Posted by student JAMES MITCHELL- John Edwards understands populism. Speaking to a packed room at a community college in northwestern Iowa, Edwards railed against the plight of the working class. His fiery speech lashed out against the greed of corporate America and influential lobbyists.
Edwards told the crowd “entrenched special interests and corporate money control your government. They’re in everything. And the only way we’re gonna fix it is to fight.”
Edwards decried a system where major corporations get rich while life gets worse for rural Americans. He told the crowd that as a trial lawyer he’s taken on big-money special interest groups and knows how to beat them- “It’s not gonna be easy. You can’t nice these people into change.”
He went on to say that corruption is rife with both Democrats and Republicans and that substituting one for the other is pointless. “You can’t take money from these people and then try to deal with them. I’ve never taken money from a lobbyist or a special interest PAC and I’m proud of that.”
Edwards spoke directly to the problems faced by the crowd of rural Iowans. He told his audience that this election is about their voice. “It belongs to us, but nothing will change unless we fight.”
Edwards thinks he’s the man to pick that fight. By tomorrow night we’ll see if Iowans agree.
James Mitchell is a Clinton School student covering the Iowa Caucuses for the Clinton School Blog.
