Pre-Packaged Politics

“This is your movement, this is your effort to end poverty in America.”

These words resonated throughout Pauley Ballroom on Tuesday night, October 25, as John Edwards addressed a packed crowd about getting involved in the war on poverty in the United States. UC Berkeley was just one of the former U.S. Senator and Vice Presidential Candidate’s ten stops on his Opportunity Rocks Tour around the country. Edwards is encouraging college students to take a stand and do something about poverty.

However, one thing was clear on Tuesday night: this “plea” to fight poverty was more than just a political stance. It was part of Edwards’ political strategy to help gain momentum for his 2008 presidential campaign. While he did not come clean about running for president, his attacks on the Bush administration and the war in Iraq were good indicators of his intended political future.

That being said, there are many similarities between John Edwards and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both politicians are doing certain things now to potentially help them come election time in the near future. Edwards is promoting fighting poverty on college campuses and Schwarzenegger is throwing a statewide special election. While these two maneuvers are different from each other, both are alike in that these politicians are making the issues our issues. By getting the people more involved in and connected to the issues, they are hoping that more people will participate in politics and support them.

So, will this strategy work? For Schwarzenegger, whose popularity seems to be continually dropping, the statewide special election on November 8 will be a good indicator of how he will fare in reelection. For Edwards, however, only time will tell. With the next presidential election being three years away, Edwards has got to make more of a lasting impact on the electorate in order to be a contender in 2008. Both of these politicians have proved that no matter the issue at hand, there are only so many political strategies to use. Good luck, gentlemen.