I generally do not like to give much attention to the worst of the worst, but at one point, Newt Gingrich was supposed to be a policy "wonk" in the 1980s-1990s (bad policy IMO) but in his quest for the presidency/pumping the newt money machine... he's gone back to his base for inflammatory rhetoric. This week is little different, except when I read what he said, for the first time in a long while, I got angry.
Gingrich's 30-minute speech painted America as a nation poised at a crossroads, “Down one road is a European centralized bureaucratic socialist welfare system in which politicians and bureaucrats define the future," he said, "Down the other road is a proud, solid, reaffirmation of American exceptionalism.”
He went on to attempt to lay the blame for the nation's economic woes at the feet of the current administration. “President Obama is the most successful food stamp president in American history. I would like to be the most successful paycheck president in American history.”
Join me after the jump.
I grew up much like the current President; in a single parent family, which was poor and often dependent on local programs. Unlike Barack Obama and his mother, we had no grandparents to help. We were on our own, and my mother worked two jobs. Luckily, we had medical insurance through her main employer (very costly), and a great uncle took care of our dental needs (we still drove 3 hours to get to his practice, and got annual appointments).
My mother refused to go on food stamps. Her reasoning was that worse off people than us depended on that program, and even though we qualified, we should not use it. We did not starve, even if we did have little variety and you had to eat quickly (even today, I eat 5x more quickly than my spouse, and my in-laws are always surprised that I am looking around bored with a spotless plate while they are still talking and eating). We made do with what we had.
I remember feeling shame when we went to the food pantry in months that were lean. I remember feeling shame every time we entered a second hand clothing store to replace our patched jeans, and our shrinking shirts. I remember feeling shame anytime we went to a garage sale. We were scavengers, making due with other people's castoffs.
My mother, the perceptive woman that she was, knew my sibling and I took a lot of shit at school for being poor. One summer, she endeavored to make us new clothing, and back then, neon was cool. So I had all these neon shorts that my mother stitched for me using her sewing machine (something she had before the marriage). I used those clothes for nearly 3 years, but it was a lot of work for a woman who worked 6 and a half days a week. Her only time off was Sunday morning, for church.
So when the likes of Newt Gingrich, who may have had a similar upbringing (although with two parents, but by no means rich), but has deviated so far from his roots in Pennsylvania uses that two liner sling...
President Obama is the most successful food stamp president in American history. I would like to be the most successful paycheck president in American history.”
... a dragon of hatred from my childhood reawakens. I feel that shame all over again, of being a scavenger.
Today's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has made great strides in taking the shame out of being poor. You no longer have to come to the counter with brown ($1), blue ($5) or green ($10) colored coupons to pay for your groceries. You use an EBT card, and can get your food without anyone else being the wiser. 43 million Americans use SNAP, and the breakdown demo for the program is as follows from the USDA website (although from 2006).
# 49% of all participants are children (17 or younger), and 61% of them live in single-parent households.
# 52% of food stamp households include children.
# 9% of all participants are elderly (age 60 or over).
# 76% of all benefits go to households with children, 16% go to households with disabled persons, and 9% go to households with elderly persons.
# 33% of households with children were headed by a single parent, the overwhelming majority of whom were women.
# The average household size is 2.3 persons.
# The average gross monthly income per food stamp household is $673.
# 43% of participants are white; 33% are African-American, non-Hispanic; 19% are Hispanic; 2% are Asian, 2% are Native American, and 1% are of unknown race or ethnicity
I grew up eating potatoes, ramen and canned tuna. My mother was a great dump cook, and we used (government) cheese on every casserole. 1 in 8 Americans are using "Food Stamps" because the economy that Bush and the Republicans administered did not create a single net job in their entire 8 years of control.
In the last 30 years, mal-employment is becoming more normal. We are working more and more for less and less. All the wealth in this country is being funneled to the top 2% of individuals and corporations, at the expense of American families, our environment and our investment in the future. It's all being stolen by the likes of Newt Gingrich, John Boehner, Paul Ryan and the vast interests of the super rich, where any tax increase is "off the table" and all of our social programs are in the crosshairs to feed even more tax cuts for the super wealthy.
Despite my disappointment in Obama for failing to close Gitmo, or return Habeus Corpus to its rightful place (see Bradley Manning), or even to put up a fight or negotiate for the American people (see the sacrificed Public Option), the alternative to Obama is a gaping abyss filled with snapping, horrific predators called Exxon, GE, Koch Industries, etc.
EDIT/UPDATE- G2geek and The Eyewitness Muse hit the nail on the head in the comments section below for why I'm so angry about this (forgot to explain that part).
That comment of his was a dog-whistle to the base, about "n-----s on food stamps." Guaranteed.
-G2geek
Gingrich is a very shrewd politician and student of history. He knows there's something to mine there, particularly when there's a black man in the Oval Office.
So he goes there in the very first policy speech he makes after announcing his candidacy.
It's racist, repugnant and carefully calculated to grab the attention of the worst element of the Republican base. It's about positioning and segmentation for Gingrich.
He is perfectly willing to resurrect that awful caricature if it furthers his ambition. Here we go...
-The Eyewitness Muse