Rank has its privileges…

…so I understand why the New York Times would make room for the Big Dog to bark about the 'success' of a program that has, by his own figures, left 2.8 million mothers off the welfare rolls and out of work.

Kudos to them, though, for correcting the record...

...since 2000, employment rates for single mothers have fallen and child poverty has increased. Caseloads have continued to fall, indicating that welfare is reaching fewer children at a time of rising need...

Robert Reich, the best member of the Clinton administration, then and now, has more, and nails my main issue with the Clinton 'reforms'...

I'm baffled by the way the press has covered the tenth anniversary (this week) of Bill Clinton's welfare reform -- full of praise for a policy that has led to more poverty in America among single mothers and their children than before. I keep reading that welfare reform succeeded because welfare rolls were reduced. Of course they were reduced. People were kicked off welfare. How could they not be reduced?

It's certainly true that if your primary measure of success is the size of the welfare rolls, welfare was 'reformed.' If you have any concern whatsoever, though, for the fate of the families affected. It was a crashing failure.

I worked in human services during the run up to and the first few years of the transition from AFDC to the current system. The system isn't the only thing that changed. So did we, in the face of an increasing demand for services. We extended our food bank hours to accommodate people working at the new jobs that didn't quite provide for both rent and groceries. We kept the soup kitchen stocked with options for kids when school was out and free lunch was their primary daily nutrition. I watched housing assistance at our and every agency evaporate mid-month, every month, creating a steady inventory of families living in their cars, almost invariably including a working adult unable to save two months rent and deposits on eight or ten bucks an hour. But they weren't on the welfare rolls. They could camp in their Chevy with pride.

It's gotten worse since.

Bill likes the numbers. Me, I prefer the people.