Obama: 1 (month), Poverty: 0 (mentions)

[balantz]

Obama: 1 (month), Poverty: 0 (mentions)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/elizabeth-rigby/obama-1-month-poverty-0-m_b_148792.html

Huffington Post
Elizabeth Rigby
Posted December 5, 2008 | 02:20 PM (EST)

In his first month as President-elect, Barack Obama has remained silent on the issue of poverty. Across more than 30 public statements since election night, Obama has made no direct references to the plight of the poor (defined as use of the term: poor, poverty, or low-income).

This lack of attention is surprising from a President-elect whose campaign put out a position paper entitled, Fighting Poverty, which described Obama as a "lifelong advocate for the poor." Citing Obama's work as a community organizer, as well as his legislative advocacy for anti-poverty programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit, the position paper promised: "As president, Barack Obama will continue to fight for meaningful opportunities for low-income Americans to join the middle class."

And it is true that, as a candidate, Obama brought up issues of poverty in about 20 percent of his speeches. This attention to poverty peaked in January 2008 (the final month of John Edwards poverty-focused push for the Democratic nomination). But, it then declined.


A smaller up-tick occurred in late spring during the final throes of the Democratic primary battle between Obama and Clinton, and then again in July as Edwards once again advanced this issue by undertaking a nation-wide poverty tour. On the day Edwards completed his poverty tour, Obama gave a high-profile speech on poverty in Anacostia in which he stated: "This kind of poverty is not an issue I just discovered for the purpose of a campaign. It is the cause that led me to a life of public service almost 25 years ago."

~Snip~

More troubling, this silence stands in stark contrast to a near-constant stream of new policy reports - each highlighting another reason to be concerned about how the poor will possibly weather this financial crisis. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities projects dramatic increases in the number of poor Americans - including a prediction that nearly 2 million additional children will be living in families in deep poverty (less than 50 percent of our already meager poverty line). The Department of Agriculture reports record-setting Food Stamp rolls of more than 30 million Americans. A joint study by the Federal Reserve and the Brookings Institution documents the spreading of poverty into the suburbs where new pockets of concentrated poverty are clustering. And finally - this week - we received an official acknowledgment of the recession we knew we were experiencing.

~Snip~