June 08, 2003
#512 - He Never Worked a Hard Day in His Life

How many of you think George W. Bush knows the price of a gallon of milk? Or what one can and cannot buy with food stamps? He certainly doesn’t know what it’s like to work for hours on his feet, to look for change under the couch for bus fare or to eat instant noodles for the seventh lunch in a row.

How do you fix Medicare and when you’ve never felt the anxiety over how you were going to pay for your pills? Or offer solace to unemployed workers when you have never watched your mortgage balance precariously on the back of your unemployment checks? This is the life real people live in America. They don’t get dividends and they don’t get help from daddy’s rich friends.

The Economy
Comments

And which President ever has known these things?

Posted by: Eric on June 9, 2003 07:21 AM

President Clinton, actually. Say what you will about his personal behavior, he is the nation's first modern-day president who grew up dirt poor. Which proves that in America, you really can achieve anything. You just have to be wicked smart, have a personality that instantly draws people to you, and be pretty damn lucky.

Posted by: Rhonda on June 9, 2003 09:26 AM

Boy, that's a tough one. Lincoln comes to mind ... something about growing up in a log cabin.

Posted by: Sam on July 23, 2003 07:06 AM

Jimmy Carter grew up very middle class in Georgia and he definitely learned the value of work. read his book, "An hour before dawn".
I've read (somewhere) that George #1 proudly said he'd never been in a grocery store. Bet he made sure his son had been in one.

Posted by: Steve on August 18, 2003 07:12 PM

he worked, he drove the baseball team daddy gave him into the ground.

Posted by: Jim on December 9, 2003 08:45 AM

Clinton, Lincoln, and Carter. Three presidents. So what? Apparently the majority hasn't known these things.

Posted by: Spencer on June 1, 2004 10:47 PM

I'm sorry...I don't believe I've heard about John Kerry having any Ramen noodles lately....

Posted by: Jennifer on June 18, 2004 01:18 PM

Yes, I'm sure that John Kerry's family has been using food stamps for quite a while now.

Posted by: Duncan on October 2, 2004 07:43 AM