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Transformational Change
Below is the transcript of an interview with White House hopeful Sen. John Edwards by Reader's Digest Washington Bureau Chief William Beaman. The conversation took place in March at the winter meeting of the Democratic National Committee.
RD: Let me start with the most obvious question. What, in your view, causes you to rise above the others in a crowded field so that Democrats should choose you as the nominee?Edwards: Well, first I'm focused on building a campaign and a country from the ground up instead of just top-down leadership, which is why I ask people to take responsibility and to take action. I talked about some of it today in this speech because I think that's the way we bring about the change; the transformational change that's needed in this country. I haven't heard anybody else doing that. I don't think they are. It's a very different approach, not just a campaign, to how the country should be run.
RD: How do you address those who might say, "Well, Senator Edwards was on the ticket already. What are we going to learn new about him that will make him part of a winning ticket this time?"
Edwards: I think they just need to see me and who I am and what kind of candidate I am. Most people have -- at least according to what I hear and what I see in these polls -- have a pretty positive opinion about me. So I think I start in an okay place. But that's what campaigns are for. I mean people need to see what my strength is, what my depth is. They're going to be able to evaluate because I think we desperately need maturity and depth in the Oval Office.
RD: You've been very eloquent talking about the working poor, about those we can't leave behind. But what about the broad political center in this country? How will you appeal to that broad political center so that you can be a unifier and not a divider?
Edwards: I'm going to focus on our becoming a moral leader in the world again to have moral authority to lead, which I think goes all the way across the ideological spectrum. And I talk a great deal about the need to have a president who is honest and decent, who people respond to in a really positive way. And people have to evaluate me on that basis. They have to make their own judgment. But it's really important to have a good human being in the White House who represents America well in the world, and also somebody that the American people can look up to and respect.
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