With An External Foe Defeated, Obama Must Attack The Internal Foe Of Poverty In America

Now that we have killed a significant external foe in the form of Osama bin Laden, it is time to renew our war on the internal foe of the persistent poverty faced by many in our nation.

Can you recall the last time you heard Barack Obama mentioned poverty?

Any observant person knows it can be hard to get work in this economy. And if you get work, it can be difficult to get consistent hours and decent benefits.

The Census Bureau says that 43.6 million Americans lived in poverty in 2009. That was two years ago in this time of enduring recession. That raw number of 43.6 million translates into 14.6% of all Americans.

Here are Census Bureau statistics on poverty in America. 

20.7% of American children lived in poverty in 2009. How is this acceptable? Is America a first-world nation anymore?

The President merits his share of the credit for the capture of Osama bin Laden.

Now let’s ask and expect the President to take on a foe as deadly as any terrorist.

We seem to have forgotten the poor in our nation.

It’s a given that the powerful will celebrate military truimphs and hope we forget those having the roughest time in society.

Many of us in America go along with that kind of thinking even though any one of us could face poverty in this current ecomomy.

Without for a moment losing sight of the brutality and menace of the modern Republican Party, we must always insist that our leaders who at least pay lip service to decency actually deliver on what they are saying.

It is up to us to demand more of Barack Obama. I’m glad that Osama bin Laden is no longer a threat. But many other battles remain as the President marks his recent victory.