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Obama on Rural America - A Welcome Discussion

By Jim Chen at al.

American political campaigns are infamous for providing sound bytes rather than addressing the complexity of the problems we face. Media coverage works hand in glove.

Yesterday, we caught a glimpse of a candidate attempting to discuss some of the problems facing small towns in rural America. Kudos to Senator Barack Obama.

Obama, rejecting the notion that rural voters would not vote for him because of his race, addressed the economic frustrations of the small town resident straight on. As reported in the Washington Post, he said that the theme of his campaign ? change and hope for the future - was a difficult sell in "places where people feel most cynical about government."

He went on with an analysis that was immediately pounced on by his opponents.

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them.

And they fell through the Clinton administration and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not . . . And it's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Here's how it is: In a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long. They feel so betrayed by government that when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn't buy it. And when it's delivered by -- it's true that when it's delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama, then that adds another layer of skepticism.

Once again showing the worst face of the American media, headlines such as ?Obama attacks small town America? flashed across television screens. Obama opponent, Senator Clinton was the first to jump on the remarks, effectively shutting down any constructive dialogue and terming the remarks ?elitist.? Characteristically, she said that what rural America needed was someone to ?fight for them.?

Obama defended his remarks but then acknowledged a mistake in appearing to suggest that small-town values were formed by cynicism.

"You know the truth. It is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation, those are important. That's what sustains us."

But he added, "what is absolutely true is that people don't feel like they are being listened to. And so they pray and they count on each other and they count on their families. You know this in your own lives and what we need is a government that is actually paying attention. Government that is fighting for working people day in and day out making sure that we are trying to allow them to live out the American dream."

Back to safer political ground, perhaps, but aren?t many small town residents bitter about what their government is and is not doing? Probably so. Politicians discuss trade bills, class disparities, corporate greed, loss of jobs -

But let's consider the farm bill - the legislation that should address the problems that face rural America, including small towns. Once upon a time, farm program payments were thought to help rural communities, as local farmers would spend their money in their nearby small towns. Not so any longer. Because of the consolidation of farms, the concentration of payments, and the failure to link payments to farming communities, this is no longer the case.

Rural communities now are in competition with farmers for farm bill dollars. And, they do not do well in this competition. Current versions of the 2007 farm bill continue to allow the wealthiest of farmers to collect government payments; it still allows farm program payments to non-farmers living off the farm; and rural development programs continue to be the step child of policymakers.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer from Oregon was quoted in Lansing Farmer for his criticism of Congressional efforts to take money from other more worthy programs to fund a disaster assistance trust fund for farmers, in addition to the other assistance already provided. ?Congress has had many chances to reform the Farm Bill, but up until now it has missed the mark. Our priorities should be conservation, nutrition, and rural development, not increased subsidies that do very little for the vast majority of farmers, with 60 percent of them getting nothing at all."

And this from FarmPolicy.com

"Tucked into" the disaster aid package pushed by Senators Baucus and Conrad is a "$489 million capital gains depreciation tax break for thoroughbred horse breeders."

I?d say small town residents may have a right to be bitter.

Let's have a discussion about rural America.

Full post as published by Agricultural Law on April 12, 2008 (boomark / email).