What Would Obama Say....at a Forum on "Urban Working Poor"?

Barack Obama had his turn speaking to an invited group of civic leaders in New York City – or as he put it “a bunch of do-gooders” – at a meeting hosted by the Community Service Society (CSS) and Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union (SEUI). Together, these two groups have organized the Working Cities series for presidential candidates to discuss urban and low-wage issues:

The Community Service Society of New York (CSS) and Local 32BJ of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have launched "Working Cities," a forum series with candidates for President of the United States. In unrehearsed conversations with leading candidates, CSS and Local 32BJ are working to advance an economic mobility agenda in the 2008 election.

John Edwards and Hillary Clinton have already been there, though I wasn’t able to make it to NY for those meetings. And the sponsors have invited all of the declared candidates.

The folks at CSS will post video from the Obama event shortly, as they have for the other two candidates.

Here are some things that I noted about Obama's remarks:

• Even though the event is billed as being about urban “poverty”, he did not use that word even once in his opening remarks.

• He did mention the working poor, saying that welfare reform in the 1990s desegregated the working and the poor because now we all know that everyone is working and they are still poor. He also said that we should retire the term “working poor”. (Though he meant – at least in part – that there should not be such a group to label, because workers shouldn't be poor.)

• In answer to a question, he said that people in this country want to see everyone thrive and that he’s proposed creating a national director of urban poverty. (Not clear why he is using the term poverty in this case, or whether he will also have a director of suburban or rural poverty.)

• He commented on what he called the politics of poverty saying that people are skeptical that government can do anything about it, so we should shine a spotlight on initiatives that work.

• On immigration, he said that to preserve a generous immigration policy, everyone must get a fair share, and the benefits and costs of free trade must be distributed equitably.

Of course, I am paraphrasing - watch the Community Service Society site for a video and transcript. It will be worth your time.