Saturday, Sep 6, 2008
The Edwards-Cheney debate will offer one of the starkest contrasts since Clay fought Liston.
Jul 7, 2004 | It was late January in Columbia, S.C., and a friendly crowd was turning ugly on John Edwards. The event should have been a natural for Edwards, a town-hall meeting where the Democratic presidential candidates could talk one-on-one with average people -- poor people -- about the problem of poverty. But a few minutes into Edwards' time onstage, the moderator turned against him. "You talk about 'two Americas,'" he said, but isn't it true that you're a millionaire trial lawyer with a couple of multimillion-dollar homes?
The crowd smelled a phony in their midst. Their hoots and "gotcha" groans drowned out the first bit of Edwards' response, but the senator kept talking. He told the crowd about how he was born the son of a mill worker, how his father had to borrow money to bring him home from the hospital, how he had worked his way to a better life by representing little people against big corporations. He told them that the Bush administration was eliminating opportunity for poor kids like the one he once was.
The moderator tried to cut him off, but Edwards wasn't done. "You have to let me finish," Edwards said. "You asked me the question." Edwards turned back to the crowd. "I grew up the way you grew up," he told them. "I come from the same place ... I will never forget where I come from, and you can take that to the bank."
By the time Edwards was finished, he had turned the crowd around. The jeers became shouts and then thunderous applause, and Edwards left the hall in triumph.
It was a fleeting moment in a presidential campaign Edwards would eventually lose. But it was exactly the sort of moment John Kerry had to have in mind when he selected John Edwards to be his running mate Tuesday. For all of the talk about what Kerry wanted in a vice presidential candidate -- a proven leader, committed to Kerry's agenda and prepared to assume the presidency at a moment's notice -- what Kerry got was an appealing young populist who can inspire true believers and win over the doubters.
What he got was the opposite of Dick Cheney.
And in an e-mail message to supporters Tuesday morning, Kerry seemed to acknowledged that that's exactly what he wanted. Kerry said not a word in the e-mail about what a great job Edwards might do as vice president. Instead, he spoke only of Edwards as a candidate, as a foil to the sitting vice president. Kerry didn't say he was eager for the day that he and Edwards take office; he said he's eager "for the day this fall" when Edwards "stands up for our vision and goes toe-to-toe with Dick Cheney."
That day will presumably come on Oct. 5, the date the Commission on Presidential Debates has set for the 2004 vice presidential debate. When it does, it will present to the voters the starkest contrast between vice presidential candidates -- perhaps between any kind of candidate -- that they have seen in any national election in memory.
Kerry and Edwards will start appearing together today, two fit and youthful men offering up a Reaganesque, "the best days are ahead of us" vision of America. Kerry, on the stump, speaks longingly of the day when America is not just feared but respected, a day when America "can be America again." The message fits well with Edwards' "two Americas" speech, so well that one might suspect Kerry has known for weeks or even months that he would ultimately ask Edwards to join him.
Bush and Cheney seldom appear together, perhaps out of security concerns, or perhaps because Cheney's appearance at times diminishes Bush's. When Cheney does campaign, he seems to do so reluctantly; if every campaign stop seems like a day at Disneyland for Edwards, it looks like a visit to the proctologist for Cheney. As the New York Times noted over the weekend, Cheney seems to view campaigning as a chore, speeches something to get through. He reads from notes, seldom looking up, and when he's not reciting dry statistics about the economy, he's warning darkly that "the enemy" is everywhere and might strike at any minute.
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