Edwards, the anti-Cheney
IF DICK Cheney's pacemaker skipped a beat on Wednesday night, he has every right to blame the Democrats - specifically, the party's vice presidential nominee, John Edwards.
Edwards made a strong, passionate, at times, evangelical-sounding case for John Kerry. It isn't so much what Edwards has to say, but his style, presence, and confidence-brimming bearing that would give any opponent agita - at first blush, anyway.
The handsome senator from North Carolina loves the spotlight. It is obvious from the moment he glides onto a stage. He knows exactly how long to soak in the applause and cheers before starting to speak. His facial muscles pull tautly up, supporting a wide, eager smile. The accent is cozy and inviting. And the words that pour out couldn't be more promising: Hope is on the way. It is a Southern white man's take on Jesse Jackson's long ago cry to ''keep hope alive.''
On paper and in person, in looks and in experience, the trial lawyer on the Democratic ticket is the anti-Cheney. It would be superficial to talk about appearances, except that appearances matter in Washington as much as in Hollywood. Cheney is quirky at best, and through the television screen, often dour, with a down-curling lip that only a neocon could find appealing. The hair issue has already been overanalyzed, so let's leave it at the obvious: Edwards has a lot, and Cheney doesn't. Adorable kids and the tragedy of a child's death also help to humanize the attractive Edwards and his wife, Elizabeth.
Once you get past appearances and examine more closely what Edwards had to say, it is pretty standard Democratic promise-mongering. There will be more of everything for the middle class, and the rich will pay for it. Again, it is how Edwards says it that is appealing.
He was eloquent in telling Democrats the candidates should talk about racial issues to everyone, everywhere, instead of tailoring the message to specific audiences.
One effective moment in his Wednesday night speech came when he spoke about the reality of people struggling from paycheck to paycheck, and the impact of a setback such as losing your job.
''What do you lose first?'' he asked the audience, which responded somewhat tentatively, and with a relatively prosaic answer: health care. But Edwards's answer was poetry. What do you lose first? ''Your dreams.''
On the big stage, Edwards's delivery has a touch of Bill Starbuck, the dreamer/con man in N. Richard Nash's play ''The Rainmaker.'' Starbuck promises to conjure up rain if a farm family gives him $100 they can ill afford. In the end, there is the requisite Hollywood miracle, that plays against the case Starbuck makes to never stop believing that someday, something wonderful will happen, if only you have faith in yourself and your imagination. Harold Hill in ''The Music Man'' is another optimist who comes to mind when Edwards is speaking.
However, skeptics are hard to find on political convention floors. Democratic delegates love Edwards. There is no question his speech turned on the FleetCenter crowd, from beginning to picture-perfect ending, when his family joined him on the stage. Everyone left hip-hop happy, headed to parties and hotels after a send-off from ''Black Eyed Peas.''
A one-on-one debate with Cheney is another matter. For all Edwards's oratorical skill and for all of Cheney's churlishness, debates are different animals than keynote speeches to adoring, true-believers. During the Democratic primary season, Edwards never showed any ability or willingness to go for the jugular. He also stumbled more than once, showing a lack of depth and knowledge on different issues. His resume is thin, and his record in the US Senate is thinner.
It all helps to explain why Kerry, not Edwards, tops the Democratic ticket. For all the hype, Edwards never caught a wave that could carry him past Kerry. In Iowa, Edwards finished second; in New Hampshire, he finished third, behind Kerry and Howard Dean. That was when the Kerry campaign was pretty certain Edwards would never be able to overtake the Massachusetts senator. Wesley Clark, the retired general from Arkansas, helped the Kerry cause by siphoning Southern votes from Edwards in subsequent primaries.
The national campaign presents different challenges. Edwards clearly plays an important role in Kerry's plan for winning the White House. Picturing John and Elizabeth Edwards celebrating their wedding anniversary each year at Wendy's is entirely plausible and exactly the kind of common touch John and Teresa Heinz Kerry lack. The Southern accent will be welcomed in many parts of the country.
Head-to-head with Cheney? Halliburton and the postwar mess in Iraq are definite drags for the incumbent vice president. But who is more apt to frighten a terrorist by threatening, as Edwards did, ''We will destroy you''? Does Osama bin Laden fear trial lawyers, even one whose father worked in a mill?
Kerry, the presidential nominee, is the grown-up, the man of stature and experience whom voters must trust with national defense and security.
If Kerry can't win that trust, President Bush has a shot at reelection. In that case, four years from now, Edwards will be giving Hillary Rodham Clinton heart palpitations in the next Democratic race for the White House.
Joan Vennochi's e-mail address is vennochi@globe.com. 