Poverty Versus Denial

Former Bushco speechwriter Michael Gerson opined as follows in the WaPo yesterday…

Political indifference to durable poverty in our midst has long been a scandal; from Obama it would be a tragedy.

From here…

According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Bureau of Labor statistics, the national poverty rate increased from a record low of 11.3 percent in 2000 to 12.5 percent in 2007 -- an increase of approximately 5.8 million Americans living below the poverty line. “In George W. Bush’s presidency, there’s been an almost total absence of benefits of growth trickling down to the middle class, much less to those at the bottom,” says Jared Bernstein, an economist with the left-leaning Economic Policy Institute, whose extensive writing on the working poor includes the book "The State of Working America." The nation's unemployment rate has risen from 4 percent in 2000 to 6.1 percent at present. Bush's economic policy has been marked by tax cuts largely beneficial to the wealthy, while federal funding for many programs helping low-income people has not kept pace with inflation.

Obama isn’t even sworn in yet and already the pundit class is holding him accountable on issues he hasn’t even been able to address.

Try laying this “political indifference” rap on President Highest Disapproval Rating In Gallup Poll History first, OK?