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September 7, 2012 9:35 AM PrintText
For Democrats, a focus on middle class, not poor
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57508183/for-democrats-a-focus-on-middle-class-not-poor/
WASHINGTON "Middle Class First," said the placards on display as Bill Clinton addressed the Democratic convention. And indeed, speaker after speaker has invoked the party's devotion to the lot of middle-class Americans in 2012. The rich also have featured in the rhetoric, albeit as a punching bag.
But the poor? Not so much. They've been mentioned only fleetingly.
The discrepancy makes sense for President Barack Obama's strategy. A large majority of Americans identify themselves as middle class, while the poor lack political clout for a host of reasons. Yet for a party long known for its role as defender of the downtrodden, the rhetorical patterns are striking.
"There have been too few references to the poor, and most of the references are to a group of individuals who are moving on up," said Neil Donovan, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless.
"There's been no reference to the poor as a lasting reality in this country, and that's unfortunate," he said. "Poverty has been with us since we formed this union, and it's worth owning up to and mentioning in a deliberate way."
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, also has noticed the trend both at the convention and in the preceding months of campaigning. He said he appointed a group of his caucus members to meet with Democratic Party and Obama campaign officials, "saying to them, there seems to be, whether intentional or not, an exclusion of poor people."
nanabugg
(2,198 posts)I guess it's because the pols feel that the poor don't vote. But they are a sleeping giant...not all poor people are lazy, stupid, or disengaged. We Dems need to engage them, help them get registered and get them to the polls.
1StrongBlackMan
(31,849 posts)and I could be wrong ... that when Democrats talk about targetting the "middleclass", what they are really saying is targetting the "working class", which includes the $2,000,000 W-2 earner and the person seeking that minimum wage job.
But they can't say to work in an environment where most American's don't realize there are only two classes, the working class and the investor class.
Comrade Grumpy
(13,184 posts)At least, that's the impression I get from listening to the two conventions.
progressivebydesign
(19,458 posts)and policies meant to LIFT the poor into the middle class..
Guess you were out having a snack when speaker after speaker talked about LIFTING the people out of poverty and into the middle class.. and how we're not the party of "you're on your own!" The entire convention was about lifting ALL americans up. But the truth is that the repukes have made it their life's work to destroy the middle class by sending jobs overseas, and cutting funding for everything. AND cutting funding for programs that lift people into the middle class.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)the chronically poor. Those who are truly not ever going to move up - even to that minimum wage job. This includes, many of the elderly, disabled and in recent times those who are over "50" and no one wants to hire them - they are too young for social security - they are not getting unemployment any more.
The rw seems to think these people do not exist. On the other hand the Democrats seem to think that there is a already existing program to take care of all of us.
Dannyteague
(51 posts)NT
intaglio
(8,170 posts)How many have had "a few difficulties"
Just "don't have much at the moment"
How many, if asked, will say they are middle class rather than admit their poverty?
People are proud, and often rightly so, they do not need to be told they must plead poverty ...
dembotoz
(16,740 posts)sometimes the big dem tent seems to have me on the outside
progressivebydesign
(19,458 posts)Considering that the majority of speeches talked about lifting people OUT of poverty, about job training, and health care, and benefits. I can't really understand that idea that the poor were somehow left out. Maybe you were watching the RNC.
When a party has policies that support job training, and education grants, and feature people who have been LIFTED out of poverty by those programs, then that is what they're addressing. Not sure what you want, really. The entire convention was about lifting people up out of poverty and into the middle class, and keeping the middle class from slipping into poverty.
progressivebydesign
(19,458 posts)Pretty easy to understand.
FSogol
(45,362 posts)ecstatic
(32,567 posts)treestar
(82,383 posts)The middle class stimulates the economy - there is a perception that the economy is not doing well, and that the middle class is slipping, so it's in the national interest, including that of the poor, that the middle class not sink and be poor too. i don't think it's meant to leave out the poor so much as to focus on what makes a good economy.
ehrnst
(32,640 posts)There is a stigma to the word - poor baby, poor job. So most generally think of the poor as "them".
Most want to believe that they have 'acheived' middle class status, even if they are having a "temporary setback" - to say that they themselves are poor is an admission of failure socially and economically. They'll listen to talk about the middle class more closely.
The poor whites in the pre-civil war era wanted to keep slavery so they could at least say that they weren't at the bottom of the social or economic ladder.
Politicians usually refer to the elderly or children when they refer to "the disadvantaged" because they can't be accused of laziness or drug addiction or any other such labels the right wants to hang on those who aren't making it.
That said, me and my highly educated, broke theatre friends just out of grad school called ourselves the 'genteel poor' to distinguish us from 'poor.'
Johonny
(20,684 posts)general political thought is most voters assume they are middle class. Telling people they are poor can sometimes be off putting as in America being poor is thought by many to be an insult. Thus Dems generally talk about increasing opportunity, social programs etc... but don't try to label people poor.
The counter argument is talking about poverty in America and the death of upper ward mobility might be nice once in a while.
ehrnst
(32,640 posts)That indicate the complexity of the issue better than Poor, I agree.
DearAbby
(12,461 posts)honestly I know where Obama's heart is, I don't need him to specifically say it. When he speaks of the middle class, he speaks of me as well.
You spot light the poor in this political climate. The poor are constantly attacked as leeches, imagine the heat if Obama had spotlighted us?
meow2u3
(24,745 posts)It seems to me as if the Democrats are focusing on protecting and preserving the middle class in order to it from shrinking and sinking into poverty. That's the subtext.
The GOTP seems -- or better yet, is -- hellbent on creating a permanent oligarcy, destroying the middle class and making them poor.