Weekly Grades for the Administration on Poverty: B+
I was extremely sick over the last three days, so I did not get to post the weekly grades on Sunday. The first semester grades are coming out at the end of the month, and I did not want to miss a week. There were a few things that happened with regard to the fight against poverty, but they were all minor issues. The big reason for the B+ was the dismissal of Philip Mangano from the InterAgency Council on Homelessness, and the subsequent appointment of an acting director who seems to have a better understanding of homelessness in America. Sometimes, the appointment of one person can make all the difference. The Supreme Court is the most obvious example. Imagine how different the United States would be without Justices Burger, Brennan, and Brandeis. But there are other critical appointments such as Secretaries of State like Jennings-Bryant and Marshall or Adlai Stevenson as Ambassador to the United Nations during the Kennedy Administration. The converse of this is also true in that when the wrong person is in a position of leadership no progress is made (James Watt at Interior, McNamara at Defense, etc.).
For poverty, Phil Mangano was just such an obstacle to any progress in the area of ending homelessness. It is a good day in America that he is leaving and that is why the administration gets a B+ for this week. The new acting director has a great deal of experience with veterans who have stumbled into homelessness. Peter Dougherty, the new acting director, is rumored to have figured out ways around the stiff HUD definition of homelessness when necessary to better serve veterans.
Brian
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