Yesterday, endorsing Barack Obama, John Edwards gave one of the best speeches of the campaign (transcript) in which he seamlessly blended the themes of his campaign with that of Obamas:
Here is how he began the section where he blends the two themes, and introduces his key motif of the walls that divide us, the walls we will tear down:
Now, what brought all of us here is the profound belief that we can change this country. That there are service men and women in Iraq who can come home starting today. That our kids deserve to go to better schools than we went to. That we can run our cars on something other than oil. That we can have good jobs that can fill these empty factories. And that the anxiety that all of our people face every day can change when we finally make two Americas one America for every single one of us.
This is why you are here. You are here because of the hope that you carry in your heart that will make this country better. And we have so much work to do in America, because all across America there are walls. There are walls dividing the way things are and the one America we want to see.
This blending of their two themes is, I would argue, a clear winning formula for the Democrats in November, and while Edwards has previously ruled out running for Vice President, that was then, and this is now. Right now, the greatest weakness that Obama has is precisely the demographic that Edwards speaks most forcefully for and too. And the greatest opportunity for Edwards to further the cause he passionately believes in is to see Obama elected, with a new pledge to join in that commitment (see transcript text below the fold). In turn, running as Obama's VP could be the most effective way to ensure that Obama is elected.
Here's just a taste of how Edwards goes on to develop his motif of the walls that divide us:
And in fact there's a wall around Washington DC. The American people today are on the outside of that wall. And on the inside are the big corporations and the lobbyists working to protect a system that takes care of them. And guess who struggles every single day? Working men and women see that wall when they have to split their bills into two piles. One: pay now, and one: pay later. When they get bullied at work because they want to join a union. When they see disappointment on the face of their son or daughter because they can no longer pay for that child to go to college. When their CEO who gets a golden parachute and their job gets shipped overseas - and you know something about that here in Michigan. When their wages drop and their kids go hungry. And guess who's doing just fine? The insiders. The lobbyists. The special interests. Our job come January of next year is to tear that wall down and give this government back to the American people.
There is another wall that divides us. It's the moral shame of 37 million of our own people who wake up in poverty every single day. In a nation of our wealth, to have millions of Americans who work every single day and still can't pay their electric bill and pay for their food at the same time? There are mothers out there, working two jobs every day to try to keep their kids from going to bed hungry. There are men and women who have worked hard all their lives so that they can try to buy a home, and they're living in a tent city because they've got nowhere to go. This is not okay, and for eight long long years, this wall has gotten taller.
Yesterday I was in Philadelphia and I was announcing an initiative to cut poverty in half in the next ten years, and I am proud to say today that Barack Obama stands with me in this cause. We also have a wall that divides our two public school systems in America. It is not okay that a child born into a wealthy family gets the best education in the world, and a child born in a small town or the inner city barely gets by. Their education is our education. We're going to fix that system for them and make these schools good for everybody.
I know that in terms of unifying the party, putting a woman on the ticket would be an excellent move. But putting Edwards on the ticket would put the election away. Because of the unique dynamics of this race, it would be one of the rare examples of when a Vice Presidential candidate really can sway an important, if not crucial demographic--the very "Regan Democrat" demographic that McCain cannot win without. And, of course, he does this particularly in the old battleground states of Ohio, Michigan and Ohio, as well as the new new battleground states of Virginia and North Carolina--states that will stretch the McCain campaign to the breaking point.
Most importantly, Edwards on the ticket would be a powerful figure for healing the deep rifts that have divided our party in the past, and that clearly still linger in hearts of many, These two candidates together embody the themes that they have both sounded in different ways--the deep need, and the powerful possibility of uniting our nation and tearing down the walls that divide us.
As a labor leader, Lewandowski remained neutral in the Indiana primary, which Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) narrowly won, but he personally supported Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) (after his first choice, John Edwards, dropped out of the race). Obama's "organizer mindset" appealed to Lewandowski, who has been building a working-class community affiliate of the labor movement. Obama's March 18 Philadelphia speech on race in America further impressed him.
Now Lewandowski wants Obama to take another big step, one that could strengthen Obama's appeal among white working-class voters who have gravitated more toward Clinton, as they did again in Indiana and North Carolina.
"Like what he did with his Philadelphia speech on race, he needs a speech on class," Lewandowski says. "But, of course, we don't have class in America."
Obama would do well to take Lewandowski's advice.
Together, that's a step that an Obama/Edwards team could definitely take.
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