At its heart, ‘Two Americas’ was an economic populist paean — driving home the sense that the distance between the haves and the have-nots was not only widening, but also that the system was somehow rigged to favor those with money and power… Those sentiments are perhaps more relevant today than when Edwards first uttered them nearly seven years ago. The decline in the American economy has stretched much of the country thin and contributed to an increasing sense that the game is rigged. That appears to be the central animating principle of the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ movement and the other gatherings it has spawned across the country and across the world… And it’s that sentiment that the White House is hoping to tap into as President Obama tries to find a way to re-energize the Democratic base in advance of 2012.
— Although John Edwards’ political career is dead and buried, Chris Cillizza notes the enduring influence of the embattled former presidential candidate’s “Two Americas” message.
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