John Edwards’ campaign failed because he forgot the lessons of history. That is tragic, because Edwards and Dennis Kucinich had important and unique messages for America.
The press has compared Edwards to William Jennings Bryan, the prairie populist who helped to create the modern Democratic Party. Like Bryan, Edwards feared the growing power of corporate America. For Bryan ties to financiers like J.P. Morgan represented a major litmus test which he applied to political issues, including throwing his support from Champ Clark to Woodrow Wilson in 1912.
Unfortunately, to appropriate a much-overused phrase, I have studied Bryan and John Edwards is no Bryan. He lacks Bryan’s eloquence and, more important, Bryan’s often-overlooked organizational skills. Under the direction of his brother, Charles, Bryan created what is essentially the first modern campaign organization. This extensive network of supporters enabled Bryan to capture the Democratic Presidential nomination three times and was a major force in the Party even as late as the 1924 campaign, a record unmatched by any politician.
The main vehicle for the Bryan organization was Bryan’s publication The Commoner, which at its height was one of the most widely read in America. Charles Bryan systemically created a political mailing list from Commoner subscribers, using the meticulous records he kept. This network could then be mobilized whenever Bryan needed their support.
Bryan’s real genius lay in reinforcing the Commoner network with an extensive schedule of public appearances. He understood that in order to keep his supporters interested and mobilized he needed to speak to them personally. William Jennings Bryan traveled more miles, delivered more speeches, and talked to more Americans than any other politician. His schedule would tax that of any contemporary rock star, especially when you realize much of his life the only means of travel was by train and even by horse. In some ways, he was the first Presidential candidate to be both an entertainer and a politician.
Bryan believed that the only way he could counter what he termed the “money powers” was by going directly to the American people and organizing them. The success of his approach speaks for itself. People today continue to believe you need money to beat money, but Bryan’s operation was low budget even for its times. Perhaps the closest contemporary equivalent is Wellstone Action.
The Edwards campaign never learned the lessons Bryan taught and now John Edwards has had to drop out of the race. Instead of serving as a major force in America for three decades, like Bryan, he seems destined to play a lesser role.
Which leads to the second reason Edwards is no Bryan. Not only does he not have Bryan’s organizational acumen, he also lacks his eloquence. Bryan named his publication The Commoner because it resonated with his famous nickname which came from the idea that lay at the center of his life–he fought for all Americans.
While it is true that Bryan fought against big corporations and financiers he very carefully made sure that the centerpiece of his movement was a fight FOR something. Bryan came by his nickname of the Great Commoner legitimately. Although by the standards of his time he lived a comfortable middle-class life, he fought for what he termed the common people. His voice rang like a clarion for thirty years opposing the Social Darwinists who did not believe government, or even private charities, should help to keep the playing field level. It was his distaste for the Social Darwinists that caused him to become caught up in the Scopes trial. Bryan believed the poor and the down-on-their-luck were not in their position because of some character deficiency, but because the tycoons put them there by not paying decent wages or offering decent working conditions.
Four years ago, John Edwards sounded like Bryan when he spoke of Two Americas, but in 2008 he modified his message in a way that would have made Bryan apoplectic. In this campaign, like every other Democrat, Edwards focused on the middle class. Two Americas became three Americas: the rich, the middle class and the ignored.
Edwards liked to remind us of his roots as the son of a mill worker, yet I venture to say no one would ever think to call him the Great Commoner. This has nothing to do with his lifestyle and everything to do with image. Bryan was ahead of his time in this, as well. He deliberately dressed in a style designed to capture his image, which can be seen in the many photographs of him with other leaders of his time. If you compare what Bryan wore with the suits of his rivals, he stands out from the crowd by being unfashionable.
This actually was perhaps the only part of Bryan Stanley Kramer got right in Inherit the Wind. Kramer pictured Bryan as a country rube, which was similar to the image the eastern press had of him during his lifetime. But Bryan’s supporters loved him for it.
If Bryan looks like he might have walked straight out of a Midwestern country store, Edwards resembles a slick lawyer. In these days when candidates are groomed like Hollywood stars–in fact some groom both–we wonder if anything is authentic. A hundred years ago, Bryan sensed this change in an era when Hollywood was in its infancy and deliberately courted an image that was neither packaged nor stylish. On the other hand, Edwards seems to embrace style, creating a clash between message and appearance.
And so he dropped out of the race even as I was writing this essay. For once the exit polls tell the story. In his make-or-break state of South Carolina, Edwards’ major supporters had a post-graduate education, and 29% had an income over $200,000. You see John Edwards types at any big law firm and at certain semi-exclusive watering holes. That some downtrodden farmer or factory worker would resonate with this image is preposterous. Just imagine John Edwards walking into a small town Iowa bar and you get the picture.
So now Edwards faces a choice not unlike Bryan in 1912. Only unlike Bryan he does not have a powerful organization behind him. People forget Bryan played a huge role in 1912 beyond his support for Wilson, including helping to write the platform Wilson ran on. Edwards has only himself and his delegates. Somewhere Bryan must be looking down and sadly shaking his head.
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