Politicians need to stop acting as if they understand the plight of the working man.

Wednesday, former Sen. John Edwards, currently running for the Democratic presidential nomination, worked a shift as a nurse aide at the Sarah Neuman Nursing Home in Mamaroneck, New York. This publicity opportunity was part of "Work a Day in My Shoes," a program sponsored by the Service Employees International Union.

Some might say, “Wow, Edwards is really trying to understand how it is to be blue collar.” Not me. I’ve worked as a nurse aide in a mental hospital, and I know first hand that one day working in those shoes is easy. It’s the next day, and the day after that, that’s a real pain.

Though it goes without saying: Nursing homes and hospitals of all types are hard places to work.

Take a moment and imagine working with the sick and infirm all day. Imagine a guy with Alzheimer’s who cannot remember his daughter, or a diabetic woman who has lost a leg and is terribly afraid she’ll lose much more. Now imagine seeing this everyday, and people in much worse condition, and not saying “To hell with this.”

Let me tell you this: It’s not easy. You wake up and you think of the people at work — those improving, those not — and you don’t want to do it. But you do anyway because you know how things are, and something makes you want to help (Note: It’s not the pay).

That’s why I can’t stand seeing a politician “working in someone’s shoes.” For them — and their publicist, the media, etc. — it’s a show. When you’re doing it day after day, watching how people are continuously abused by the system, then you understand the situation. And there isn’t one reporter there to ask you about it.

Sen. Edwards is a fine person I am sure. I voted for him and Sen. John Kerry in 2004, and I did it proudly, feeling that he would help the so-called little guy.

Both of my parents work in healthcare. My mom is a nursing home social worker and my dad, until recently, worked as a nurse aide in the same mental hospital I did. I’ve grown up watching the whole system because it’s put food in my stomach.

But not for a minute do I believe Sen. Edwards has clue one how it feels to be in that line of work. Yes, he has worked with insane men (I’m from a state that sent Conrad Burns to the Senate three times), but not in the way I or my dad did.

Frankly, I’m fine with that. I’m not looking for someone to understand how it is to live paycheck to paycheck.

But more importantly, I’m not looking for someone acting like they do.

Patrick Duganz