Edwards portrays himself as agent of change

Former Sen. John Edwards (N.C.), firmly locked into third place among Democratic presidential candidates, said Thursday that he would bring real change to Washington and took a swipe at front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.).

“The choice for our party could not be more clear,” Edwards said in Hanover, N.H. “We cannot 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.

{mosads}“The American people deserve to know that their presidency is not for sale, the Lincoln Bedroom is not for rent, and lobbyist money can no longer influence policy in the House or the Senate,” Edwards added. During President Clinton’s term in the White House, he invited top donors to spend a night in the famed bedroom.

Edwards, his party’s vice presidential candidate in 2004, said the country must choose a new course, arguing that the policies that have been pursued over the past decades “are tired, shop-worn and obsolete.”

The former senator lamented that Washington is mired in a system of government that is “controlled by big corporations, the lobbyists they hire to protect their bottom line and the politicians who curry their favor and carry their water.”

Edwards’s harsh view of Washington is an attempt to cast himself as the outsider in this campaign. The former senator, who served one term, has been critical of Congress often on the campaign trail, especially on its inability to change the course of the war in Iraq.

With Congress suffering from very low approval ratings, attacking Washington lawmakers could result in some support from voters fed up with the government.

“Instead of serving the people and the nation, too many play the parlor game of Washington — trading favors and campaign money, influencing votes and compromising legislation,” he said in New Hampshire.

Edwards argued that it is up to the Democrats to break through the status quo.

However, he added that it will not be enough to “clean up Washington.” To build a better country, Edwards stated, the next president must also have big ideas that address the nation’s pressing problems.

The former senator advocated his universal healthcare plan, which he plans to finance by repealing the Bush tax cuts for those making more than $200,000, as well as fighting global warming and energy dependency through investments in clean fuels and immediately beginning the withdrawal of up to 50,000 combat troops from Iraq.