People had stood in line all night, she reported, to get housing certificates for affordable rentals. In fact, housing outlays have been cut almost to nothing, after 12 years of Republican rule, followed by four of bipartisan obsession with the deficit. The poor are paying record percentages of their incomes for shelter. It's a vicious circle, I offered. Poor people tend not to vote, so few politicians pay attention to their concerns, which makes the poor even less inclined to vote.
Many young people seem deeply committed to public improvement.
In the 1992 election, inspired by the man from Hope, they saw a renewed flicker of promise in politics and government. Today, it all seems a con. The White House sleaze only confirms a pervasive cynicism, particularly tragic in the idealistic young. The third conversation was with a Clinton loyalist. He had been deeply distressed when the Monica Lewinsky scandal broke.