Edwards Goes After Clinton, Obama, Says Don't Vote For Nostalgia Or Empty 'Change Rhetoric'

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) _ Voters shouldn't pick a presidential candidate on the basis of either ``change rhetoric'' or a yearning for the past, John Edwards says, seeking to draw clearer lines between

Wednesday, August 22nd 2007, 7:58 pm

By: News On 6

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) _ Voters shouldn't pick a presidential candidate on the basis of either ``change rhetoric'' or a yearning for the past, John Edwards says, seeking to draw clearer lines between himself and rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In a speech prepared for Thursday morning in New Hampshire, Edwards pointed out what he suggested were important differences between himself and his better-polling opponents.

Obama's campaign has portrayed his relatively new arrival in Washington and his pledge for change as an asset. Clinton spent most of the 1990s in the White House as the country's first lady and has touted that as invaluable experience to change the way President Bush has run the country.

Edwards said voters shouldn't accept any of that.

``Small thinking and outdated answers aren't the only problems with a vision for the future that is rooted in nostalgia,'' Edwards said in the prepared remarks. ``The trouble with nostalgia is that you tend to remember what you liked and forget what you didn't. It's not just that the answers of the past aren't up to the job today, it's that the system that produced them was corrupt _ and still is.''

Edwards also planned to tell voters they can't simply replace ``a group of corporate Republicans with a group of corporate Democrats, just swapping the Washington insiders of one party for the Washington insiders of the other.'' He criticized ``ideas and policies that are tired, shopworn and obsolete.''

On the other hand, he said in an interview Wednesday with The Associated Press, ``I don't think just the word 'change' means much to people. I think what they want to see is ... the substance of what you want to do.

``I mean, what is the policy of the word? In my case, it's been a very aggressive set of very substantive ideas ... because otherwise the change rhetoric all sounds the same.''

In the interview, Edwards, a former senator from North Carolina, said his speech was aimed at lobbyists and the establishment.

``It's more whether you want to look forward or look back, whether you want to see a president who is willing to take on the establishment or not,'' Edwards said. ``I don't believe we can change the country without having a president who is willing to take on the establishment.''

Edwards was returning to New Hampshire on Thursday with his wife, his three children and a bus for a four-day tour. He served one term in the Senate before running unsuccessfully for the 2004 presidential nomination. He was John Kerry's vice presidential running mate in the election loss to Bush and Dick Cheney.

Edwards characterized his Thursday speech as upbeat, a trait that pervaded his 2004 effort. During that campaign, he billed himself as the son of a mill worker; Edwards now uses that as a punch line, making fun of his frequent references to his pedigree.

Recently, however, he has adopted an angry persona, an underdog fighting for the working class.

Edwards laughed and said nothing has _ or would _ change.

``It's going to sound like I always sound,'' he said. ``I'm incredibly optimistic. There's a lot that's possible in America, but I think there's a toughness and a seasoning and a willingness to fight the fight.''

Edwards also said he wouldn't try to hold back his wife, Elizabeth. In recent weeks, she has been going after his rivals, saying, for example, that Obama has a ``holier than thou'' position on Iraq.

``Elizabeth is a strong woman who speaks her mind and I applaud her for that,'' Edwards said. ``I don't think that's going to change.''

A Clinton spokeswoman said the New York senator has been talking about the issues Edwards mentioned for months.

``Hillary delivered her comprehensive plan to clean up Washington, crack down on lobbyists and increase transparency in the White House four months ago in New Hampshire. She has a record of taking on the special interests, standing up for America's families who have been invisible to George Bush for long enough,'' Kathleen Strand said. ``When she's president, she will have the experience to make change happen, starting on Day One.''

Edwards was interviewed by telephone from Las Vegas, where he was campaigning Wednesday.

While there, he said in a separate interview he won't let his party's efforts to control the primary calendar dictate where he campaigns.

``I'm running a national campaign, so I'm going to campaign in the states that are participating in the process,'' Edwards said in a separate interview. ``My job is not to make the rules, my job is to run.''

That comment came hours after the Michigan Senate approved a measure that would move the state's nominating contest to Jan. 15. If that move wins final approval in the state, Michigan would leapfrog the Jan. 19 contests in Nevada and South Carolina and further compress a primary schedule national party leaders are struggling to control.

The Democratic National Committee has threatened to dock delegates from the states that jump ahead of its first four states _ Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire and South Carolina. Any candidate who campaigns in a state that breaks the rules is threatened with losing delegates from that state at the national convention.

Edwards' campaign later added that he currently has no plans to campaign in states other than those sanctioned by the DNC but would not rule it out.