- ATD Fourth World

The access to power by Barack Obama as President of the United States is a major cause for hope among those who live in poverty throughout the world.

Such people may reasonably feel that because of his skin color he has from time to time felt the sting of exclusion and has had to fight against it. He can probably understand better the feelings of those who every day are touched by the pangs of exclusion because of their extreme poverty. Obama has not played the hate game. « But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now.” “As such, Reverend Wright’s comments were not only wrong but divisive, divisive at a time when we need unity; racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems (…); problems that are neither black or white or Latino or Asian, but rather problems that confront us all.”. “…that working together we can move beyond some of our old racial wounds, and that in fact we have no choice if we are to continue on the path of a more perfect union. (1)

Obama’s belief system has been strengthened by his experience of public life. “I’m in this race for the same reason that I fought for jobs for the jobless and hope for the hopeless on the streets of Chicago; for the same reason I fought for justice and equality as a civil rights lawyer; for the same reason that I fought for Illinois families for over a decade.” “That’s why I’m running, Democrats - to keep the American Dream alive for those who still hunger for opportunity, who still thirst for equality.” (2).

President Obama’s program contains explicit provisions for a war on poverty, with specific provisions for accessible work, minimum income, family support, affordable housing and attention to areas of extreme poverty, whether urban or rural.(3)All these proposals can lead us to hope for a renewal of the war on poverty in the United States, like that which made remarkable advances with the arrival of President John Kennedy on the scene in the 1960s. The Fourth World Movement in the United States will follow closely the actual introduction of these proposals.

(1) Speech in Philadelphia, March 18, 2008. (Pastor Wright is a friend of Barack Obama who used to speak out strongly against anti-black discrimination.) http://www.barackobama.com/2008/03/18/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_53.php

(2) Speech at Des Moines, Iowa, November 10, 2007. http://www.barackobama.com/2007/11/10/remarks_of_senator_barack_obam_33.php   (3) See http://change.gov/agenda/poverty_agenda