Eugene Robinson: Romney fails the empathy test
Eugene Robinson
Romney fails the empathy test
I wish Mitt Romney’s cavalier dismissal of poverty in America could be chalked up as just another gaffe, but it’s much worse than that. The Republican front-runner seems dangerously clueless about the nation he seeks to lead.
When I first heard the now-famous quote — “I’m not concerned about the very poor” — I thought it might be fodder for a snarky column about the wee little Mr. Monopoly who lives inside Romney’s head and blurts out things like “Corporations are people, my friend,” or “I like being able to fire people.” But I realized that being “very poor” is no laughing matter to millions of Americans.
Putting Romney’s words in their full context makes them worse. Here is what he said on CNN:
For my part, I’m concerned about what sounds like shocking ignorance about the extent of poverty in this country and an utter lack of urgency about finding solutions.
snip//
In Romney’s worldview, case closed. No need to be “concerned” about poverty as long as people are not starving.
What our society ought to be concerned about is making sure that poor people have the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty. Liberals and conservatives might disagree on how best to accomplish this goal. We can argue about the role government should play versus the private sector. We can dispute the merits of traditional public schools versus charter schools. What we cannot do is simply write off up to one-fifth of the nation’s human potential, as if it were a footnote in a corporation’s annual report.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/romneys-indifference-to-the-poor/2012/02/02/gIQA4RpVlQ_story.html?hpid=z3
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