Why It Is Crap.
Politifact has a brutal take down. But if Politifact isn't your cup of tea, let someone who actually worked on Welfare Reform explain.
At the request of several Governors, notably certain Republican Governors, the Department of Health and Human Services is allowing flexibility in how states implement the work requirement in Welfare Reform. But the requirement is still there.
What you have is a 15 year old program where reporting and implementation requirements are rather arcane and the Feds are allowing states, under certain circumstances, to experiment with making it less about number crunching and more about getting people jobs.
It's about less federal control. It's about letting the states act as laboratories to guide policy. It is in fact......Reaganesque.
Why This Won't Matter.
To some welfare will always be a hand out. In some political circles, you would think the calendar just skipped right over 1996 (the year welfare reform went into effect).
It will work because despite every poll showing a majority favoring a safety net, there is a deep seeded resentment against the perception of people getting something for nothing. And Romney's simple narrative wrenches that raw nerve straight into the toxic air of politics.
And in politics, it's not the lie that counts; it's the effects.
1 comment:
Right up there with people resenting people getting something for nothing is resentment at the well-off paying little in taxes.
The Romney campaign can attack Obama as a surrogate, but the Obama campaign can directly attack the real thing.
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