John Edwards is running...again

In the Wednesday Roundup I gave Johnny "I chase ambulances" Edwards props for being the at the top of the heap in the Democratic struggle for front-runner status (if they can't even agree if they're for or against the war how do we expect them to decide much else?). He's been in the headlines for his work with the Center for Poverty, Work, and Opportunity ("Look at me I'm running for President!") at UNC. Of interest is the Hotline blog coverage of a "major policy address" by Edwards, an evolution of his old "Two Americas" schtick which he called "A Working Society" (maybe I'm just being a crass capitalist pig but I'd say, with an unemployment rate of 4.6%, we're already there). Edwards' plan inherently appeals to the populist, less-than-free-market instincts of his base (he's getting a lot of chatter in the blogosphere) through the abolition of poverty in 30 years, with a one-third reduction in ten years and the creation of a welfare state to reward hard work. His plan includes minimum wage hikes, "stepping stone" jobs (?), housing vouchers, and a refocusing of the education system (please tell me that means school vouchers and I might not call him a quasi-socialist). He claims housign vouchers are necessary to get working families out of "bad neighborhoods" - but why doesn't he challenge working families to improve the neighborhoods around them. In cities across the nation, innovative public-private partnerships have driven back gangs and reduced crime by acting as a community again, that elemental social unit that, while not the primary means of raising a child, is essential to preserve identity and some sort of order in larger metrolpoli (pl?). Oh, and all of this would smack of a lot less hypocrisy if Edwards himself weren't so filthy rich while simultaneously claiming that ours is a society that rewards the rich and ignores the poor.