Edwards: Post 3 of probably a lot

After the 2004 election, one liberal columnist wrote something like, "With Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush, I felt like my vision of America was the same as theirs. We just disagreed on the best route to get there. But with George W. Bush, I don't feel that way. Bush wants to create a daddy state in which strict cultural standards drastically limit freedom at home and the government is free to borrow and spend and torture and conquer as it pleases. That is may be what the people have chosen. But it's not my America."

"It's not my America." That's a phrase that John Edwards used as well.

Most of his speech focused on poverty. He talked about the immorality of a culture that subsidizes oil companies while cancelling school lunch programs. And he talked about the face of poverty that he has seen traveling across the country over the last year.

He also offered several concrete proposals on how to end poverty, like mixed-income communities and easier access to financial aid. I kept thinking, "This doesn't sound like someone who is running for President in 2008. This sounds like someone who has found his life's calling and who has dedicated himself to it. It sounds like someone who understands the promise of self-determination and is terrified to see it slipping away."