John Edwards for President-Edwards Touts Poverty Eradication during Visit

Edwards Touts Poverty Eradication during Visit

Apr 10, 2006 4:57 PM

Ken Black
Marshalltown Times-Republican
Apr 10, 2006

TAMA — Former vice presidential candidate John Edwards criticized the president for leaking information to the media and outlined his vision to eradicate poverty while at a fund-raiser for the Tama County Democratic Party Sunday.

"The White House keeps saying they have the authority to declassify information," the former U.S. senator from North Carolina said. "That's true, but that's not what he did. What he did was have one of his minions leak classified information to press, to the media, to cover his own rear."

Edwards made a failed bid for the Democratic nomination for president in 2004, eventually being chosen for John Kerry's running mate. Though it has been speculated he will make another attempt for the Democratic nomination, he made no mention of it during the Tama event.

Edwards, who is director of an organization with the mission to eliminate poverty, criticized Bush for having misplaced priorities. He argued that tax breaks touted by the administration have consistently gone to help the wealthiest of corporations.

"At the same time we are going to give billions in tax breaks to Exxon, we are going to take health care away from children," Edwards said. "This is immoral."

Through the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Edwards' alma mater, the former senator has worked on raising the minimum wage, restoration efforts and New Orleans and has traveled the country to raise awareness.

While visiting a community action center in Cedar Rapids earlier in the day, Edwards said he noticed there are plenty of people out there who break the stereotypical viewpoint some have of who are trapped in poverty. Many, he argued, are single mothers working several jobs to make ends meet.

He said that kind of situation is not unique to Iowa. He noted there are plenty all around the country in similar circumstances.

In New Orleans, he said many got caught in the hurricane not because they did not want to leave, but because they could not leave. They had no way out.

"Why do the poor get hurt the worst? The poor always get hurt the worst," he said. "What we saw in New Orleans is not only true in New Orleans, but it's true all across the country."

While in New Orleans, Edwards said he met a man who waited for work everyday. Each morning, he said sometimes a pickup truck would come by asking if anyone wanted work for the day. He said he had not been picked up yet, but he would be soon.

That kind of outlook showed the value of hard work and responsibility, Edwards noted. "That is the kind of America that most of us believe in," he said.

However, to get to that America takes help from many people. He said no one can do it alone.

"I've had everything you could ever have in this country," he said. "[But] I didn't get here by myself. I never could have gotten here by myself. ... It's a fantasy to say you can get there by yourselves."

Edwards said it took the work of a lot of people — school teachers, taxpayers who helped build public universities and a system that allowed him to access student loans.

During his travels around the country, Edwards said one thing has become extremely clear.

"There is a hunger in America — a hunger to be inspired again," he said. "People want to believe we are a national community."