Obama no longer talks about the poor

Dear President Barack Obama,

I’m extremely disappointed in the way you avoid talking about the poor. It has to be obvious to anyone who gives it the least little bit of thought that you find it politically expedient to talk about the middle class and avoid talking about the poor.

I was disgusted in my Democratic Party when in our convention speaker after speaker referred to building the country “from the middle out.” That was clearly a phrase contrived by a public relations person and recommended for use by all speakers. Shame on you! It makes much better sense from both a moral basis as well as an economic basis to try to build our country “from the bottom up.”

The Democratic Party lost its soul when it abandoned the poor. Because you have taken such a crassly expedient campaign strategy, you deserve to lose on moral grounds. However, if you are fortunate enough to be re-elected I hope you grow a moral backbone.

More and more voices are calling for you and other Democrats to start promoting policies to help the poor. You know the Rev. Jim Wallis. He points out that Jesus never talked about the middle class but he talked endlessly about the poor. I know that the Democratic Leadership Council advised that Democrats could win more elections by talking about the middle class and avoiding references to the poor.

Raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour, besides providing significant relief to some of our neediest citizens, would also have the highest multiplier effect of any economic stimulus program you could enact.

I voted for you before. I will vote for you again, but I’ll have more respect for you as a man if you start promoting policies to benefit the poor and the middle class.

R. Kent Kirkwood

Mount Prospect