At a voters’ forum in South Carolina– site of the next Republican primary– a woman asked candidate Rick Santorum what he would do to help people like her. She explained her situation.
Four years ago her husband lost his job. They’ve run through their IRA. They’ve run through most of their 401k. They moved from their large house in the north of the state to a smaller house in the south of the state where it’s cheaper.
Santorum starts his answer by noting that she and her husband “have moved to a beautiful part of the country.”
“My wife and I love vacationing here,” he continues, before going on to outline his desire to ramp up the American manufacturing industry.
UPDATE: Towards the end of the forum the questioner is asked whether she was satisfied with Santorum’s answer. She’s not. She notes her husband, and many others like him who’ve been affected by the recession, are in their sixties, and so “I’m not sure manufacturing is going to bring him back his job.”
Stop complaining, lady. At least you’re lucky enough to live in a part of the country where Rick Santorum and his wife love to vacation– even if poverty forced you to move there.
I’m reminded of an exchange then-President George W. Bush had with a single mother in Omaha. She said she had a mentally-challenged son and two daughters, and was working three jobs to make ends meet.
Bush called this “uniquely American” and “fantastic.” He asked her if she gets any sleep.
As I wrote at the time:
[D]oes he really think it’s also “fantastic” that she works three jobs? I suspect Bush’s economic worldview is such that it would barely occur to him that a single mother might prefer not to have to work three jobs to provide for herself and her children– that she might desperately want to find one job with decent pay and benefits that would allow her to spend more time with her kids, but is unable to do so.
Bush may be closer to the truth when he says that [her] situation is “uniquely American.” But I’m not sure that’s something to be proud of.