"Channeling Reagan, Obama Moves to Slash Programs for Urban Poor"

[Bluebear]

Ronald Reagan consistently rewarded his core base; Barack Obama betrays his, and the cuts to these already deeply underfunded urban programs shows that there is no constituency too loyal for him not to let down.


by Randy Shaw‚ BeyondChron, "The Voice of the Rest" Feb. 07‚ 2011

The Obama Administration honored Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday on February 6 by proposing steep cuts to two of the leading programs for the urban poor: community service grants and community development block grants (CDBG). According to White House Budget Director Jacob Lew, the former will be cut in half, with the balance going to a “competitive grant program.” CDBG funding, which has never recovered from Reagan’s budget slashing, will be cut by 7.5%, or $300 million. Meanwhile, Obama criticized the intelligence community’s failure to foresee the Egyptian uprising, but did not reduce its $80 billion budget. And the military is being cut less than $16 billion next year, a pittance in light of massive Bush era increases. “Community organizer” Obama will cut organizing jobs in low-income communities more than any president since Reagan, which is consistent with his failure to even mention the poor or poverty in his recent State of the Union address.

I have to give Barack Obama credit for convincing even longtime advocates for the poor and low-income neighborhoods – people like myself – that his community organizing background meant that we would have an organizer’s ally in the White House. Obama has instead proved disastrous for community organizing in the United States, from his knee jerk defunding of ACORN, to his ignoring the views of the grassroots base that won him the Democratic nomination, to now his efforts to defund what little is left of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society.

Even “new Democrat” Bill Clinton did not prioritize cutting programs for the urban poor. But, as with Obama’s disdain for organized labor, the President feels he can get away with slashing longstanding anti-poverty programs due to his relationship with DC-based community advocacy groups who refuse to publicly criticize him...

President Obama has not made a single tough decision to help the poor since taking office. He is the ultimate hypocrite when it comes to the contrast between his words about community empowerment and his actions.

http://www.beyondchron.org/articles/Channeling_Reagan_Obama_Moves_to_Slash_Programs_for_Urban_Poor_8876.html

[msongs]

1. wrong, Obama is serving the needs of HIS base, just not the democratic party's base nt

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. +1000!

His base=the Haves and Have Mores.

[FiveGoodMen]

26. Wow. Haves and have mores. That reminds me of someone else ...

[fasttense]

2. The inner city poor aren't even counted in the employment survey,

so why bother to keep their anti-poverty funding?

It's as if they are invisible. Maybe they should become more visible like the Egyptian citizen.

[bobbolink]

3. Yeah, why bother?

[bobbolink]

5. To put it bluntly, those of us who are poor, whether urban or rural, came to the same conclusion as

the Egyptian protestors... that it is very likely we will die in this struggle.

The difference is, the Egyptian protestors will be killed. Most of us will end up having to off ourselves.

Until the rest of you begin to care about us as much as you now care about the Egyptians and the Iraquis and Afghanis, we will die. Mostly silently and unheard.

Is that blunt enough?

[GreenPartyVoter]

14. Whether shot down, or left to suffer and die from hunger and lack of medical care, the

government still has to take the blame.

The only difference is that it's easier for the average citizen who is getting by to ignore scenario 2 and let the government off the hook.

[Bluebear]

24. Thank you.

[Starry Messenger]

6. k&r

for visibility. I can't say what I want to say, or I'll get banned.

[TBF]

11. Same, will have to settle for K&R nt

[bobbolink]

20. Please, whisper it in my ear, then.

Because stuff like this sends me off the edge, and I need to hear empathetic and angry comments from those who actually CARE.

:hug:

[Bluebear]

23. I hear you.

[Bluebear]

29. .

[Bluebear]

37. .

[Lifelong Protester]

7. K & R for visibility and in solidarity

And someone's unrec just cancelled mine out.

Really? We cannot tolerate criticism of our president when he so clearly is not doing enough to help the poor? He has the bully pulpit, I wish he'd do more with it to help those who NEED help (not the corporate types who will get by regardless).

[ProSense]

8. He is not

channeling Reagan. Lew's op-ed doesn't tell the whole story.

<...>

Yet for the past 30 years, these grants have been allocated using a formula that does not consider how good a job the recipients are doing. The president is proposing to cut financing for this grant program in half, saving $350 million, and to reform the remaining half into a competitive grant program, so that funds are spent to give communities the most effective help.

Another difficult cut is a reduction of $125 million, or about a quarter of current financing, to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which supports environmental cleanup and protection. And a third is a reduction in the Community Development Block Grant program. These flexible grants help cities and counties across the nation finance projects in areas like housing, sewers and streets, and economic development in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.

While we know from mayors and county leaders how important these grants are for their communities, and are very aware of the financial difficulties many of them face, the sacrifices needed to begin putting our fiscal house in order must be broadly shared, and we are proposing to cut this program by 7.5 percent, or $300 million.

These three examples alone, of course, represent only a small fraction of the scores of cuts the president had to choose, but they reflect the tough calls he had to make. And as he made them, his administration tried to make sure that there was no undue burden on any one program or area. We also asked agencies outside the freeze to do their part as well. The Department of Defense, for instance, will have its financing plan cut by $78 billion over the next five years, bringing spending down to zero real growth after a decade of healthy increases, and we are eliminating programs like the C-17 transport plane that have broad support but that we do not need and cannot afford.

The budget is due out February 14. Not sure what the purpose of this op-ed was, as it raises more questions than it answers. Why mention specifics out of context?

The actual budget might tell a different story since billions in similar grants are issued by various agencies. For example, HUD:

HUD AWARDS $1.4 BILLION TO NEARLY 7,000 LOCAL HOMELESS PROGRAMS – PART OF ADMINISTRATION PLAN TO PREVENT & END HOMELESSNESS

HUD AWARDS $127 MILLION IN GRANTS TO PROTECT THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN FROM LEAD AND OTHER HOME HAZARDS

HUD, HHS ANNOUNCE JOINT EFFORT TO ASSIST NEARLY 1,000 NON-ELDERLY PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES TO MOVE FROM INSTITUTIONS TO INDEPENDENCE

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ANNOUNCES NEARLY $73 MILLION IN COUNSELING GRANTS TO HELP FAMILIES FIND AND KEEP HOUSING

Too bad these announcements don't get as much attention.

[GreenPartyVoter]

15. That's good but it's not even close to enough. Like the healthcare reform all over again it will do

some good for a few, but leave the rest out in the cold. This time quite literally.

[StarsInHerHair]

31. but the burden is NOT BEING BROADLY SHARED-WHAT R THE RICH SACRIFICING

the sacrifices needed to begin putting our fiscal house in order must be broadly shared, and we are proposing to cut this program by 7.5 percent, or $300 million.

[Donnachaidh]

9. kick and Rec! n/t

[MasonJar]

10. Those millions he is cutting for our poor citizens probably finance the

wars for one day.

[burrowowl]

28. Probably not even

the wars in one day are probably more!

[QC]

12. K&R

[bvar22]

13. Help the POOR ???!!!!

LOL
That is soooo "old" Democratic Party.
Get with the "New Democrat" program.


"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans. I want us to compete for that great mass of voters that want a party that will stand up for working Americans, family farmers, and people who haven't felt the benefits of the economic upturn."---Paul Wellstone


"By their works you will know them."

[inna]

16. Precisely. "Disastrous" is exactly right. K&R.

[leftstreet]

17. K&R

[FLAprogressive]

18. Look, we all have to make SACRIFICES.

Unless you're making over $250K a year!

[bobbolink]

19. Many of us will be sacrificing our LIVES

Does it matter?

When we are facing this, the "humor" just isn't that warm and fuzzy.

[FLAprogressive]

21. I was just pointing out what Obama has been "pointing out" constantly, that we have to "sacrifice"..

..he's using that as an excuse to cut everything for the working class but nothing for the rich.

[bobbolink]

22. I understand that, and I've been pointing that out here for a long time now. (not that it mattered)

The point I am making to you... please be careful with the "humor" around this, OK?

Please put yourself in our shoes, look at our dire circumstances, and think how it would sound to you.

Please be aware that people are already killing themselves because they can no longer survive. Hearing things like this can push some right off the edge.

Peace.

[Bluebear]

38. kick for truth

[maryf]

25. K&R nt

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[femrap]

30. I just watched an old

TV show that I taped called 'Ancient Prophecies.' David McCallum was the host. I wanted to see the map of the US as seen by Cayce....anyway, I continued watching and the show as it discussed the coming of the anti-christ (I don't go to church) but it said that this dude deludes everyone as he comes as the 'Prince of Peace.'

Didn't someone get some sort of Peace Prize?????

Who cares....Mother Nature is gonna kick our ass....we deserve it. And that map....WOW. Get out of MI (the Great Lakes merge) and LA and SC and FL and....well just get away from the coasts. Denver is the west coast.

I remember Physical Science Class 101 when the prof said that every 26,000 year, when the Earth shifts on its axis. I was shocked....and I knew I would live it. Some people say it a pole shift....the entire electro-magnetic system goes OFF.

Shit.

One good thing about this....GLOBALIZATION IS TOAST. Welcome to the 1860's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

32. He's relieving them of the burden of wealth and giving it to the wealthy who know how to handle it.

[Dragonfli]

33. Some people are just cold hearted rich-spittle licking tools for the haves

I would prefer he shot me outright and killed me with some honor.
Killing me slowly and painfully with freezing and starving is doing it like a coward.

I know he considers me a useless eater, but during my life I have built many things, what exactly do his rich base actually make? They are the real useless eaters. They eat everything and produce nothing.

I re-registered today as I am not wealthy enough for the Democratic party to serve me in any way, I am not their base I guess, only the wealthy have the ear of his party.

[blindpig]

34. He's the man for the job.

This shit was coming, look around the world, it is a concerted effort to save capitalism from it's own contradictions by shifting the burden to the powerless. Any president would be working from the same outline, all else a matter of style. He saw The man because of that peculiarity of American politics which necessitated Nixon to go to China. Just another example of the ruling class gaming our so-called democracy to advantage.

[progressoid]

35. Fuck the poor. They need to grab those bootstraps and pull!!11!!

Even if they don't have bootstraps I guess.

:grr:

[Fumesucker]

36. K&R, thanks for posting..

[marybee]

39. culture warrior

na