look, i think this seems to be what republican voters want now, a clarity, a toughness and the fact that you are being attacked by the coastal elites and media, supposedly is a virtue for a republican candidate. the republican party operates in opposition to the coastal elite establishment. if you can turn yourself into this crusader against them effectively and use tough language, i think it s a path to success in the republican primary. it doesn t work as well in the general election. perry is going to have to pack. he s well ahead of romney now. that clearly is a split between winning the primary and the general for the republicans. there s some tension there. nick, i had an interesting thing occur to me a couple days ago. i come out of the supermarket at quarter to 8:00 in the morning. a fellow comes up to me parked
go out and push hard. nick kristof. isn t there a misconception the victims are just the unemployed? they are, in a larger sense at a time the longer you stay unemployed the less likely you are to return to the market. the american economy, the american society as a whole, the loss of that fabric when people stay out of jobs and can t find work. no doubt about it. we have legislation, basically making sure that assuring that people are not discriminated against because they have been out of jobs. there s been evidence that some employers would not hire a person after they have been out of a job for awhile because they think maybe they were not a very good employee when they were working. clearly, there are a lot of people suffering. in my district, i would venture to guess, in the african-american community, our
king was passionate speaking not just for african-americans but all americans seeking to pull themselves out of poverty and dysfuncti dysfunction. we haven t just failed to make progress, we have stopped trying. nick, you travel the world but a good deal in the united states. some of us, especially within the political system seem, can t seem to get over the fact, the reality. nobody wants to be born poor in this country. yet, you know where i m going. i do. i think there are two really troubling trends we have seen. one is toward economic inequality. 400 americans have more net worth than 160 million. it s been soaring. it goes to what gene is writing about. the other is education. whether you are talking africa or talking about new york, then the most effective escalator out
of poverty is education. since the 1970s, we basically failed on that front. democrats divulge republicans. if we are going to address poverty, there are a lot of solutions. one is improving our education system especially in inner cities. economists and politicians talk about economic growth, obviously, corporate growth and what s happening on wall street. if you walk around as i m sure you have, nick, michael, jonathan, margaret in terms of the news business, gross national product ought to involve the imagination and creativity that is lost among so many young people who disappear through the slats at younger and younger ages because of inadequate education later on in
their lives. we are squandering a precious resource. we are squandering this creativity and drive and imagination. the next steve jobs could, you know, be in one of these neighborhoods that we essentially write off these days. nick is absolutely right and you are right about education being this escalator out of poverty. the other escalator, traditionally has been blue collar jobs that allowed, for examp example, millions of african-americans who took the migration to several cities in chicago and detroit to find good jobs that gave them, let them have a house and pension and raise their families and send their kids to college. those jobs are missing, they are gone. it s a combination, no education, no jobs makes it very