Comments on: In which Barack Obama cleans up among the homeless

By: Weldon Berger

Weldon Berger — Tue, 13 May 2008 19:32:36 +0000

I’d be very surprised if Obama supported anything like a comprehensive approach to the problem even absent the financial constraints he’ll face, since that would amount to socialism and if there’s one thing he’s not, it’s a socialist of any real scope. It’s easy enough to cherry-pick specific populations, such as veterans, but genuinely attacking the problem on a massive scale would mean throwing large amounts of money at people many Americans don’t regard as deserving much other than punishment, and there would inevitably be a fairly high failure rate. Never mind that it probably costs more to harass the homeless and clean up after them than it would to house and treat them: the morality play carries the day. It’ll be some while before politicians get the nerve to say that they’ll do this thing not because the beneficiaries deserve it, but because it’s the right thing to do.

Which is to say, I’m not going to hold my breath. Either Clinton or Obama would be better than McCain would be or Bush has been, but you know, so would a blind pig. Whoopee!

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 13 May 2008 17:34:28 +0000

His background in supporting activists (particularly religious based groups) who do play some role in this sort of movement, apropos JackD’s comment, does suggest that his presidency has a better shot at helping than the alternatives.

I also would be surprised if he doesn’t support something of the sort touched upon, if not the breadth needed. I doubt he would oppose it. Cf. The number of things, even if the numbers were there is Congress, the current guy would block with one vote.

By: JackD

JackD — Tue, 13 May 2008 02:54:07 +0000

Adlai Stevenson is said to have famously remarked to an admirer who said, “surely every thinking voter will support you,” …”Madam, I need the rest!”

Sounds like Obama (who some say has the same problem) at least has a start in southern Caliornia.

I’d guess the downtrodden have got a better chance with Obama than with the alternatives.

By: Weldon Berger

Weldon Berger — Tue, 13 May 2008 00:46:56 +0000

Hi, Mary. Are you the Mary LB from the Slate reader forums? I’m a bit pressed for time at the moment, but in brief my thoughts on the veterans situation are that 1) they’re a very small fraction of the homeless population, and 2) I sort of dislike the notion of classifying homeless people according to how deserving they are of help, which is what the focus on veterans does. Surely, veterans should be helped; so should everyone else. Anyway, thanks for stopping by, more later. Cheers, Weldon

By: mary LB

mary LB — Tue, 13 May 2008 00:37:32 +0000

How odd; it was Senator Obama’s speaking of homeless veterans, saying: ‘America We Can Do Better Than That’, which inspired my Homeless for Obama blog.

He recently passed legislation getting federal funding for veterans, specifically to provide more shelter and job retraining options for returning Iraqi war veterans. The last VA stat I read was 400 were homeless a year or so ago.

California supporters of Senator Obama, did indeed do a voter registration job among homeless. They are allowed to vote if they have a street address, which can be family or a service providers.

Here in Long Beach a local agency worker, has done voter registration drives here and when she did social service work in Orange County.