Legacy Down

In 2004 Howard Dean was the closest to understanding what has happened to the American Legacy and what it would take to restore it in a political world of Repubs and Repub-lites. John Edwards, with his “Two Americas” theme, was closest behind him. Of course we know what was done to Dean by his own party, and John Kerry stupefied and emasculated any effort by Edwards to talk about underlying principles of our legacy and place in the world and for each other. In 2007, Edwards has turned up the dial and is hitting even more of the right notes . . . and dropping in the polls. Maybe it’s that drop that that’s convinced him just to go out with guns blazing and truth hammering. But I think his fate will demonstrate that the bulk of the American people just don’t care about what this country was supposed to stand for. Howard Dean’s problem wasn’t himself or the media. It was the American people. Edwards looks to be facing the same enemy. We’ve ceased to deserve what we’ve been given, and none of the well-planned bromides from the Clintons or Obama, even if victorious somehow in 2008, will reverse that. There’s always been a thread in our country that promised opportunity for every person here, but it’s been swept away in contribution corruption, media perversion, and politician mediocrity and mendacity. Edwards increasingly understands it, but in a democracy you get what you deserve. And that bill is only now arriving.