Faux Populism

The "Two Americas" speech of John Edwards is once again a foray into populism by the Democratic party. Victor Hanson sees it as a faux populism that no longer sells among the "common people".

Finally, if these two blow-dried, athletic figures in designer suits are going to convince those in Fresno that they are down-home folks, then they are going to have to ask themselves why it is that most who work as secretaries or at the post office would more likely find George Bush, of a corporate, Ivy League pedigree, far friendlier and more accessible than a John Kerry. The heyday of FDR, Harry Truman, and George Meeney passed with enactment of Social Security, the Great Society, Workers Compensation, and Civil Rights legislation.

Now we are left with the much harder questions of an affluent society wrestling with guaranteeing an equality of result rather than ensuring an equality of opportunity. Perhaps that is why where I live bankrupt farmers and failed chemical salesmen are more likely to vote Bush/Cheney than are my tenured colleagues in Volvos and the local legal community who vacation in Europe. Go figure.

And as he also points out, Edwards's own life story contradicts the idea of the "Two Americas".