Edwards, Obama & Labor: Will the Populist Moment Become A Long-Term Movement? (Sirota)

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The Edwards Factor

==For the last year or so, former North Carolina Senator John Edwards has laid claim to a brand of bare-knuckled economic populism the Democratic Party hasn’t seen in a major candidate for president since at least Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign, and more likely Dick Gephardt’s out-of-nowhere Iowa primary victory in 1988 (Clinton may have governed as a center-right corporate appeaser, but for those who buy the Washington media’s historical revisionism of Clinton originally RUNNING as an anti-populist technocrat, please see here and here). If all politicians are at some level opportunists and weathervanes, then we have to look at who they see their opportunities with and which way they perceive the wind blowing to get a sense of who they would rely on and how they would govern in the offices they seek.==

==Now, in the last two weeks, Edwards has ratcheted up his People Party vs. Money Party campaign to a place that truly suggests his candidacy could be transformative. He’s moved away from merely the traditional checklisting of positions that we’ve gotten used to from candidates to start articulating a broader critique of the fundamental problem facing America in a way that few - if any - politicians really ever articulate. As an example, take a look at these two statements from him at last week’s debate. Though they received almost no coverage from a power-worshiping Washington media, it is astounding that a presidential candidate has the guts to say this:==

Obama’s Encouraging Populist Streak

Now, here comes Barack Obama (D). About a week and a half ago, the Washington Post reported that “Obama’s campaign is doing some retooling: He is focusing more on the economy.” This story appeared on the same day the New York Times quoted Obama not-so-subtly lashing out at the Rubin wing of the Democratic Party, specifically indicting free traders for selling out American workers. And just yesterday, Obama ratcheted it up again, decrying a “second Gilded Age” and parroting Edwards almost word-for-word:==

A Battle for the Populist Mantle

==For a while now, I’ve told reporters, political operatives and friends that I talk politics with that the most interesting fault line in the Democratic presidential primary will be between Edwards and Obama. The former has created a gravitational pull in the race to become the change candidate juxtaposed against the Establishment candidacy of Hillary Clinton and her Washington machine. Back in December, he gave a pointed speech in New Hampshire saying “identifying the problem and talking about hope is waiting for tomorrow” - a clear dig at Obama’s then-nebulous platitudes. A few months later, Obama tried to dismiss Edwards with right-wing-ish Beltway media memes, at one point saying Iowa voters would look at Edwards merely as “good-looking” or “cute.”

But now, Obama is taking Edwards more seriously, trying to match - if not one-up - Edwards in the race for the populist mantle. It really doesn’t matter whether you think Obama’s moves are principled or whether you think he is just politically calculating and can’t really be a populist because his campaign is overrun with Wall Street cash and Washington insiders. The point here is that there is clearly a competition going on - and that’s a good thing not just for the candidates in question, but for a political debate sorely lacking in any real discussion of the major economic forces that shape - and hurt - America.==

Read the rest at http://davidsirota.com/index.php/2007/07/31/edwards-obama-labor-will-the-populist-moment-become-a-long-term-movement/