[John Edwards] Katrina brought poverty back to political forefront

from The Quad City Times

By Ed Tibbetts

The attention Hurricane Katrina brought to Americans in poverty has faded, but former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards said Sunday it could again be brought to the fore with national leadership.

Edwards, a potential candidate for president in 2008, wrapped up a two-day trip to Iowa on Sunday, meeting with journalists at the Quad-City Times and with people at United Neighbors Inc. in Davenport.

The former U.S. senator, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for president in 2004, won praise from Iowa Democrats for focusing on the needs of the poor during his bid. Now, a potential 2008 presidential candidate, he heads the Center on Work, Poverty and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina and travels the country to speak about poverty.

Edwards was in Iowa over the weekend to raise money for county Democratic parties and argue that fighting domestic and global poverty are moral imperatives that also can provide an opportunity for Democrats to lead.

Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans and exposed its large impoverished population to the country, occurred late last summer, and Edwards said most Americans have moved on.

However, it can still be a catalyst to bring attention to the need for anti-poverty policies, he said.

“I don’t think it’s too late,” he said. “I think that what people saw in New Orleans bothered them. They felt a strong response to that.”

Edwards said only national leadership can galvanize support for helping the impoverished there, and then only if poor residents show they want to help themselves, a key ingredient to tackling poverty at large.

“Americans aren’t going to be for throwing money at this thing if they don’t think that people aren’t willing to help themselves,” he said.

Edwards met with journalists at the Times after volunteers for his 2004 presidential campaign brought to his staff’s attention a series of articles the newspaper did in 2005 on people struggling with poverty, called “Getting By, Getting Lost.”

“The only way to get this done is sustained national leadership. And that means attention to it, defining it as a moral issue and having a set of ideas that make sense to people that embrace their values,” Edwards said.

Edwards, who finished second in the 2004 Iowa caucuses, served a single term in the U.S. Senate but didn’t run for re-election so he could devote himself to his presidential campaign. He later became the running mate for U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., who won the caucuses.

Edwards also met Sunday with people at United Neighbors, a community action organization, hearing about its Dream home loan program, which provides people with down payment assistance and homeownership education.

The program has helped in the purchase of more than 1,500 homes over the past 14 years. The meeting was closed to the media.

Paul Fessler, the assistant director at United Neighbors, said the Dream program, which has an annual budget of about $400,000, uses city, state, federal and private funds. He said he hoped Edwards’ visit would draw attention to it. Edwards made several stops in eastern Iowa over the weekend, including as keynote speaker at the Scott County Democratic Party’s annual fundraising dinner Saturday.