and bankers...and I know we could actually eliminate world wide hunger.

But that would mean that the US spent more on the cause of world hunger than the war in sh*thole I-wreck.

BTW- Paul Wolfovitz is now head of the world-freaking-bank!

hello one world order neoconnie style.

[Time for change]

15. Edwards is one of the few politicians to make our obligation to the poor

a major focus of his agenda. I think that's a very courageous thing to do. That's a major reason why I campaigned for him in the primaries last year.

Nominated, to show why John Edwards deserves our support.

[McCamy Taylor]

16. Excellent work, by Edwards, following up Clinton's train tour of US.

Very little political gain in it, since in the USA, many believe that if you want money, you can just go out and make/steal money, but it is something that needs to be done.

Reminded of Leonardo Boff's book about liberation theology "St. Francis".

"To live humanly means to feel the warmth of someone who says to us, in spite of our physical and moral misery: ' It is good that you exist, Brother. You are welcome. The sun is also your, the air is everybody's, and love can unite our hearts.'"

[Clarkie1]

18. Great ideas shared by all mainstream democrats. n/t