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• Article on Mr. Edwards
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Tavis: It's fitting that we kick off our first night in the Tarheel state with John Edwards. The former senator was of course the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee in 2004, following his own run for the White House. He is now the director of the Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Tonight, though, he joins us from Raleigh. Senator Edwards, nice to have you on the program, again, sir.

Sen. John Edwards: Glad to be with you again.

Tavis: Glad to have you on the program again. Big news of today, I can't start talking to you without raising this first, I suspect. President Bush has now nominated Harriet Miers to fill that last vacancy on the Supreme Court. We all know that Justice O'Connor, Sandra Day O'Connor retired this summer. Said she's stick around until they got a replacement, so she's still there. He did, in fact, appoint a woman, long time friend Harriet Miers, one of his White House counsels. Your thoughts on the President's pick?

Edwards: Well, it is really early. I mean, there has been a flood of information that has come in today, some of it reliable, some of it not very reliable. I mean, the first question about her, of course, is that she has no record. Never been a judge, has no judicial experience. And that is certainly not disqualifying by itself, but what it means is that we don't know much about what her positions are. She has never written an opinion.

I think it will be important to get some of the information and writings that she has done, whether in the White House or in other jobs that she has held in the past, so that we can get some sense about where she stands. Because right now, she is very much a blank slate. And I think it is also going to be really critical for the Senate, particularly the members of, my former colleagues on the Judiciary Committee, of course I was on the judiciary committee, to be really vigorous in their questioning of her and make sure that she answers the questions.

Tavis: How vigorous do you expect them to be? There are some who would argue that they weren't terribly vigorous on Mr. Roberts, now the Chief Justice. And the Democrats split voting for the guy.

Edwards: Well, here's the way I think about it. You know, we have got Roberts replacing Rehnquist. So you've got a very conservative guy replacing a very conservative Chief Justice. In the case of Sandra Day O'Connor, it is a - different ballgame. Because while Sandra Day O'Connor is certainly on the - conservative side, the reality is that she voted, in many cases she was the swing vote for protecting individual rights and individual liberties, issues that are critical to people all across this country. And, so, Harriet Miers is being proposed to replace her. So this is a really critical nomination, and I think that there are some really hard questions that she needs to answer.

Tavis: You are right; it is early in the game. But we are starting to learn a little bit about her, including the fact that she was a Democrat for a long time; that at one time she supported Al Gore, gave money, as I understand, to Al Gore. So, I guess the question is whether or not in states like North Carolina and other conservative states that the President has won, whether or not this selection of Ms. Miers will satisfy that conservative base.

Edwards: I don't have any idea. My guess is there will be some on both ends of the spectrum who have dissatisfaction and concerns about her. I'd heard the same thing that you just pointed out, that she had in the past, I think pretty distant past, back in the '80s, had supported Al Gore, and maybe Lloyd Benson, the Senator and Vice Presidential candidate from Texas. But she's also got a pretty consistent record of - supporting Republicans. So I just think right now we don't know much about her. And the job of the Senate Judiciary Committee is to get the information the country needs to know.

Tavis: Let's talk about what we do know a lot about, whether or not we want to deal with it is another issue. And that is that race and poverty, race and class, are twin evils that threaten what America really is or certainly says that she is or ought to be about. Tell me about your work there at - the university and how you got interested specifically on issues like race and class.

Edwards: Well, it comes from where I grew up, Tavis. I mean, I grew up watching - what was happening with civil rights in America, because I grew up in the South in the 1960s. I saw up close the effect of race on our society. Having lived through the turmoil of the '60s and '70s and the, thank goodness, the advance of civil rights during that period of time.

And then, I guess a little over a decade ago, before I ever got involved in politics, I - became interested in the issue of poverty and what was happening to people who were struggling. First with a faith-based group here in North Carolina, and then it's something that just stayed inside of me. It became part of what - I was concerned about, what I cared about.

When I ran for President of the United States, myself, I made it a significant part of my campaign. You remember me talking about the two different Americas and one America for the privileged and one for everybody else. And a big part of that was the issue of poverty. And then when the election was over, you know, I had a choice like people always do, about what you want to spend your time doing.

And among all the choices, this was the thing I felt most strongly about. So I have helped start a poverty center, Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. We have got some very good people, two terrific women right now who are working for me there. We are working together on this poverty center.

We have brought in scholars from the university campus. We are bringing in some of the best experts in the country to talk about their views on what the causes of poverty are, the root causes, what can be done to eliminate poverty, looking at it in a very practical, 21st century, forward-looking way. And - as I'm sure we are going to talk about, you know, we are doing lots of practical things. We're having summits to bring in some of the great experts in the country.

I'm going have a panel in November of some of the leading journalists whose have written about poverty, columnists and press reporters to talk about why the press has covered poverty the way it has in the past. Has that changed as a result of Katrina? How will it change in the future, what is the likelihood - the impact that will have on the psyche of the American people? But the real issue - I think, is this window of opportunity, post-hurricane Katrina, is open. The American people are paying attention. The question is, will that window stay open, or is it gonna close?

Tavis: Let me ask you whether or not, to that point, you think that we are ready to take this propitious moment, this opportunity to do something about race and poverty, can we eliminate, are we ready to do what it takes to eliminate extreme poverty in America?

Edwards: Depends on whether we have the leadership we need, Tavis. The attention span of the country is short. We have seen that over and over. And we know they are paying attention right now, we certainly know they were right after Katrina hit. The question is, will that effort be sustained. And it is our responsibility to sustain it.

I mean, you talk about race and class and poverty. Poverty has a face in this country. And it is the face of color. All you have to do is watch your television screen in the aftermath of Katrina, to see that poor African Americans were clustered together in the lowest lying parts of New Orleans...

Tavis: But some - would argue, Senator, - with all due respect, some would argue that is the very reason why ain't nothing been done about it. - Because of what the face looks like.

Edwards: But - here is my point, Tavis. I think we can use this terrible tragedy as an opportunity to do something about it. Because the American people are now focused on it. I think they want to do the right thing. The question is, are they going to be called upon to do the right thing? I mean, are we - I can give you a perfect example. You know, it is clear that New Orleans is going to be rebuilt.

It is now clear that billions of dollars of taxpayer money are going to be spent on that. The question is, how will it be done? Are we going to do it by giving contracts to big private contractors like Halliburton, or, as people like myself have suggested, are we going to allow the people who have lost their jobs, lost their homes, whose lives have been devastated, to come back in and rebuild their own city?

Tavis: See - I'm glad you raise that issue, but we - the jury on that isn't out. We see already what is starting to happen. The President gave a great speech in - New Orleans, rather, about what needed to be done and how the government was going to spend money. The conservative winning of his party attacked him for sounding too much like Johnson's 'Great Society' and FDR's 'New Deal.'

And yet the very next day the President does away with MBE, he does away with WBE, he does away with set aside programs, so honestly we already see what's starting to happen in New Orleans, and it is not being rebuilt by the people who most need the work. So here again, your point is right. There is an opportunity, but I see it being squandered.

Edwards: We gotta take this case to the American people. That's why, you know, we may not be able to get Bush and his crowd to do what is right, but if we take this case directly to the American people, they will respond. They responded after Katrina. We saw that they care, now the question is, will we be able to convince the American people to tap into their conscience. That there are, first of all, you have to convince people, Tavis, that something can be done. I know there is something that can be done.

And I hope we get a minute to talk about that. But secondly, we have to - convince them that we are going to sustain this effort. It is not going to be just a short-term effort to rebuild the Gulf. And my own view about this is, this is not something that we are doing for them. Just the same way that what we are doing for the hurricane victims is not something we are doing for them. It is something we are doing for us. It makes the country stronger and better when we lift up and give opportunity to people who are struggling.

Tavis: You got your minute. Tell me what can be done.

Edwards: Well, a lot of things. One is, we need cultural and racial diversity in places like New Orleans. We can't have the kind of segregated poverty that we saw in New Orleans. Cultural - and racial diversification. I would use things like housing vouchers to allow poor families to move into other areas where they can get a better job, might have access to better schools. I would do things like work bonds, so that we create accounts for families that are working but working for low wages, so they can build up some assets.

College - I have an idea called 'College for Everyone' that says to these young kids, if you work hard and you are willing to go to college and work 10 hours a week - first year you are in school, you can go tuition free, we will pay for your tuition and your books. I mean, we have to find ways, we ought to raise the minimum wage in this country by the way, which is a national embarrassment. It is $5.15 an hour. Ought to be a minimum of $7.50 an hour, so that people who are working can earn a decent living.

We ought to make the earned income tax credit available to more people, particularly to single workers who are working for low wages. So there are lots of things we can do. We just need to have the backbone and commitment to do it. And we can't count on somebody else to lead on this, Tavis. We have to do it ourselves.

Tavis: I couldn't agree more, Senator. I'm glad to have you on the program. I look forward to talking to you in the coming months and perhaps years as you continue to work on this. And you're welcome back here at any time to dialogue with us about it.

Edwards: Thanks for having me.

Tavis: Nice to have you on the program. Senator John Edwards, now, of UNC's Center for Poverty. Senator, nice to have you on the program.

Edwards: Thank you, Tavis.

Tavis: Up next on the program, actress Thandie Newton, in one of the biggest films, most successful independent films of this year, "Crash.' Thandie Newton joins us for a conversation in just a moment. Stay with us.