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Why Presidential Candidates Want You to Think They Grew Up Poor
Is the American dream a reward for hard work or an unfulfilled promise?
“Never in a million years did I think I would stand on a stage like this,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in her closing remarks at the first Democratic debate for the 2020 presidential election. “I had a dream growing up. And my dream was to be a public school teacher. By the time I graduated from high school, my family — my family didn’t have the money for a college application, much less a chance for me to go to college.”
Warren wasn’t the only candidate to assure the debate audience she knows what it’s like to be poor.
“And I’ll tell you this: I live in a low-income black and brown community.” — Sen. Cory Booker
“I am the one that doesn’t have a political machine, that doesn’t come from money.” — Sen. Amy Klobuchar
“And I know what it’s like to struggle. I know what it’s like to rent a home and to worry about whether you’re going to be able to pay the rent at the first of the month.” — former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro
Like Taylor Swift getting fro-yo on the cover of a grocery story checkout magazine, the message is clear: Candidates — They’re just like us.
