I’m with Ramesh (and Peggy). Just one small example: I remember talking to Rich in 1999-2000 about Bush’s mantra that the toughest job in the world is to be a single mother. It is a basic fact of politics that you don’t point to problems that you don’t intend to fix. Or, at least pointing to such problems gives people the impression you want to fix them. What is the public policy for making single-motherhood less difficult? I’m not sure, myself, but like some fancy French dishes, I may not know what they are but I can sure tell when they sound expensive. Bush talked relentlessly in this sort of code, about single-motherhood, education, etc. in 1999. People who didn’t pick up on it weren’t paying attention.

I should add: I don’t know that making single-motherhood less difficult is necessarily compassionate. The easer you make such things, i.e. the more you lower the price of single-motherhood, the more widespread it will become. You have to believe single-motherhood is a good or at least neutral thing to believe lowering its price is a smart idea. But that’s a conversation for another day.