Steal This Speech

Edwards's strengths were said to lie in his smile, his warmth and his trial lawyer's gifts of persuasion. But these do not define his most important contribution. What Edwards leaves behind is an argument -- an analysis of what ails our country and an approach to putting things right that will survive his campaign.

Edwards talked everywhere about "two Americas," one for the privileged, one for the rest of us. Most political types said it was one of the best stump speeches they'd ever heard. It will galvanize Democrats much as Ronald Reagan's great speech on behalf of Barry Goldwater 40 years ago galvanized conservative Republicans.

The Gipper called his address on behalf of the 1964 Republican nominee "A Time for Choosing." Many liberals mistakenly dismissed it as representing the ravings of the radical right, much as Edwards's critics write off his speech as run-of-the-mill populism. But like Reagan, Edwards had a larger goal than winning applause. He sought to reframe the choices of American politics. Edwards was a pioneer in explaining what President Bush's tax policies mean: a transfer of the burden of taxation from "wealth" to "work."

Republicans claim to be against big government, but that is not true. They want government to provide all sorts of benefits to investors, the energy industry, HMOs, drug companies and agribusiness. They throw money at the Pentagon and defense contractors at a more furious pace than liberals ever threw money at the poor. Edwards's way of looking at this issue is truer to the way politics actually works.

Edwards, like Reagan, managed to offer a searing critique of the status quo while still conveying an unapologetic optimism about his country as a place "where all things are possible." Edwards's message will be heard again, because his fellow Democrats would be fools not to steal it.