Obama, on the 1996 Welfare Reform, in 1998:
"Uh, I was not a wild... a huge supporter of the federal plan that was signed in 1996. Having said that, I do think that there is a potential political opportunity that arose out of welfare reform, and that is to desegregate the welfare population, meaning the undeserving poor -- black folks in cities, from the working poor -- deserving, white, rural as well as suburban. Now you've got just a bunch of folks who are struggling at the bottom of the economic ladder."
He characterized the people being harmed (by past welfare reform) as black, as if to say that only the 'deserving white' folks were getting help under the present program. Yes, that was 10 years ago, but today he's pushing for the old welfare system, which tells me nothing's changed.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this looks and smells like racism to me.
"Uh, I was not a wild... a huge supporter of the federal plan that was signed in 1996. Having said that, I do think that there is a potential political opportunity that arose out of welfare reform, and that is to desegregate the welfare population, meaning the undeserving poor -- black folks in cities, from the working poor -- deserving, white, rural as well as suburban. Now you've got just a bunch of folks who are struggling at the bottom of the economic ladder."
He characterized the people being harmed (by past welfare reform) as black, as if to say that only the 'deserving white' folks were getting help under the present program. Yes, that was 10 years ago, but today he's pushing for the old welfare system, which tells me nothing's changed.
Correct me if I'm wrong, but this looks and smells like racism to me.