son of Ishmael wrote:Do you think Obama actually cares about the poor?
As an Obama campaign worker in 2008 who spend hundreds of hours walking the streets of black neighborhoods, meeting with folks in their back yards and having hundreds of conversations with hundreds of folks in poor neighborhoods, I can tell you that poor people think Obama cares about them. That has turned out to be the case as far as I can see. Believing that your candidate cares about you is what counts in an election.
On the subject of local perceptions regarding Obama vs. Romney, my wife and one other woman in our home ward have essentially taken responsibility for the well being of a kind and gentle female member who was hit by a drunk driver shortly after coming to this country as a legal immigrant. She suffered brain damage, has a limp and has lost partial use of her left arm. She is able to function on her own most of the time, but has cognitive and reasoning problems when things get complicated. She recently lost her job as a toll taker when the Turnpike went fully automated.
Even though she was a member in good standing when the accident happened, the LDS Church refused to continue to help her after a few months. This woman happens to be black. She attends our Ward with my wife when she can.
Romney is right in her case. This woman is a victim. To start with, the US justice system failed her. She received a $10,000 PIP payment in compensation for a lifelong disability. Nothing more.
Had a white middle class white male been so injured at her age, and had availed himself of a decent attorney, his total compensation would have been in the millions, and he would have had access to re-hab, re-training, counseling, the works.
This is the America that Romney longs for - an America where folks are treated in accordance with their social and economic status.
Romney's distain for 47% of Americans, myself included, represents the worst side of America. The Brits can see that, and their Prime Minister has said as much in public and on the record. Same with the Aussies.
Americans are beginning to see it, as well. Apparently enough Americans have seen it so far that Romney now has essentially no chance of winning this election, and that is all that really matters right now and for the next month and a half or so.