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Edwards Visits Upper Valley

May 21, 2007 8:17 AM

Rutland Herald
May 21, 2007

CLAREMONT, N.H. -- There are so many priorities, but if former U.S. senator and Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards had to pick one, it would be restoring America's moral standing as a world leader.

Edwards' second try for the presidency came to New Hampshire on Monday, and he stopped at the Earl Bourdon Senior Center in Claremont as part of a swing through the western part of the state.

"Spying, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib -- that's not America," Edwards said. "I think we desperately need a president we can trust. The rest of the world would listen to a president like that. My first priority is re-establishing America's leadership in the world. An awful lot of time early on will have to be devoted to travel, because if we don't, the rest of the world will still think we're a bully."

Edwards said he favored a careful withdrawal from Iraq and bringing all parties to the table to bring about a political solution, which he said was vital to establishing peace in the region.

"I'd start withdrawing 50,000 troops today and continue an orderly deployment over the next nine to 10 months," Edwards said, "and I'd engage with the Sunni and Shia leadership to find a political solution."

Sandy Franklin, the services coordinator at the center, wanted to know how Edwards would control health-care costs.

"We have one lady on Medicare D," Franklin said. "She has excessive costs, and she has to pay the next $2,000 of the plan out of her own pocket. That literally leaves her with $15 a month to live on. The veterans here have to go to Boston to have a tooth pulled or to get surgery."

Edwards said he had a plan to provide for full health care coverage: employers could either use a private plan or they could pay into a government plan. While this would cost between $90 billion and $120 billion, Edwards said this could be paid for by rolling back the Bush administration's tax cuts for those taxpayers making more than $200,000 and devoting the entire amount to health care.

Edwards said laws on prescription drugs contribute to the problem.

"The prescription drug program is a complete mess," Edwards said. "You can't bring costs down because the drug companies make so much money."

"We need some controls on the drug companies," Franklin said.

"I like that idea," Edwards replied.

Gloria Allison said she was concerned the free market had run amok, and American corporate greed was ruining the nation's standing in the world.

"I've lost faith in my country," Allison said. "I don't know what a people can do."

"I think the power to change things is right here, not in the Oval Office," Edwards said. "You'll see a number of presidential candidates come through here, and whether you agree with them or not, go hear what they have to say. Don't let them get away with rhetoric, but ask, 'Do you have a specific idea?' Nothing is going to change without specific ideas."

Democratic State Rep. Jay Phinizy, who supported former Vermont governor Howard Dean in 2004, said he is backing Edwards.

"John Edwards is a very calm, thoughtful person," Phinizy said. "He doesn't draw the line in the sand and he doesn't posture. He'll get people talking and working together, not tearing each other apart."

The Edwards campaign official Web site is johnedwards.com.

 

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John Edwards answers a question about educational disparity at Hanover Middle School in Hanover, N.H. on September 27, 2007

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