John Edwards; Wealth

I am trying to remember if the librul media ever used George W. Bush's wealth to challenge his status as a rough-hewn, brush-clearing, up-by-the-bootstraps regular guy. I don't remember that ever happening.

Bush was sold to the American public as the most authentic feller to come down the pike since... well, since Ronald Reagan. He drove a pickup truck and lived on a "ranch," and was from "Texas" where he built his fortune in the "oil business." He wore boots! He wasn't no stuffy, East Coast Ivy League elitist. He was the kind of guy working-class Republicans would love to have a beer with. The image persists to this day.

Except that Bush was born in Connecticut, was educated at Yale and Harvard, and never earned an honest dollar in the oil business or any other business. He was born into a life of wealth and privilege which most people cannot imagine. Yet, this pampered son of fortune is held up as a genuine Man of the People. Never mind that he would not consider most of those people worthy of licking the dirt off of his shoes, and that the closest most working-class Republicans would ever come to having a beer with him is if they served it to him.

On the other hand, we have John Edwards. Edwards was born into a working class family. His father was a mill worker. He is a multimillionaire who earned every dollar he has by practicing law. He spent his career representing ordinary people against huge corporations.

It is Edwards, whose life embodies the American dream, whom the media are challenging to defend his authenticity based on the fact that he has prospered in America.

"Would it have been better if I had done well and didn't care?" Edwards asked.

Edwards noted that some of the most acclaimed anti-poverty advocates came from privileged backgrounds, including Franklin Roosevelt and Bobby Kennedy.

"You could see and feel the empathy they had," said Edwards, speaking from his home in North Carolina during an interview on Iowa Public Radio.

Edwards, a former North Carolina senator, has made poverty a central issue of his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination and recently released a book on the subject, "Ending Poverty in America." He also has formed a center for the study of poverty issues at the University of North Carolina.

His credibility on the issue has been challenged by critics who point to his 28,000-square-foot home in North Carolina and his $400 haircuts. He rejected the criticism, saying a look at history shows that personal wealth doesn't disqualify people from advocating for the poor.

"It feels a little silly to me," Edwards said. "This is an issue I care deeply about."

It is, frankly, beyond silly. For the most part, the news media took George W. Bush's "Compassionate Conservatism" platitudes at face value, even though they never contained any more substance than a campaign slogan. Edwards, who is articulating a clear strategy for fighting poverty, has to contend with "journalists" asking him about his haircuts and suggesting that because he lives in a nice house, he can't possibly care about the poor.

If reporters and pundits have genuine critiques of Edwards' poverty plan, I say it's fair game. Examine every detail. If there is a flaw, the American people deserve to know. If the plan is a good one, we need to know that, too. Democracy is only strengthened by that kind of debate.

But enough with the haircuts, already!