By Robert Kaufman

Columnist- Robert Kaufman

*This is one in a series on U.S. Election Politics: The 2012 Cycle

The “poverty tour,” is another significant political entry into the Election of 2012.

The Tour carries a title bound to attract attention of minorities and the poor: “Remaking America: From Poverty to Prosperity.”

The tour was composed of eight experts in poverty related subjects.  Media personality, Tavis Smiley and Princeton University Professor, Cornel West initiated the tour and participated in presentations made in 18 cities and nine states.

The Tour is designed to support minorities and the poor, who have much to lose if the election goes badly. The tour hopes to counter recent political impacts on the forthcoming election.  The Tea Party is at the heart of the attacks on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid as well as other social programs for which they plan reductions and /or elimination.

Experts on the tour

Suze Orman – Personal finance expert and author of nine books. Orman is a contributing editor to Oprah’s magazine and hosts her own show on CNBC.

Majora Carter – An environmental activist has served as executive director of Sustainable South Bronx. She introduced Americans to the concept of urban green-collar job training the coined the phrase “Green the Ghetto.”

Michael Moore – Author of several books and an Oscar-winning filmmaker. Michael gained critical acclaim and popular success with his 1989 documentary “Roger & Me.”

Barbara Ehrenreich – A writer and journalist, Barbara is best known for her 1998 book Nickel and Dimed. For this book she went undercover as a waitress, sales clerk and maid to reveal what life is like for the “unskilled” work force.

Dr. Cornel West – A Princeton professor, a provocative world-renowned scholar and a best-selling author. His classic volume Race Matters has a nationwide distribution.

VICKI B. escarra – As President and CEO of Feeding America, Vicki helped to build the domestic hunger-relief network into a billion-dollar organization.

roger a. clay, jr. – Attorney Roger Clay is president of Oakland, California based, Insight Center for Community Economic Development.

Tavis Smiley – Served as the moderator for the panel.  He is identified as a broadcaster, author and philanthropist.  In all of these ventures he is a strong advocate for social change and directs his attention to training the younger minority generation for leadership roles.

The Tour and discontent of its leaders

The Poverty Tour in the view of the leaders was a “call for unconditional brotherhood.” The purpose, more precisely, was to “raise consciousness about the plight of the poor in America amid ongoing recession and joblessness, as well as to highlight indifference by many of America’s leaders and the press”[1]

The discussion made it clear that the “indifference” of “American leaders” included President Obama.

So at the final stop of the tour in Memphis, a “Town Hall” meeting was specifically designated to “air general community grievances.” For this purpose the leaders chose the St. Andrew AME Church, located in poverty-stricken southwest Memphis.

In this environment there was a frank discussion of the challenging political situation facing African Americans as the 2012 Election approaches.

“Tavis Smiley listed the negative impact of: no extensions this time for unemployment benefits, no calls for new revenues, and no closing of tax loopholes for corporations.  He reported that the initial consideration of cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security were put on the table, not my Majority leader Boehner, but by President Obama himself.

“In short, he said, the deal was all “cuts-cuts-cuts,” with a questionable resolution by a 12-member Super-Congress that would supposedly determine, in draconian fashion, what Congress could not. According to Smiley, as a result of the debt-ceiling deal, things are about to get worse for many Americans.”

This is serious criticism. Both of the tour leaders have expressed reservations about Obama’s leadership.  Yet, the tour is a tool of mobilizing minorities and the poor to support our President in the 2012 election.

Smiley and West are unified in the effort to “uplift, in the old Southern religious tradition and to mobilize poor communities (which are) hit hardest by the current global economic crisis.”

“Cornel West spurred the audience to better inform themselves, organize, and to push Obama and their congressional representatives” to promote the needs of the poor. He also urged the audience to impress politicians of the need to turn away from “America’s 30 plus-year-old culture of greed.” He suggested reconnecting with the poor in a “new covenant of brotherhood.”

Leadership Analysis and Recommendations

The following three proposals from Smiley and West are designed to invigorate the African–American community to place poverty at the center of the nation’s economic recovery:

1.             Defend the President against Republican, tea-party critics, but encourage him to make sustained policy investment in the poor and working-people’s needs.

2.             Promote new media voices outside the corporate “mainstream” (and use online communications) to spread awareness of the new and alarming trends in American poverty.

3.             Build bridges between successful individuals supportive of social justice and poor, working-class Americans.

All of these recommendations presuppose the desire and ability of blacks, minorities and the poor to organize for the Presidential election.  This was a singular premise during the entire Tour.

Thus, the Poverty Tour has initiated a potentially critical mass of workers to the election campaign of 2012.  It joins earlier entrees of assorted means by which this forth coming election will be bitterly contested.

Other recent entrees include the Republican position, “no new taxes”, the “occupy movement,” the Tea-Party and the inflow of unlimited campaign dollars instigated by the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Citizens United v. FEC. (The Federal Election Commission)

These and several other political factors will contribute to make the 2012 election one of the most fiercely competitive contests in our history.

Robert Kaufman has a PhD in Political Science and taught at WMU for 32 years where he specialized in American Government and public policy. Since retirement he has focused on community anti-racism, poverty and social justice.  He is a member of the Executive Committee of the Metropolitan Kalamazoo Branch of the NAACP and participates in the Housing, Education and the Employment Initiatives of the YWCA Summit on Racism. He is a member of the Erac/ce anti-race Team.

Copyright  2012  by Robert W. Kaufman.  All Rights Reserved. Prepared Jan. 26, 2012. 1,035 words.