Obama=first non-rich candidate!

[poetsdream]

Obama will be the first presidential candidate in a long time who didn't come from a rich/wealthy background. This means he won't have a conflict of interest with rich friends and family members when making critical policy decisions. Also, we'll actually have someone in the white house who, umm, actually has WORKED for a living. Also, the first president from the 'heartland' instead of 'the good old south'.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

1. 12 years isn't all that long

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

3. Agreed

Clinton was not wealthy at least when he ran for president.

[Eric J in MN]

2. Bill Clinton didn't grow up rich. It's only been 8 years since he left office. NT

NT

[BelleCarolinaPeridot]

4. What about Clinton?

[progressiveforever]

5. Yet, some dumbass was lamenting Obama's book profits just yesterday

Yet, some dumbass was lamenting Obama's book profits just yesterday on ONN (Ohio News Network)

[truthisfreedom]

6. He made that money recently. He had no help, no background, no silver spoon... he bootstrapped his

way to where he is now.

[babylonsister]

7. Was Carter? Clinton? I think they were not rich. nt

[parasim]

8. Clinton wasn't from a wealthy background... that wasn't that long ago.

[Occam Bandage]

9. Yeah, the first such President since the guy before the current one.

[TheDoorbellRang]

10. first from the 'heartland'? He'll be the fourth from Illinois

Lincoln, Grant, Reagan, Obama.

[poetsdream]

14. Not the first from heartland EVER, just for at least 20 years

We've had a lot of presidents from the south for almost 20 years. In fact, when was the last president not from the south or west (except for Kennedy of course from MA)....??

[onenote]

31. still not right. Dole was from Kansas and his family wasn't wealthy

I'm not sure what point you thought you were making in your OP (since you keep backing away from it), but historically, its just not the case, nor is it particularly important.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

25. Grant was from Ohio

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ulysses_S._Grant

[TheDoorbellRang]

32. Galena, Illinois claims him, too.

He lived there before the Civil War.

[rebel with a cause]

45. Reagan claimed California and Grant claimed somewhere else also

I think although both of them were born here. Lincoln was born in Kentucky and grew up in Indiana. Came to Illinois as an adult as did Obama. We only claim the ones that come here full grown. The ones we raise, we let someone else take credit/blame for them.

Edited to add, that Grant was born in Ohio, grew up in Illinois and am unsure of where he ran for president from. May have been Illinois but I don't think so for some reason. May have been New York since that is where he lived after being president. I am just not sure.

[Skittles]

11. LOL - WTF? What about Clinton????

[SharonRB]

12. Clinton didn't come from a rich/wealthy background

Yes, by the time he ran he had been governor, but he wasn't wealthy even then.

[EastTennesseeDem]

13. WHAT ABOUT CLINTON!?!?

since no one's said it yet...

[poetsdream]

15. Clinton NOT wealthy when he ran

He doesn't get lumped in with the rest...

[onenote]

27. didn't you lump him in with the rest in the OP?

:shrug:

[ShadowLiberal]

16. True, but what's really rare is someone who's currently not rich becoming president

Obama definitely grew up poor, but he's not poor today with the couple million dollars he earned from book sales alone.

Obama's wealth is like Andrew Jackson, he grew up poor, but by the time he became president he was quite rich. But because of how Jackson worked hard to become rich and earned his money he had a hatred for the rich elites who inherited their money from their parents (and the Whigs, his opposition party, had a lot of those people), Jackson was for making things possible for the little guy to move up the social ladder, and not letting the old rich stay rich with stuff like monopolies.

[pnwmom]

18. And Clinton wasn't currently rich. He and Hillary had little in assets

when he took office.

[sandnsea]

19. $350,000 - $1 million, net worth

They weren't paupers. They were better off than 95% of the country.

[pnwmom]

23. I never said they were paupers. But Bill had been earning $35K a year

as governor. Hillary, like Michelle, was the primary wage earner.

The Obamas, with Michelle's salary and the book earnings, aren't any more "non-rich" than the Clintons.

[sandnsea]

29. Yeah. It's called Google. n/t

[pnwmom]

39. I don't think Obama "grew up poor."

His mother had him when she was only 18, and she and her husband were students -- but student "poverty" is a different thing from grinding poverty. (My husband was a student at about the same time and was living on a $7K stipend. He often ate crackers and cheese for dinner, but he never considered himself "poor.") She succeeded in getting a Ph.D. Then the mother remarried and eventually traveled with her new husband to Indonesia, where she pursued her interest in anthropology. Eventually, Barack went to live with his grandparents, who were well-employed -- not poor people. But they saved money by living in a small apartment so they could help him to go to the best schools.

Obama deserves a great deal of credit for taking such advantage of the opportunities he has had. But so does Bill Clinton. Trying to say one of them had it better or worse or is more deserving seems ridiculous to me.

[sandnsea]

17. Clinton's step-father owned a car dealership

Not rich, but not food stamps either. Roger Clinton was an alcoholic, which created the bulk of the problems in his childhood.

[pnwmom]

20. Clinton had no family money from that step-father.

And there is an awful lot of room between "rich" and food stamps. Clinton wasn't at either level.

[sandnsea]

28. That's what I said

Obama, on the other hand, did experience food stamps. Lived in a two bedroom apartment. It's like the difference between entry level mill worker and manager's son, and yes, the difference matters.

[pnwmom]

30. Obama also experienced a fancy private high school, unlike Clinton.

It's ridiculous trying to decide which was more disadvantaged. Neither fit the typical wealthy, advantaged model.

[sandnsea]

33. No, Blinton went to private elementary school

My point is that Clinton wasn't as poor as he sometimes makes out. He wasn't living in some backwoods shack. He had a nice middle class home with a father who owned a car dealership and grandparents who owned a grocery store. Hillary's family was better off than that. They weren't poor as church mice, or anywhere near it.

[pnwmom]

34. You can't have a "nice middle class home" with a step-father who

is an abusive alcoholic.

[sandnsea]

37. Yes. You can.

Lots of people live in all kinds of dysfunction. Most people do, as a matter of fact. It's a heck of a lot easier to live with any kind of dysfunction when you can at least rely on heat and your next meal. Regardless, I said in my first post that his difficulties came from alcoholism, not poverty. Hell, for that matter, growing up with Barbara Bush as a mother couldn't have been a picnic either.

[pnwmom]

38. There is no such thing as a "nice" home with a parent who is an abusive alcoholic.

I didn't say it wasn't possible for a child to live in such a home, because millions do. But such a home isn't a "nice" home, whether there is an adequate income or not.

[pnwmom]

41. I've googled and I can't find a reliable source about the food stamp story.

Most of the hits were freeper sources. The only time I would think his family might have used food stamps was when his young parents were in college. But student poverty is a different kind of poverty. Many of us were "poor" in those years -- but didn't consider ourselves to have been deprived.

And later, the fact that he was living in a two bedroom apartment, with his grandparents in the other bedroom, did not make Obama poor. Both his grandparents were employed at good jobs (she rose to become the first woman vice president of her bank), and they had other options. But they chose to spend less money on housing in order to put more money into getting the best education they could for their grandson.

[sandnsea]

47. Once again

you're clueless. He has talked about being on food stamps himself. A reliable source?? Yeesh. And when you're a parent, there's no such thing as "student poverty".

[pnwmom]

50. I've googled and haven't found a link. I'd be happy to read one,

if it came from a reliable source.

Obama's mother's "student poverty" differs from grinding poverty in a couple of important respects. She chose to go to college for her long term goals -- which is great. But that meant she voluntarily took on the financial sacrifice -- she wasn't forced into it. She had hope; she was willing to make the sacrifices to keep herself on the path that she'd chosen. And she had two stable parents who were able and willing to help her.

[Mira]

21. Let's not forget "Joe the Senator" as McLame calls him

As I understand it he is number 99 out of 100 Senators in Wealth.

[vaberella]

22. Or really...one who didn't marry an heiress with either name or money. n/t

[Beacool]

24. Not true.

According to Money magazine, Obama's net worth is $1.3 M. The Clintons were the poorest couple to enter the WH in decades.

;)

[Mass]

26. And? Nixon and Reagan were not from a rich background. Kennedy and FDR were. Who do you prefer?\

It would be nice to care about what is important for once.

[frazzled]

35. Um, Al Gore had nuttin'

He was one of the least wealthy candidates in recent memory, having been in public service for 26 years before running (though he's made lots since 2000). His net worth was less than Obama's at the time of running.

Gore came from a prestigious family, because his father was a senator, but I don't believe the family was horribly wealthy. Clinton indeed did not come from wealth, but Hillary was a successful attorney for many years, so they did have some money by the time he ran for president ... and they'd had all those years of free housing in the governor's mansion, so I assumed they saved some!

[kiva]

36. Not being snarky, but a little research is a good thing.

Lots of people here at DU are amazingly good with political history, so SWAG doesn't work well here--unless, of course, you want to talk about screaming children in restaurants, banning pit bulls, or nutrition.

[mentalsolstice]

40. Clinton was by no means rich

While he was governor, Hillary brought home the most of the bread and bacon, but even then her salary wasn't in the gazillion dollar range. Gore's family survived off his dad's income as a Senator and the family farm (not poor, but not wealthy). And Biden is like the second poorest Senator (he has no income outside of his senatorial income and his wife's income as an instructor at a community college). Jimmy Carter was a peanut farmer...and was not rich.

So those "southerners" were also not rich, and thus not part of the country club set.

I'm so sick of the "let's pick on the south theme" here. Ir really should be incorporated in DU rules and stringently enforced to not pick on certain regions of the country.

And don't tell me to leave if I don't like it, as I've been told often to get the hell out of DU, because I'm a stubborn southerner, and I ain't going to budge!

OTH, we've also had some wealthy (non-southern) democrats that have run, for example, FDR, JFK, RFK, and John Kerry.

[Beacool]

48. Bill's salary as governor was one of the lowest in the country.

He was only making $35K when he ran for president, that's why it was left to Hillary to be the bread winner in the family.

[mucifer]

42. Obama currently has millions from his autobiographies.

[Spider Jerusalem]

43. Bill Clinton? Not rich. Reagan? Made money in Hollywood, but wasnt' born to a wealthy family.

Ford? Not from a wealthy family either. Or Nixon, or LBJ, or Eisenhower, or Harry Truman.

As to being from the 'heartland'; Herbert Hoover was born in Iowa, Reagan was born in Illinois, and Gerald Ford was born in Nebraska.

[Raine]

44. Actually most presidents don't come from rich families...Clinton, Carter,

Ford, Nixon, LBJ, Truman and probably many more all from humble beginings.

[Enrique]

46. that usually matters to me, but not with Obama

I have come to see him as a very different kind of politician, and I see him as transcending those kind of categories. Not meaning to hype things too much, but that's how I see it.

[rvablue]

49. Barack Obama is A LOT WEALTHIER than the Clinton was when he was elected!

They didn't own a house and they didn't have millions in the bank when they went to the White House.

So, sorry, he's not the least wealthiest in a long time.