Watching him this weekend in Iowa, you'd know why Edwards is strong there. I regret referring earlier to his "narcissism" in such a public and glib way, especially since I don't think Edwards is narcissistic to any degree of fault. Yet his campaign has surged since he made himself his campaign issue. He is defining himself as one particular among the universal, which he has been calling "the middle class", and defining things quite well. He has that enormous gift (from Southern speech and language heritage) for defining things in terms of other things, and the endless practice (now in his 50s) toward perfecting that talent.
Another reason for my unfortunate word choice has to do with one of his recent anecdotes about 2004, about a woman telling him that she would have voted for him but he never asked, and now he says he asks (it's about 'me', as it were). It's as though the humble truth comes across as an act, it gets attacked as being disingenuous since he's quite wealthy (as if rich people can't be humble), so he jettisons the humble and genteel approach with an inversion (and a brilliant one) by saying he's not too proud to beg, but not in those words exactly. He has constructed (and continues) a campaign persona that isn't artificial, and it's one that works, and is seemingly swiftboat-proof.
He wears stonewashed jeans running for President of the United States. Do you realize how many Bob Dylan lyrics it takes to make a statement like that?
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Watching him this weekend in Iowa, you'd know why Edwards is strong there. I regret referring earlier to his "narcissism" in such a public and glib way, especially since I don't think Edwards is narcissistic to any degree of fault. Yet his campaign has surged since he made himself his campaign issue. He is defining himself as one particular among the universal, which he has been calling "the middle class", and defining things quite well. He has that enormous gift (from Southern speech and language heritage) for defining things in terms of other things, and the endless practice (now in his 50s) toward perfecting that talent.
Another reason for my unfortunate word choice has to do with one of his recent anecdotes about 2004, about a woman telling him that she would have voted for him but he never asked, and now he says he asks (it's about 'me', as it were). It's as though the humble truth comes across as an act, it gets attacked as being disingenuous since he's quite wealthy (as if rich people can't be humble), so he jettisons the humble and genteel approach with an inversion (and a brilliant one) by saying he's not too proud to beg, but not in those words exactly. He has constructed (and continues) a campaign persona that isn't artificial, and it's one that works, and is seemingly swiftboat-proof.
He wears stonewashed jeans running for President of the United States. Do you realize how many Bob Dylan lyrics it takes to make a statement like that?
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