E.J. Dionne on "John Edwards wager" [View All]

Here's a couple of short clips from E.J. Dionne column on JOhn Edwards. Full text at: http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=18460

John Edwards' wager
Beaten, 2004 veep nominee bets on passion over positioning

... What if the Democrats' challenge is about passion, not positioning? John Edwards is wagering a lot, maybe his whole political future, on that list of what-ifs. The 2004 vice presidential nominee, the guy with the dad in the mill who gave the most remembered stump speech of the Democratic primary campaign, will rejoin the debate with a new speech in New Hampshire on the first weekend in February. From the sounds of an interview at his Georgetown row house earlier this week, Edwards intends to pick up where he left off in that "Two Americas" discourse of his.

"It needs to be clear to the country what our core beliefs are, and the last thing we need is strategic maneuvering," Edwards says. "What people want to see is leadership and strength and conviction. This is about what's inside us. It's not about how we get to the right place."

...

Moral issues matter, Edwards says, but Democrats won't look moral by getting into a bidding war over how often they can invoke the name of God. Instead, Democrats should speak with conviction about an issue that has always animated them: the alleviation of poverty. "I think it is a moral issue, it's something we should be willing to fight about and stand up for," he says.