MOMocrats Meet John Edwards in California

As MOMocrat CityMama wrote, she and I had the opportunity to meet John Edwards on Friday night at a private home in Los Gatos, California.  My husband, Stefania and I carpooled down to the event, which was held in a lovely Victorian-style home.  We arrived early, and staked out a spot in the room where we thought he might speak, then mingled with some of the other guests.  We saw a few familiar faces from some of the prior events we have attended, and saw former San Jose Mayor Ron Gonzales among the 70 or so people in attendance.

As before, he arrived and immediately started mingling with the crowd, shaking hands, posing for pictures, answering questions.  He came over to our group immediately, shook hands, and let us take a few pictures, before getting sidetracked over to talk with other people. 

Eventually, he made his way over and announced that he was sorry to be so late, and wanted to get right into the discussion.  He started talking about Iowa, and how he, Hillary, and Obama are in a dead heat. He thinks this is fine because they have been on television in Iowa for months, and he has just started.  The fact that he is dead even with them, without TV ads, he thinks is a good sign.  He attributes to the fact that Iowa has 99 counties, and he's been in all 99 counties twice.  He quipped that he and Elizabeth were at a stop sign in Ottumwa, Iowa, and she said, "You know, I think if someone asked me, I could give directions here."

He mentioned that the Hillary plant story is getting a lot of coverage in Iowa, and really rankles Iowa Democrats.  He said that the Des Moines Register ran a cartoon showing Hillary campaign workers pointing teleprompters toward the audience, to make it easier for them to feed questions to the audience.

Edwards gave a brief primer on how the caucuses work, which I found to be particularly instructive.  People have meetings all across the state, and at the beginning, are sorted by who they support.  If a candidate fails to get 15% of the people present, those people must choose another candidate, and that's when the politicking and persuasion begins.  It's critical, therefore, for the polls to look at who the second choices are.  He rates highly with Biden and other lower-tier candidates' caucus-goers.  It sounds like part political rally, part three ring circus, if you ask me.  I'd love to see it, but I think it would probably give me a migraine.

He started talking about how the government has been run for too long by corporate interests.  The country had, during the Gilded Age, been run by a few wealthy families, but when the Great Depression occurred, things changed.  Social programs to redistribute the wealth and create opportunity for people evolved from FDR's New Deal through the Johnson years.  That trend started to reverse over the past 20 years or so, and now power is back in the hands of the wealthy few and major corporations.  He said that people need to decide if this is what's best for the future of America and American families.  He added, "It should not boil down to a choice between a corporate Republican or a corporate Democrat."

At this point, a woman raised her hand and said she had a question related to that topic.  She said that she speaks to corporate people and wants to bring them over to the Edwards campaign, but has a hard time convincing them.  She wanted to know how she can convince them to vote for him.

He said that he wanted to elevate the plight of working class and middle class families, and ensure that everyone has healthcare, education, and a chance to succeed.  He said that we can't exclude the wealthy, because everyone should believes that he or she could someday be among them.  We need to keep that dream alive, and provide opportunities for people, all people, to succeed, and not just those in power. 

People started raising their hands at this point, so he abandoned whatever he might have planned to say, and took questions.

A man in the audience said that he had a question and a suggestion. He said that he wanted to know what Edwards' position is on economic volatility and immigration, because he sees a tremendous opportunity to take this issue to another level.  He said that the social programs that Edwards proposes should be extended to helping Mexico develop their working and middle class.  He said that Mexico needed to be like Ireland, in that 100 years ago, Ireland was exporting people for work in the US that Americans wouldn't do, and now Ireland is a wealthy country.  He said that his grandfather was met with "No Irish need apply" in this country during the Irish immigration.  His suggestion was to eliminate the corn subsidies so that Mexico's corn farmers would have a chance in the world market.

Edwards listened carefully to the man's suggestion, and said that he didn't think that the corn subsidies would be going away any time soon, but needed to be greatly reduced.  He said most of the agricultural subsidies don't go to the individual farmers, but to corporate farms. Most Iowa corn farmers are Republicans, so he wasn't saying this because of Iowa.  He didn't address the issue of immigrations specifically, but seemed to appreciate the man's suggestion.

Another man said he worked in a non-profit hospital, and that the treatment of uninsured and medicaid patients is bleeding the hospital financial systems dry.  Medicaid is only paying 50 cents on the dollar for most treatment at hospitals, and patients have no other resources, so the hospital continually loses money.  He asked how Edwards healthcare plan would impact how non-profit hospitals.

Edwards said that his healthcare plan would help non-profit hospitals by making sure that every person walking in the door had some type of insurance and was 100% covered.  He also stated that the current Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates were woefully inadequate to cover hospital expenses, and need to be raised.

A woman in the crowd spoke up to ask how Edwards would reshape the Supreme Court.  He responded by saying that there need to be more progressive judges appointed on all levels, and that the selection should not be made solely from academia and the federal bench.  He said, "I want a person who has been dog-catcher, a real person who can bring life-experience and judgement into the decision-making process." He also reiterated what he said at the debate the night before, that judges need to recognize Roe v. Wade as settled law.

Another man said that Edwards had stated that he would withdraw troops from Iraq, but that some troops would stay behind in Kuwait.  He questioned whether that would still put us in harm's way, and asked Edwards to be specific as to how many.

Edwards responded by saying that he would withdraw troops from Iraq, is against permanent military bases there, but thought that some presence was needed in the Middle East.  Pakiston, Afghanistan and Iraq are favored training grounds for Al Qaeda, and as far as he is concerned, Al Qaeda is still "public enemy number 1."  He said that the purpose of maintaining troops in the region would be to better be able to act on intelligence information on where Al Qaeda is organizing. He said that the overall numbers of Al Qaeda operatives in Iraq is small, but they specifically target US troops. He would keep 2500-3000 troops in Kuwait to be quick responders. 

A woman then asked why there was not more focus in the campaigns on global warming and the environmental crisis, despite the fact that it is a critical issue.  She asked why there was not more emphasis on formation of a green economy and cleantech ideas.

Edwards said that he has as plan for environmental issues touching on all of those areas.  He said that what he has seen is that people are concerned about the environment, but there is not the sense of urgency that will spur them to act.  He agreed that it should be in the forefront of the campaigns.

Edwards said he really had to go, since he was running 45 minutes behind schedule and had to get to San Francisco.   As he was leaving, someone shouted out, "What can we do to help the campaign?"

His response was "Go to Iowa."

This is my third time meeting John Edwards and hearing him talk to groups of 100 or less.  Each time, I expect that he will give some various of the stump speech that he gives 5-6 times a day, but each time he surprises me in that he always phrases things in a new way, while delivering a consistent message.  He seems very adept at tailoring his speech to the audience on-the-fly. 

I'm more committed than every to working to get Edwards elected, even though I know that it will be an uphill battle through January. 

Cross-posted at The Silent I.

Comments

[Lawyer Mama]

I'm so jealous! What a wonderful opportunity to hear Edwards speak.

[omelas]

I had hoped to that global warming would be more of an issue in this election year, but as Edwards noted, it's not more than just a concern for most people. Which is a real shame because it's one of the Democrats' strongest points.

And oh do I want to go to Iowa so bad.. but Santa is going to have to be real good to me this year.

[Ste. Goldie]

Thank you for sharing your experience. One of the reasons I support John Edwards is because I don't have to meet him to believe what he is saying. I watch video's of him almost every day. I read blogs like this one and I feel connected. It's a good feeling to be able to understand the words he says without resorting to a spin decoder to get the "real message".