Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

You could file this under the heading, "Things that Annoy Me". As you know, I really don't talk about politics on this blog, so forgive me for making an exception today. And really I am not discussing the candidates' political views, but moreso a fact that I believe reflects on the nature of their characters.

I was blog hopping the other day and came across a blog which asserted that Barack Obama has given less than 1% of his income to charity. Huh? Are you kidding me? This man who has put himself forward as a 'man of the people', fighting for the working poor, doesn't give even the national average to charity (7.47%, for the record through 2004, among taxpayers who itemize their deductions, like Mr. Obama)?

I thought, well, this is probably some propaganda being put forth about Obama, more election nastiness. But I googled it, and lo and behold, Obama's own stomping ground paper, The Chicago Tribune, wrote a two page story on it on Sep. 12th! According to this story, the national average of giving per household is 2.2%, which includes even those households which fall below the poverty line. Yet when Mr. Obama first ran for the Senate in 2002, they gave away only 0.4% of their income, even though their adjusted household income of $259,394 put them in the top bracket of earners. Wow. And then, after Obama signed his book deals, their household income went up substantially. Their 2006 income was $983,626, of which they donated $60,307 (6.13%). In 2005, their income was even higher, $1.65 million of which they donated $77,300 (4.68%). (Want to double-check the figures? Check out their tax returns on Obama's website here.) I suppose it should be comforting to think that they are trending in the right direction, but PEOPLE(!), shouldn't they have ALREADY been charitable, being so much better off than the many folks he worked with daily?? And they have yet to meet the national average for taxpayers in their income bracket (>$200,000), which is 7.35% (see Chart 2 here).

Ok, I thought, let's be fair. Let's look at McCain's charitable giving and see where he is at. Here the waters get more muddied, as McCain files separately from his wife, Cindy. It seems that last year he gave more than 25% of his income to charity (ref). However, most of that was to his own foundation, which donated heavily to schools his children formerly attended, as well as charities such as the Halo Trust (landmine removal) and Operation Smile (craniofacial surgeries for children). Hmmm. It seems a bit smarmy, maybe, to donate to schools that your kids attend or used to attend, but on the other hand is it any less smarmy when parents do the same things for their kids' schools? Haven't we all read about the wealthy school districts with the kitted-out schools because the mommies and daddies with six figure salaries ensure that every kiddo has a laptop, while the ghetto schools struggle for grant money for computers, and work to keep old desktops functional in a central computer lab? Heck I would know more than most about that, as my mom is a grant administrator and computer lab superintendent (and sometime vice-prinicipal) at a high school in one of the ghetto-iest districts in SoCal. So I guess I get supporting your kids' schools, even if it is more than most of us can afford. The real question is how much Cindy gives to charity, but I respect her right not to have her personal finances pawed over by the public too, since she is not running for office. It sure would be nice to get a straight answer about her charitable giving, though.

Well, there you have it. An insight into the personal character of Mr. Obama and Mr. McCain. I am not going to lie and say I am impressed by Mr. McCain's egregious giving, since his wife is an heiress who is worth millions. However, I will give him credit for not being greedy and for giving away a substantial portion of his income. Frankly, it's the minimum I would expect from a couple who is extraordinarily wealthy. I am disappointed in the Obamas' charitable giving. Dude, WE give more to charity as a proportion of our income than the Obamas, and we are not even where I would like to be! I feel that we are skinflinty and poor managers of our resources, and I am earnestly seeking God's help with being a better steward of my resources. Frankly it is appalling how wealthy we ALL are, compared to the rest of the world. It was one of the things that called me to name by blog, "Lulled by Luxury", because we are truly spoiled in this country and we don't even realize it. I guess I have determined that personal charity is one of my immutable benchmarks, a most desirable character trait...and especially in a president of this country. I guess it's pretty clear who won't be getting my vote!

P.S. I would like to make it clear that I am a registered Independent voter. The Republican Party, having completely abandoned any sense of fiscal responsibility a decade ago, lost my affiliation before I was even eligible to vote. I have voted for Democratic and Republican contenders for public office, based on my evaluation of their suitability to represent my views.