Rev. Jackson: No debate about the poor

"The Rev. Jesse Jackson" expressed disappointment Wednesday that the presidential and vice presidential debates have so far ignored several key problems - including poverty and gun violence - facing the country.
“[In] each of three debates, [the candidates] spent an enormous amount of time arguing about reconciling 5 trillion dollars, a number so vast it’s incomprehensible,” he said in an interview with POLITICO. “They’re arguing about the 5 trillion dollars and the tax plan but not about the impact of foreclosed housing driving the middle class into poverty.”



He argued that the moderators missed the opportunity to discuss issues like controlling semi-automatic weapons and poverty in places where those subjects are especially relevant.
“With their questions, if you have a debate in Denver, how can you miss semi-automatic weapons in Aurora, which is [near] Denver and Columbine?” Jackson said, a reference to shootings that occurred in both places. “How can you have a debate in Kentucky and don’t mention poverty?”
Jackson, the influential civil rights leader and activist, said that the poorest county in America is in Kentucky, the state that hosted the vice presidential debate.
“Not one moderator has raised the issue of poverty or the issue of low credit scores,” he said. “Fifty million people are in poverty. Another 50 million are ‘unbankable’ — they have a credit score so low they can’t borrow money for the bank…they go to the worst schools, have the fewest life options…yet from that group comes our soldiers. That’s where the 47 percent resides.”
Jackson, who said “poverty, disparities, violence and public education” are among the most critical of the day, also expressed frustration with the scarce attention that “voter suppression” has received at the debates.
“The most glaring omission from the discussion is, you can conceivably win the debate and lose the election because of the impact of voter suppression and roll purging,” he said. “The right to vote…preserves all the rights in our democracy. Those rights are under attack. . .[There’s] an attempt to disrupt the democracy through voter suppression.”
Still, Jackson had high praise for Obama’s performance in Tuesday’s presidential debate, and said the president had a strong record on which to run.
“Barack was alive and vibrant and he punched and counterpunched,” Jackson said. “At the end, he pulled a knock-out.”Meanwhile, Jackson said that his son, Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill.), who is taking a medical leave of absence and is also reportedly under criminal investigation , is “still recovering and under medical supervision,” the reverend said.