President Obama delivered a good speech Tuesday in Kansas, invoking President Theodore Roosevelt and laying down what will surely be the major themes of his reelection campaign on the issues of economic fairness and closing the widening gap between the very rich and everyone else.
Obama made two references to the child labor laws that were enacted at the beginning of the past century. The former House speaker [Newt Gingrich] has recently suggested that poor children could be put to work in certain circumstances, such as mopping the floors at schools.
In the early 20th century, Obama said, the country faced a “choice” whether to allow “even our children to work ungodly hours in conditions that were unsafe and unsanitary.” Roosevelt, Obama said a few moments later, fought to ensure companies could not profit “by exploiting children.”
Meanwhile Gingrich, the front runner for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, clarified his position on child labor as follows:
“Kids shouldn’t work in coal mines, kids shouldn’t work in heavy industry.”
Damn bleeding-heart liberal.