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

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."

Reporting on Obama's Anacostia speech, the Washington Post noted the marked increase in Democratic candidates "vying for the anti-poverty mantle." And they interpreted this as evidence that "growing economic inequality is an increasingly important issue for Democrats after many years of pitching proposals toward the middle class."

I find little evidence to support this optimistic claim. Although Obama has spelled out a poverty agenda consistent with his campaign proposals and has placed poverty advocates in key administration posts, his post-election discourse has focused primarily on the middle class (in 35 percent of speeches) and, to a lesser degree, the uninsured (in 6 percent of speeches). His current policy priorities neglect much of the anti-poverty agenda. The last time Obama mentioned food stamps was in mid-October. I had to go back to September to find a public mention of Earned Income Tax Credit (9/14), Minimum wage (9/20), Child Tax Credit (9/23), or Pell Grant (9/20) programs, to August to find attention to the issue of child care (8/23) and much further to hear anything about the TANF welfare program (6/15).

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.

I know that Obama and his transition team are hard at work crafting a solution for our financial mess. And that - of course - is an essential component of any effort to minimize poverty. But, facing the reality of our deep economic crisis also requires expanding the political discourse, pushing the issue of poverty back on our nation's agenda, and actually talking about those who are suffering the most.

Elizabeth Rigby, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston and a Research Affiliate at the National Center for Children and Families at Columbia University. Her work examines the politics of poverty and inequality across a range of child and family programs, including Food Stamps, early childhood education, and Medicaid/SCHIP. She can be reached by email: [e-mail] or her website: www.polisci.uh.edu/faculty/erigby

Comments

[Natalie4Obama]

The transition time is supposed to be used to put together his cabinet, which is exactly what he is doing. Bush is POTUS, Obama is not the president.

I think you have intensely negative attitude to bashing someone when they haven't even had a chance to prove it to you.

I don't care how many times he mentions poverty - I canvassed for Obama because he isn't yet another leader who talks endlessly about problems and does nothing about them.

Obama is an incredible leader who knows at this point he needs to listen rather than spout stump speeches that make us feel good. Of course he cares about poverty, he was a freaking community organizer and his heart would bleed seeing conditions that Bush and Co have no idea about.

Rather than poring over his speeches to critique what he is or isn't doing, put the newspaper down and wait.

Wait for 4 years, to give Obama time to turn around the economy, take care of immediate issues and do everything he wanted to do.

Then we look at the statistics to see whether he cares about poverty or not.

[harriscrl3]

Obama doesnt say birth control for a month either does that mean he is against it or doesnt care about it. I mean really. Furthremore he doesnt have to say the word to show that he is concern. I have never seen anything like this everyone wants him to adress ever single issue under the sun and he is NOT in office yet.

Bush left us a Disaster the economy is on the verge of collapse getting the economy to grow again has to be priority or you cant help ANYONE including people who are poor thats what he has focused on and yes the stimuls package does have things in it for people who are poor like more money for food stamps and medicaid.

Carol

[Elizabeth Rigby - Huffpost Blogger]

Carol -

I agree that the stimulus package should (and likely will - even if indirectly by reducing state-level cuts in Medicaid) have money for food stamps and Medicaid. However, the current Obama-Biden economic plan includes 55 very specific policy proposals - none of which address either food stamps or Medicaid.

(Note that Obama does include a few items that would likely benefit the poor even more - such as expanding the earned income tax credit. Read more at: http://change.gov/agenda/economy_agenda/ ).

Of course, the inclusion or exclusion of an issue like food stamps in the president-elect's plans (or speeches) does not prove Obama's level of concern or care for this issue. I am not questioning that, nor is it even my primary interest.

Instead, I am interested in watching (and reporting on) what Obama does to keep the issue of poverty on the political agenda given the many forces in our political system pushing better-represented groups ahead in line. He really pushed the issue during the campaign AND has included key poverty advocates on his transition team. So I like most of what I see so far. But, if they included food stamp expansion as a 56th agenda item in the first round of an economic plan, it wouldn't disappoint me!

- Elizabeth

[allonfla]

If SNL or other comedians can't find anything funny to say about Obama they sure have a lot of material to make fun of his "supporters."

[canucklivinginUSA]

Some of you pundits really need to take a zen like approach to the transition period. Take a deep breath and be patient. This fast food culture has eroded your brains. Did you guys pay that much attention to BOOOSH's transition period? I bet not. Seriously, the knee jerk reaction that I see on here from you "responsible" authors have been quite irritating.

[harriscrl3]

I have never seen anything like this they want him to address every single issue under the sun right away. I have never seen more whining to a President elect I mean really can folks get a grip. Bush left us a disaster and he is not done yet We may be up to 8% unemployment rate by the time bush get out of the white house. The first thing that you have to do is get the economy working again create jobs the worse thing to happen to poor people is having more people join their ranks. In some ways the way to help them is to help the middle class. So they are embedded in what he is trying to do everything he does even though he may not say it.

Carol

[overlander]

No, he didn't "talk" about poverty, but he did hand out food to the needy on Thanksgiving Eve.

[Livvy]

Oh No! President Obama hasn't solved century old problems in his first month being not yet president.

The guy is such a slackard.

[Chiazz]

There is a difference between a president (elect) and a candidate/­campaigner­. One does things, the other talks about what he would do given opportunity. What is the gain jabbering about poor people when he's been carving our plans to create jobs that will benefit the poor? I would be disappointed in him if he still thinks himself as a campaigner. Wait till Jan 20.

[Elizabeth Rigby - Huffpost Blogger]

Good point.! And I accept it. But, I do wonder how you explain Obama "jabbering" (as you call it) about the middle-class in every fourth speech since election night (and every other speech in the month leading up to the election)? How does this fit in your campaign versus POTUS-elect distinction?

[Natalie4Obama]

Elizabeth - I think Obama supporters love him because of what he actually gets done rather than what he talks about.

I would have enjoyed your article more if it was based on something tangible, like a bad decision in picking a cabinet position.

But you wrote an entire article that made no sense to me, even taking time to find/make a graph of how many times he has mentioned poverty!! The number of times a politician mentions something has no bearing on how much he cares about it or how much he is going to get done when he is the president, which he isn't.

Everyone cares about poverty but unfortunately it is nothing new. It's really important that Obama does focus his speeches on the middle classes as they are the ones panicking. It is the middle class who need to be calmed down so they start spending money again and we can bring this country out of what I would consider to be a crisis.

Obama is not campaigning any more and we need to support him by offering suggestions through his website and most importantly judging him by his actions and what he actually changes rather than what he talks about.

[Elizabeth Rigby - Huffpost Blogger]

After I posted this, I did read some very promising news from the "Out of the Spotlight" blog at Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity.

Mike Laracy reports that Melody Barnes (Obama's choice for Director of his Domestic Policy Council) "delivered a pitch perfect keynote address highlighting the new Administration’s commitment to cut poverty in half in the next ten years. This was no fluffy 'Let-me-te­ll-you-why­-I-love-Ba­rack' piece. It was meaty, substantive and detailed." [read full post at: http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/OutOfTheSpotlight.aspx?id=372e468a-9fb2-4b6d-be68-59831fc8f1eb ]

I remain incredibly hopeful that Obama will join in soon!

[allonfla]

You remain incredibly hopeful that Obama will join in soon? I don't get it! Doesn't the fact that he chose Melody Barnes means he has "joined in?" I agree that we need to address poverty, but I'm really tired of these articles that assume Obama has broken promises or ignored issues because you don't hear about it. He's been President - Elect for one month, one month! He has more than his fair share of problems to address and there are many factors to consider when coming up with an effective policy. Enough with the talking already!! I suspect that the next time we hear from Obama about poverty, it will be to announce what exactly he plans on doing. Ever heard the phrase "don't talk bout it, be bout it!"?

[momof3inGA]

Exactly!

I'm scratching my head intensely, because his tax cuts will help those listed in the poverty income bracket THE MOST!

Wow...