The report said the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line last year, 15.1 percent, was the highest level since 1993. (The poverty line in 2010 for a family of four was $22,314.)
The report comes as President Obama gears up to try to pass a jobs bill, and analysts said the bleak numbers could help him make his case for urgency. But they could also be used against him by Republican opponents seeking to highlight economic shortcomings on his watch.
“This is one more piece of bad news on the economy,” said Ron Haskins, a director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution. “This will be another cross to bear by the administration.” ...NYT
One Democrat in New York's district 9, where a Republican won Anthony Weiner's seat last night, said she was voting against Obama's economy.
“I am a registered Democrat, I have always been a registered Democrat, I come from a family of Democrats — and I hate to say this, I voted Republican,” said Linda Goldberg, 61, after casting her ballot in Queens. “I need to send a message to the president that he’s not doing a very good job. Our economy is horrible. People are scared.”
But now there's ample proof, for those who have any doubts, that "Obama's economy" is really George W. Bush's economy -- a Republican economy.
Out of the frying pan, into the fire at New York's 9th. Democrats need to make their voices heard.
The report said the percentage of Americans living below the poverty line last year, 15.1 percent, was the highest level since 1993. (The poverty line in 2010 for a family of four was $22,314.)
The report comes as President Obama gears up to try to pass a jobs bill, and analysts said the bleak numbers could help him make his case for urgency. But they could also be used against him by Republican opponents seeking to highlight economic shortcomings on his watch.
“This is one more piece of bad news on the economy,” said Ron Haskins, a director of the Center on Children and Families at the Brookings Institution. “This will be another cross to bear by the administration.”
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Nate Silver thinks it may be 2010 all over again. If we look at special elections over the past six months, "Democrats may still be locked in a 2010-type political environment."
Among other signs, the outcome in the recall elections in Wisconsin last month — where Democrats failed to flip the state senate, but picked off two Republican incumbents in six attempts — are a bit more favorable for Democrats. So are the results of generic ballot polls, which show a roughly tied race for the U.S. House. There are also a broad variety of indicators showing extreme dissatisfaction with the Congress, which could harm Democrats in the Senate but help them in the House.
Nevertheless, these are waves that portend trouble.
At the very minimum, they imply a reduction in the odds that after three consecutive “wave” elections, 2012 will show a tidal shift back toward Democrats.
I'm not sure, to be honest, just how useful these numbers are at this distance from the election. But there is this to think about: 2010 was won for the Republicans by the tea party movement. It has been suggested that a similar, well-organized and well-funded effort on the part of progressives within the Democratic party might well achieve similar results.
However, there's no sign that -- speaking of actual movement -- there is that kind of dedication to cause within the progressive movement. The blips on national screen seem to be confined to Wisconsin and Ohio. In both cases, good old self-sacrificing groundwork and a dedication to 8-day-a-week work have achieved some notable successes. Sure. But how about Maine? Utah? Texas? Where are the blips in Pennsylvania and Tennessee?
