Poverty and "Hope"

As a recent Pajamas Media article points out, the vast majority of African American voters will be voting for Barack Obama. However, as Obama's record in Chicago shows quite clearly, an Obama presidency does not promise much in the way of help for poor African American voters.

Obama on affordable housing: "'The Boston Globe on June 27 exposed the thousands of so-called affordable housing units built cheaply in Chicago by developers backed by Illinois and federal tax subsidies championed by Barack Obama. Sewage flows through many units; others are burned out with roofs caving in. Due to neglect by owners tied to the Obama campaign, many have been slated for demolition.'"

Obama on affordable healthcare: [Michelle Obama] "spearheaded an effort to steer poor black patients away from her fancy hospital and into local clinics. According to the Washington Post on August 21: Primary-care doctors opposed [Michelle Obama's plan] as a break with the center’s commitment to the community. Opinion research showed that a small but passionate group of people already considered the hospital to be elitist, arrogant, and lacking in 'cultural empathy' for the surrounding economically depressed South Side neighborhood, according to a draft report obtained by the Washington Post. Some doctors in focus groups dismissed local health clinics as 'wholly inadequate.' . . . Quentin Young, the South Side physician, described the medical center’s level of charity spending [on indigent care] as 'ludicrous.' Young, known in Chicago for having been the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s personal physician, is chairman of the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group, a Chicago-based nonprofit that advocates health care reform. Young considered himself an ally of Barack Obama while he was a state legislator. 'That’s shameful,' Young said of the percentages. 'They are arguably, if not defrauding, then at least taking advantage of a public subsidy. We would like to see them give more than the minimum. The need is there.'"

Obama on subprime loans for poor borrowers: "The Congressional Black Caucus and key Obama advisers — including former Fannie Mae CEO Franklin Raines and Fannie Mae Chairman Jim Johnson — all used carrots and sticks to force banks to steer more and more subprime loans to borrowers unable to repay. The LA Times reports on September 9 that Obama is the top recipient of political donations from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives. The result: housing prices were artificially inflated and many black people who were conned into borrowing to pay the inflated prices are now losing their homes. Others conned into taking out unnecessary mortgages could lose homes they once owned free and clear. Now many black neighborhoods are full of abandoned repos. The foreclosed former homeowners will have credit ratings even worse than before and their jobs may be at risk as the effects of the housing crisis shake Wall Street and Main Street alike."

Read the whole thing, as Glenn Reynolds says.

Also, please note that the sources of these stories that PJM puts together in this article are mainstream, liberal papers: The Washington Post, The Boston Globe, and the LA Times. In fact, all three papers have endorsed Obama.

Does Obama really care about the poor who hand over their votes (and their hopes) to him? The evidence says no, but only time will tell.

"A generous man will himself be blessed, for he shares his food with the poor."---Proverbs 22:9

"He who gives to the poor will lack nothing, but he who closes his eyes to them receives many curses."---Proverbs 28:27

"The righteous care about justice for the poor, but the wicked have no such concern."---Proverbs 29:7

"The scoundrel's methods are wicked, he makes up evil schemes to destroy the poor with lies, even when the plea of the needy is just."---Isaiah 32:7

"If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."---Matthew 19:21