Dilemma

Who should I go hear speak today?

The liberal kool-aid drinkers at the law school are going ga-ga over John Edward's speech at 11 am at the Chapel. Unlike the vast majority of my classmates, I can't wait to not go. Meanwhile, a few hours later on south campus, Bush '41 is speaking. I'd like to go but I have class.

Edward's speech kicks off a week-long "poverty-reduction" seminar at the law school, which, of course, is hosted by him. My initial reaction: no seminar is necessary, we already know how to cure poverty: expand capitalism.

Anyway, the conference will focus on "expanding the middle class," whatever that means. Liberal intellectuals, who retreat into the halls of academia after losing elections (especially those in which they can't even carry their home state) because they can't survive in the private sector, love to gather around big tables and have complex "discussions" about alleged problems. Edwards, who loves to hear himself talk, will make himself and other ignorant leftists feel good by using big words and shaking hands with a few black people.

The anomaly here is that Bush did much more to reduce poverty than Edwards could do in a dozen lifetimes. While a disappointment to many conservatives, it was still Bush who pushed for the North American Free Trade Agreement, which has since brought millions of Mexicans out of poverty and reduced prices for American consumers who now have more money in their pockets.

Not surprisingly, it is Edwards who will be painted as the true philanthropist. He will get all the credit for being some self-righteous moral crusader by speaking at colleges and shaking hands with minorities, pushing for a "living wage," and telling people that make less than one-tenth of his income that he "feels their pain." Bush, on the other hand, will continue to get blamed for a recession he had no control over. By appearing to care about the less fortunate by hosting futile conferences where misguided policies are discussed, Edwards can be sure to win over voters, who he hopes will stay poor enough to vote for him in the 2008 Democratic primary.