Stale tragedy of two Americas

Despite his youthful appearance, Sen. John Edwards does not appear to be the fresh face of the Democratic Party. In contrast to the forward-looking keynote speech by Illinois state Sen. Barack Obama, the vice presidential nominee’s speech Wednesday night echoed an earlier era, which may no longer move many Americans.

Drawing on rhetoric from his “two Americas” stump speech, Mr. Edwards described an America riven by race and ruled by robber barons. According to Mr. Edwards, the rich in America always have the best of the country’s “two health care systems,” “two public school systems” and “two different economies.” The rest of Americans “live paycheck to paycheck,” and if something goes wrong, they “go right off the cliff.” In Mr. Edwards’ America, citizens must turn to the federal government for help and even hope, since no matter how hard they work they are likely to fall behind.

That stark picture of America seems faded, especially when contrasted with Mr. Obama’s description. The state senator described an America in which citizens will prosper if they work hard enough. In Mr. Obama’s America, “People don’t expect government to solve all their problems.” Mr. Edwards said he wants his children “to grow up in an America that’s no longer divided by race,” but Mr. Obama said that America already exists. We are not likely to agree with Mr. Obama’s policies — whenever he chooses to enumerate them — but his sentiments had a freshness and a realness that Mr. Edwards’ lacked.

As one would expect of a world-class trial lawyer, Mr. Edwards is a skilled storyteller. Yet, it is not clear that his tragedy of two Americas will resonate. History suggests it will not. Regular recitations of the tragedy earned Mr. Edwards exactly one victory in the Democratic presidential primaries — that of South Carolina, his birthplace.

Mr. Edwards has the delegates’ voting hands and arms, but does not seem to have their hearts. Delegates on the convention floor appeared to have a distinctly different visceral response to Mr. Edwards, compared to Howard Dean and Al Sharpton. Mr. Edwards’ greeting was full-throated, but seemed less than heartfelt. It appeared to lack the spontaneous thrill that rushed through the audience at the appearance of Mr. Dean or the rousing cheers that rocked the auditorium when Mr. Sharpton spoke.

We have a sneaking suspicion that the Manhattanites who cheered Mr. Edwards’ oratory did so because they share his mentality. If that is the case, Mr. Edwards and his supporters would seem to have lost the pulse of many of their countrymen. For the test in November, Mr. Edwards’ stale tragedy of two Americas seems less than certain of success.