Fantasy Politics USA

Mitt Romney has attacked President Obama for his recent welfare reform that allows states to drop the work requirement as long as they move 20% of those from welfare to the workforce. Romney claims this drops any requirement for work, while President Obama says he is putting more people to work with his reforms. If read in a literal fashion Obama would be correct, but those on the right find it hard to believe his intentions. In 1996, a Republican Congress drafted a welfare-reform law, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), that for the first time established meaningful work standards for welfare recipients. President Clinton reluctantly signed this legislation. One of the easy ways for states to move people from the welfare to work status is through creative math. If you increase the people in the welfare program, then it becomes easier to get to the 20% necessary to drop the work requirements. Of course left leaning fact check and politifact agree with President Obama, but those on the right that have seen welfare and government programs grow at astronomical rates under Obama find it hard to believe he would do anything to put people back to work. Also these fact checkers are ignoring some of the new definitions of “work” being touted. The following activities could qualify as “work” under the new Obama rules; bed rest, personal care activities, massage, exercise, journaling, motivational reading, smoking cessation, weight loss promotion, participation in parent-teacher meetings, or helping friends or family with household tasks and errands. I would call these attack ads a wash since neither is going to convince the other side of anything with these arguments. The left thinks that Romney is a shrewd, not to be trusted, politician, while those on the right believe Obama is a socialist spreading the wealth around. These ads have no fantasy value.