John Edwards Speaks on Unions

When's the last time Bush has done anything for the working man? Or the working woman? Or for families where both parents are working to make ends meet? Guest blogger David Breeden writes on John Edwards over at Donkey Path:

My father, who cast his first vote for Franklin Roosevelt and has stood by the party through thick and thin since, said in the last election, “I wish that Kerry would get out of the way and let Edwards run.” My father has a sixth-grade education and I have a PhD, so I explained to him about Kerry’s experience and such. Now I think I was the one who needed the education. My father, who was born in a two-room shack and spent forty years in a labor union, heard something I did not: John Edwards can speak to the old, laboring, Democratic base.

Who cares about labor? It appears that John Edwards does. He is currently barnstorming the nation in support of Unite Here, a union representing service-sector employees such as people working in hotels, foodservice, and textile manufacturing. Why should anyone but a bleeding-heart labor radical like me care about them? Well, partly because eighty percent of North Americans work in the service sector. Partly because one in four US workers makes less than $8.70 an hour. This is a national disgrace. It is also an opportunity to remake the Democratic Party.

I don't know who I'm going to support in 2008 but John Edwards is definitely worth a look. Read the whole post; despite Karl Rove's self-serving comments, things are happening among the Democrats.