Real welfare bums.

• Position: Costs of welfare reform - Editorial

Democrats and Republicans are holding a contest to see who can abolish welfare first.

President Clinton ran on the promise to "end welfare as we know it." Now, as the next election nears, the Republicans are goading him that he hasn't made good. After stirring up voter resentment around this issue, politicians of both parties want to claim the credit for "getting tough" on the poor.

Never mind what this means for the poor themselves. The debate over welfare reform has taken on a surreal quality--it has everything to do with the political fortunes of the candidates in the next election, and nothing to do with genuine public policy or real people's lives.

In real life, there aren't enough well-paying jobs around to allow single parents to raise their children and cover day-care costs. Getting people off welfare, without causing enormous suffering, would require a serious job-creation program, as well as training and day care, all of which are more expensive than handing out cash grants.

Such an expensive program runs counter to the popular message voters hear from politicians: "You shouldn't have to pay for these lazy welfare bums."

Thus, in Michigan, Governor John Engler is embarrassed to find himself the object of liberal admiration for coming up with a plan to get people off welfare that, in theory at least, could actually work.

The Michigan plan doesn't include time limits, or any cap on grants to women who have more than one child. Engler himself concedes he has no idea how much it will cost. But several aspects are bound to be very expensive: Engler is promising 7,000 welfare recipients in six areas of Michigan whatever services they need to hold a job--either in private industry or state-funded community service.

This has displeased some of Republican governor's former allies. James Talent, Republican of Missouri, told Jason DeParle of The New York Times: "If you're going to say everyone is going to work, like John is saying, it's going to be very expensive."

Sure...