The election of Barack Hussein Obama as U.S. president represents hope for the kind of transformational politics that can lead to a better, more secure world. It also suggests an end to the politics of divisiveness and a turn toward a political system more attuned to the needs of what both candidates persistently called "the middle class."
But, as Ralph Nader points out, that message doesn't take into account the much bigger needs of the poor in America. It is on success in confronting these needs that we will need to judge this new president.
In 2006, the poverty rate for minors in the United States was the highest in the industrialized world, with 30 percent of African-American minors living below the poverty threshold. Moreover, the standard of living for those in the bottom 10 percent was lower than most other developed nations. Approximately one in eight Americans (36.5 million people) were living below the poverty threshold in 2006, compared to 31.1 million in 2000, according to official figures.