Last night, at the conclusion of President Bush’s State of the Union address, I received an unsolicited phone call from John Edwards’s campaign, and no, they weren’t asking for money. They were calling Louisianans and asking them to attend today’s event in New Orleans. Although the campaign insisted that Edwards was still in the race, it was difficult to ignore the symbolism. Edwards first announced his candidacy in the Lower Ninth Ward.
No other candidate for President has focused on New Orleans as much as John Edwards. New Orleans was a touchstone for Edwards; for him, New Orleans represents the urgency of addressing poverty in America and the failures of government to adequately and judiciously respond to the crisis. Edwards was the first candidate with a plan for New Orleans recovery. Today, Edwards noted:
And I want to say to everyone here, on the way here today, we passed under a bridge that carried the interstate where 100 to 200 homeless Americans sleep every night. And we stopped, we got out, we went in and spoke to them.
There was a minister there who comes every morning and feeds the homeless out of her own pocket. She said she has no money left in her bank account, she struggles to be able to do it, but she knows it’s the moral, just and right thing to do. And I spoke to some of the people who were there and as I was leaving, one woman said to me, “You won’t forget us, will you? Promise me you won’t forget us.” Well, I say to her and I say to all of those who are struggling in this country, we will never forget you. We will fight for you. We will stand up for you.
The stories of the disenfranchised, the dispossessed, and the poor are usually drowned out. Most of us recognize the “Tent City” cited by Edwards; it is a stark reminder of how much work remains to be done on the issue of poverty in America (and in Louisiana). A few weeks ago, I pointed out the Tent City to a friend of mine who was visiting from Baltimore. “We have the same problem in Baltimore,” he said. “It’s not just New Orleans.”
John Edwards understood that as well. And these conditions don’t simply exist in large cities; they exist on the back roads and the Main Streets of towns across the country.
Many of us in Louisiana are thankful that John Edwards championed the City of New Orleans, and hopefully, his message will remain important throughout this campaign season.
Oyster has a great post about John Edwards. Check it out.
Update: Timshel posts this video in response to Bill O’Reilly’s stupid denial:
CenLamar 