MICHELLE & BARACK OBAMA: "WORK HARD"; LET'S NOT TALK ABOUT THE POOR

I am not writing this blog to give you the impression that I dislike my Illinois Senator, Barack Obama.  But, I have spoken to several people who have fought for Chicago's poor for longer than I have been alive.  For example, Beauty Turner, founder of the Ghetto Bus Tours, civil rights/public housing activist and journalist) has met with Mr. Obama and questioned him about solutions for the poor.  She did not get answers; in fact, her questions were totally disregarded. 

I've only been fighting for the poor for a few years  (See the tour I gave of Chicago's public housing to the media here; American's should not live in these conditions!);  however, many of the people "in the struggle" agree with me: it seems like Mr. Obama has forgotten about the poor.  

Our poverty rate is over 12% ; that's disgusting.  One in 100 is incarcerated; the majority of those behind bars are parents.  That means the incarcerated parents cannot adequately provide for their children.  That means we are punishing not just the "criminal" but the entire family of the "criminal."  

People who fall within the poverty lines are NOT "working-class" nor are they "middle-class" nor are all of them lazy with no desire to "work hard." They are flat-out poor.  I do not have the answers on how to fix poverty.  I just know that the solution isn't simply "work-hard" or "go get a job and an education"  

Read below & you will see how many times Mr. & Mrs. Obama say "work"...I lost count on his speech; she says "work" about 22 times; he said "poverty" ONCE and neither said the word "poor".  

America's poor need our help too...

(click the title to read the entire speech)

Barack Obama: Thursday, August 28, 2008  

…Let me express my thanks to a champion for working Americans…

It is that promise that has always set this country apart - that through hard work and sacrifice, each of us can pursue our individual dreams but still come together as one American family…

Tonight, more Americans are out of work and more are working harder for less.  More of you have lost your homes and even more are watching your home values plummet.  More of you have cars you can't afford to drive, credit card bills you can't afford to pay, and tuition that's beyond your reach… 


This country is more decent than one where a woman in Ohio, on the brink of retirement, finds herself one illness away from disaster after a lifetime of hard work .

This country is more generous than one where a man in Indiana has to pack up the equipment he's worked on for twenty years and watch it shipped off to China...We are more compassionate than a government that lets veterans sleep on our streets and families slide into poverty; that sits on its hands while a major American city drowns before our eyes…

  A nation of whiners?  Tell that to the proud auto workers at a Michigan plant who, after they found out it was closing, kept showing up every day and working as hard as ever...Tell that to the military families who shoulder their burdens silently as they watch their loved ones leave for their third or fourth or fifth tour of duty.  These are not whiners.  They work hard and give back and keep going without complaint. 

In Washington, they call this the Ownership Society, but what it really means is - you're on your own.  Out of work ?  Tough luck.  No health care?  The market will fix it.  Born into poverty?  Pull yourself up by your own bootstraps - even if you don't have boots.  You're on your own.

…- an economy that honors the dignity of work .



In the face of that young student who sleeps just three hours before working the night shift, I think about my mom, who raised my sister and me on her own while she worked and earned her degree; who once turned to food stamps but was still able to send us to the best schools in the country with the help of student loans and scholarships.

When I listen to another worker tell me that his factory has shut down, I remember all those men and women on the South Side of Chicago who I stood by and fought for two decades ago after the local steel plant closed.

And when I hear a woman talk about the difficulties of starting her own business, I think about my grandmother, who worked her way up from the secretarial pool to middle-management, despite years of being passed over for promotions because she was a woman.  She's the one who taught me about hard work . 

What is that promise?

… that businesses should live up to their responsibilities to create American jobs, look out for American workers, and play by the rules of the road.. It should ensure opportunity not just for those with the most money and influence, but for every American who's willing to work .

 That's the promise of America - the idea that we are responsible for ourselves…but the American workers and small businesses who deserve it. 



HERE IS WHERE OBAMA TALKS ABOUT WHAT HE “WILL DO”

• I will cut taxes - cut taxes - for 95% of all working families.  Because in an economy like this, the last thing we should do is raise taxes on the middle-class.


• I will set a clear goal as President: in ten years, we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East
• I will tap our natural gas reserves, invest in clean coal technology, and find ways to safely harness nuclear power. 
• I'll help our auto companies re-tool, so that the fuel-efficient cars of the future are built right here in America. 
• I'll invest 150 billion dollars over the next decade in affordable, renewable sources of
• I'll invest in early childhood education. 
• I'll recruit an army of new teachers, and pay them higher salaries and give them more support.  And in exchange, I'll ask for higher standards and more accountability. 
• And we will keep our promise to every young American - if you commit to serving your community or your country, we will make sure you can afford a college education.


• I will make certain those companies stop discriminating against those who are sick and need care the most
• And now is the time to keep the promise of equal pay for an equal day's work, because I want my daughters to have exactly the same opportunities as your sons.


• how I'll pay for every dime - by closing corporate loopholes and tax havens that don't help America grow. 
•   But I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less - But we must also admit that programs alone can't replace parents; that government can't turn off the television and make a child do her homework; that fathers must take more responsibility for providing the love and guidance their children need.

Individual responsibility and mutual responsibility - that's the essence of America's promise.


• As Commander-in-Chief, I will never hesitate to defend this nation, but I will only send our troops into harm's way
• I will end this war in Iraq responsibly
• I will rebuild our military to meet future conflicts.  But I will also renew the tough, direct diplomacy
• I will build new partnerships to defeat the threats of the 21st century: terrorism and nuclear proliferation; poverty and genocide; climate change and disease.  
• And I will restore our moral standing, so that America is once again that last, best hope for all who are called to the cause of freedom, who long for lives of peace, and who yearn for a better future   
•   ==========================================================================================

• So I've got news for you, John McCain.  We all put our country first.

America, our work will not be easy. 

• Passions fly on immigration, but I don't know anyone who benefits when a mother is separated from her infant child or an employer undercuts American wages by hiring illegal workers. 

• And you know what - it's worked before.  Because it feeds into the cynicism we all have about government.  When Washington doesn't work , all its promises seem empty. 
• Because I've lived it.  I've seen it in Illinois, when we provided health care to more children and moved more families from welfare to work .  I've seen it in Washington, when we worked across party lines to open up government and hold lobbyists more accountable, to give better care for our veterans and keep nuclear weapons out of terrorist hands.

And I've seen it in this campaign… I've seen it in the workers who would rather cut their hours back a day than see their friends lose their jobs...
• …a promise that led workers to picket lines, and women to reach for the ballot.


•   Not with so much work to be done.  Not with so many children to educate, and so many veterans to care for.  Not with an economy to fix and cities to rebuild and farms to save.  Not with so many families to protect and so many lives to mend…

 Thank you, God Bless you, and God Bless the United States of America.

 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

(click the title to read the entire speech)

Michelle Obama: Wednesday, August 27, 2008

  And I come here as a daughter, raised on the South Side of Chicago -- (cheers, applause) -- by a father who was a blue-collar city worker and a mother who stayed at home with my brother and me.

·       He and my mom poured everything they had into me and Craig… And thanks to their faith and their hard work, we both were able to go to college.

·       [Barack] was raised by grandparents who were working-class folks just like my parents, and by a single mother who struggled to pay the bills just like we did. And like my family, they scrimped and saved so that he could have opportunities that they never had for themselves.

·       And Barack and I were raised with so many of the same values, like you work hard for what you want in life

·       … we want our children and all children in this nation to know that the only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them.

·       [Barack] introduced me to the work that he'd done when he first moved to Chicago after college. You see, instead of heading to Wall Street, Barack went to work in neighborhoods that had been devastated by the closing of steel plants..

·       And the people gathered together that day were ordinary folks doing the best they could to build a good life. See, they were parents trying to get by from paycheck to paycheck; grandparents trying to get it together on a fixed income; men frustrated that they couldn't support their families after jobs just disappeared. You see, those folks weren't asking for a handout or a shortcut. See, they were ready to work. They wanted to contribute. They believed, like you and I believe, that America should be a place where you can make it if you try.

·       And I stand here today..knowing that my piece of the American dream is a blessing hard-won by those who came before me, all of them driven by same conviction that drove my dad to get up an hour early each day to painstakingly dress himself for work, the same conviction that drives the men and women I've met all across this country:

·       People who work the day shift , then kiss their kids good night and head out for the night shift without disappointment, without regret. See, that good-night kiss a reminder of everything they're working for.

·       People like Joe Biden -- (cheers, applause) -- who has never forgotten where he came from and never stopped fighting for folks who work long hours and face long odds and need someone on their side again.

·       See, that's why I left a job at a big law firm for a career in public service, working to empower young people to volunteer in their communities..

·       And it's a belief Barack shares, a belief at the heart of his life's work . See, it's what he did all those years ago in Chicago, setting up job training to get people back to work and after-school programs to keep kids safe; working block by block to help people lift up their families. It's what he did in the Illinois Senate, moving people from welfare to jobs , passing tax cuts for hardworking families, and making sure women get equal pay for equal work.

·       Hope to the man who's unemployed and can't afford gas to find a job ; hope to the student working nights to pay for her sister's health care, sleeping just a few hours a day.

Thank you. God bless you, and God bless America.

 www.xpunged.com and www.tamaraholder.com

Comments

[Ike Griffin]

It seems obvious to a close observer who has read Barak Obama's books and followed the political rhetoric, that the senator's interest lies more in changing the political system than addressing social ills. He opportunistically uses the fact of social ills to accomplish his goals, but their relief is apparently not his end game.

[Ike Griffin]

Senator Obama HAS embraced the Second Chance Act, one of the better initiatives to come out of the Bush White House. This initiative empowers religious and small charitable organization to address social issues utilizing grants from federal agencies.

Written to specifically address reentry of the incarcerated back into society, funding of Second Chance most efficiently puts muscle to efforts in the fields of employment opportunities, drug and dependency recovery, family services and remedial education, And, the muscle comes from those who live in the area and know the situation best.

Since 90% of crime is urban, and 90% those released from prison return to where they committed their crime, terms of Second Chance can be seen as urban renewal. The senator called that one right!

Moving forward, it will be important to keep management at the local level rather in Washington. Washington does much posturing and 'viewing with alarm' but they don't get much done.