Short shrift in a long campaign
The two-year presidential campaign was an exhausting marathon for candidates and for voters, yet it hardly touched on some major issues facing the nation. Among the glaring omissions in the 2012 race:
Poverty: Though concern for the middle class was a near-constant refrain of both candidates, next to nothing was said about those struggling to put food on the table and a roof over their heads. The number of people in poverty hit a 19-year high in 2010, at 15 percent of the population—up from 11 percent in 2000. (The rise in poverty began before the economic recession of 2008.) One in five children lives in poverty—a figure that puts the U.S. second highest among 35 of the world’s richest countries just below Romania. A Brookings Institution report predicts that a fraying safety net, combined with a weak economy, could push poverty to levels not seen since the 1960s.
Though the candidates talked endlessly (if vaguely) about creating jobs, neither candidate focused on how wages for those who have jobs have not risen with the cost of living over the past 30 years, pushing many people into poverty. Nor was it noted that federal expenditures on job training have been cut over the past decade.
