Democratic And Republican Critics Blast Obama’s “Small-Town” Comments Calling It Presidential Disqualifier
If someone wanted to see how early 21st century American politics operates, they need look no further than the current (growing) flap over politically flat-footed comments Senator Barack Obama made giving his theory on why small town Pennsylvanians are bitter.
It follows a pattern of American politics — one Americans will see often in the coming months until Election Day. But it’s a pattern that requires a candidate unguarded enough to set the damaging reaction in motion. And Obama — in what will sure go down as an Amateur Hour moment — did just that.
Here’s how the pattern works:
(a) Candidate opens mouth and firmly inserts foot inside by making an over-simplistic comment about something he believes but can’t be verified or uses a stereotype that others can point to and use against him or her. He/she gives opponents an opening to expand on it and characterize it in the most damaging way.
(b) The controversy is jumped on by the news media and weblogs (many of which are allied with specific candidates) and starts to dominate the news — and political — cycle. News cycles are now nearly instantaneous and in a continuous loop….the news report…the blog report…the reaction stories…the talk show feedback…the candidate’s supporting and opposing blog reaction posts (which usually say what you’d expect them to say on a given issue). And it continues on until the story (or candidate) fades away and a new one appears.
(c) Said candidate takes foot out of mouth and responds but, if he/she doesn’t give in totally to politically-motivated critics’ demands to apologize or retract it the way they insist it be done (to inflict maximum damage on said candidate), it will continue to be used against them until the media gets bored or it shows it’s not registering in the polls.
Senator Barack Obama, in comments that were indeed unverifiable, indicative of stereotypical thinking and a virtual Christmas/Hanukkah/Birthday/Wedding Show/Door Prize gift to Senator Hillary Clinton, presumptive GOP nominee John McCain, politically-aligned bloggers and talk show hosts, gave his opponents an opening that they will and are going to use against him. It came in comments he made about small town Pennsylvania that were reported in The Huffington Post that handed foes political attack material on a silver platter:
You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you’ll find is, is that people of every background — there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you’ll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I’d be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you’re doing what you’re doing.
The reaction? A firestorm. Clinton suggested this means Obama doesn’t want to work for Pennsylvanians and looks down his snoot at them. (A key Clinton support in introducing Bill Clinton in North Carolina is already using the issue there.) John McCain’s camp said it couldn’t believe a candidate for President could say such a thing. One Internet columnist called Obama anti-American. John Hinderaker of the big Republican blog Powerline asked if Obama’s campaign was over and answered his own question:
I don’t see how anyone known to have uttered these words can be elected President….Barack Obama’s arrogance has been evident for some time, and it’s no shock, perhaps, to learn that that he shares this bigoted opinion, common among urban liberals, of people who live in “small towns.” But to actually express it, in public, at a campaign event, is stunningly stupid. Nevertheless, Obama did it.
And, indeed, Obama’s comments have given his critics an opening — just what the doctor ordered for the recently-on-the-defensive (over strategist Mark Penn’s ouster and Bill Clinton’s decision to revive the Bosnia issue) Hillary Clinton campaign and another strand the GOP can use to paint Obama as a liberal elitist.
In Pennsylvania on Friday afternoon, Mrs. Clinton was first to seize upon the comment Mr. Obama made at the California fundraiser. Both Democrats are embroiled in a vigorous battle for the Pennsylvania primary on April 22.
“It’s being reported that my opponent said that the people of Pennsylvania who faced hard times are bitter. Well, that’s not my experience,” Mrs. Clinton told an audience at Drexel University. “Pennsylvanians don’t need a president who looks down on them, they need a president who stands up for them, who fights for them, who works hard for your futures, your jobs, your families.”
After making her remarks before a crowd of voters, aides to Mrs. Clinton issued several statements criticizing Mr. Obama, including ones that contained criticism from Republicans. Soon, the McCain campaign also weighed in with criticism of Mr. Obama’s remarks from the California fundraiser.
“It shows an elitism and condescension towards hardworking Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking,” said Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to Mr. McCain. “It is hard to imagine someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans.
Obama has been working to improve appeal to working class voters — and the latest comment won’t help. So he soon made a speech replying to critics:
“Here’s what’s rich. Sen. Clinton says, I don’t think people are bitter in Pennsylvania. I think Barack’s being condescending. John McCain says, he’s obviously out of touch with people. Out of touch? John McCain, it took him three tries to figure out the home foreclosure crisis was a problem and to come up with a plan for it, and he’s saying I’m out of touch? Sen. Clinton voted for a credit card sponsored bankruptcy bill that made it harder for people to get out of debt, after taking money from the financial services companies, and she says I’m out of touch?:
The crowd listened silently when Obama started his explanation, but now people were on their feet, stomping and clapping.
“No, I’m in touch. I know exactly what’s going on. I know what’s going on in Pennsylvania, I know what’s going in Indiana, I know what’s going in Illinois. People are fed up. They’re angry and they’re frustrated and they’re bitter, and they want to see a change in Washington, and that’s why I’m running for president of the United States of America.”
The Clinton campaign jumped on Obama’s explanation, blast e-mailing it out to reporters.
“Instead of apologizing for offending small town America, Senator Obama chose to repeat and embrace the comments he made earlier this week,” said Clinton spokesman Phil Singer. “It’s unfortunate that Senator Obama didn’t say he was sorry for what he said. Americans are tired of a President who looks down on them — they want a President who will stand up for them for a change. The Americans who live in small towns are optimistic, hardworking and resilient. They deserve a president who will respect them.”
Meanwhile, The New York Times reports that Clinton plans to hit Obama in Pennsylvania today on his small town comments.
Can it derail the Obama campaign?
Most assuredly it will likely break Obama’s growing momentum in Pennsylvania and will completely obscure the recent Bill Clinton Bosnia debacle.
Also: his comments were specifically about small towns and Clinton would be almost politically negligent if she didn’t raise them in small towns in Pennsylvania. On the other hand, the way Clinton is characterizing them — suggesting Obama looks down on all people in small towns and really doesn’t want to help them — may not pass an accuracy test (but will pass a political test).
The New Republic’s Isaac Chotiner, writing on the magazine’s The Plank blog under a headline Obama’s None-Too-Bright Remarks says this:
A predictable but basically understandable firestorm has begun over Barack Obama’s comments on the “bitterness” of Pennsylvanians…
He looks at Obama’s later comments in trying to respond to the furor and adds:
The second statement at least has the virtue of being semi-coherent; Obama is making Thomas Frank’s ‘What’s the Matter With Kansas’ argument, while at the same time playing defense against his rivals. But go back and read the original comment. It ain’t pretty.
Then Chotiner writes:
I suppose the Obama folks are lucky that this is breaking on a Friday night–and going after McCain is probably the smartest thing they can do–but this is not the story he needs ten days before Pennsylvania.
So the lingering questions are:
–Will this do-in Obama in Pennsylvania, un-tightening what appeared to be a tightening race? Will Clinton now win by the whopping margins showed in polls a few months ago? Or is Obama’s on-the-round organizing still enough to keep it a close horse race?
–Will this start a new cycle of Obama on the defensive? Cable and radio talk shows will have a field day expanding on this theme and running Obama’s comments starting on Monday.
–Can Obama’s camp now rebound from what is clearly a big political error. Just as Clinton’s campaign has showed signs of being poorly run, what does this say about what advisers are telling — or not — telling Barack Obama? And if they are giving him advice is he listening?
Once again in a Democratic party primary twist-and-turn…McCain must be smiling. Because this is yet another sign that this bitter campaign will be fought tooth and nail and could go all the way to the convention.
For tons of blog reaction GO HERE.
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40 Responses to “Democratic And Republican Critics Blast Obama’s “Small-Town” Comments Calling It Presidential Disqualifier”
[...] Gandelman ponders the political impact of Barack Obama’s bitterness statement: Can it derail the Obama [...]
[...] Democratic And Republican Critics Say Blast Obama’s… Clinton voted for a credit card sponsored bankruptcy bill that made it harder for people to get out of debt, after taking money from the… [...]
Obama's comments were neither flat-footed or amatuerish. They were honest and inelegant.
This is postively one of the most disgusting reactions I've seen to a presidential candidates words. Throughout the blogosphere, Senator Obama is being called elitist, bigoted, arrogant, Marxist, racist, out-of-touch, etc based on his statements. People are saying this disqualifies him from the presidency!! WHAT THE F@#$!!!
And Senator Clinton, don't you know that Republicans will use your criticism of Senator Obama's “small town” comments against you. They'll say your a multi-millionaire pretending to care while you roll in the money with all of your “activities”?
Screw this presidential election and it's coverage (no disrepect to fellow TMV co-bloggers).
I couldn't agree more with Tyrone on this matter. The man speaks honestly and he's lambasted. Ridiculous.
t-steel,
Has one of the problems with black politicians been that they get used to the idea that words spoken in front of certain groups (like all black churches, the NAACP, at HBCU, are always considered off the record.
Now that Senator Obama is the presumptive Democratic nominee, there will be no more of- the- record comments.
What most people realize is that the off-the-record comments are better at showing what a person really believes that the prepared, focus group tests, vague stump speech. Does Obama really believe that most people are stupid and they need the government to make decisions for them?
I've “Stuck to my guns' all my life. It's a old expression meaning “Hang in there.” I'll continue to “Stick (cling) to my guns” against John McCain's eligibility to run for president in violation of the 14th Amendment.
They can “Cling to their guns.”
White Collar, Politicians, and News prevaricators don't see the Charm of Blue collar Language.
superdestroyer,
IMO, many of those words the black politicians say in front of black churches, the NAACP, and HBCUs are flat-out pandering. Senator Obama's “small town” comments wasn't pandering. It was REAL.
Senator Obama believes that small town America is bitter because of the Washington's uncaring policy toward them. What's wrong with that? And let me tell you something; I'm a registered gun owner. I live in a small city. And I come from a tradition of proud gun owners. That gun is more than a weapon. It represents a PURE freedom and the ability to take care of one's self. And in tough times, I've clinged to that gun as that symbol. And I bet you many small town Americans look at their gun(s) the same damn way.
Senator Obama spoke about the souls of some Americans. Not that he can save them. But that he understands where they are coming from. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT???
Here we go again. An Obama supporter trying to blame Sen. Clinton for Obama's bone head remark. Obama is telling the truth about what he believes: “typical white person” stereo types about small town folks he cannot understand and does not want to understand.
The irony is not lost on this small town rural Pennsylvanian.
Here's a Senator who embraced bitter anti-American, bitter anti-white rhetoric for 20 years, with a bitter wife has never been proud of this country until recently, traveling to California where the Olympic torch must be guarded from bitter rioters and the US Marines face bitter demonstrators in the bitterly angry city of Berkeley. And he chooses the venue of the Grapes of Wrath to surreptitiously (he thought) bash us backwoods bumpkins (he obviously thinks) about how our (alleged) bitterness has turned us to God and guns.
I suppose I won't be able to use the one about the pot and the kettle without someone calling me a racist, so how about the one Christ told about removing the beam from his eye before poking around for the mote in the eyes of rural Pennsylvanians?
BFD, so he's lost the bitter voter vote.
Those people are mostly right-wingnut Republicans anyway.
Republicans are extremely emotionally disturbed, vindictive, hateful, ugly, mean, vile, and angry people.
Their souls are being consumed by some unknown gangrenous-like infection.
It is possible now, to feel a sort of pity for Republicans because that thing feeding on their souls must be the source of horrific and unimaginable internal pain.
One is left to wonder what kind of monster Republicans see staring back at them from the mirror?
Obama didn't say anything condescending. His original remarks are saying that people turn to wedge issues because they've been abandoned and wedge issues play on the frustrations they hold.
Gah! So condescending. To the people who think this is a disqualifier, go ask 70 percent of this country if they think their government has spent the last quarter century keeping its promises to them.
What Obama describes is exactly what has happened in “downstate” Illinois. I had to move away 25 years ago because there was no economic future–there was an economic rebound built on the weak foundation of increasing tourism via gambling during the 90's (problem with that is that someone has to be earning money somewhere to be able to afford to travel and gamble). In 2008, things are back to the bad old days. As I drove west from Chicago to visit my family, I see run-down towns with closed factories and boarded-up businesses with a few grocery stores, convenience stores, and dollar stores advertising that they accept “WIC, food stamps.” My brother is stuck in a small town commuting to a larger one for work. he can't sell his house because no one can afford to buy a house. His neighbors make their living on state aid or disability checks. Meth is a serious problem; my niece and nephew have many schoolmates with parents in prison on drug-related charges. The state has tried to respond by opening a prison in the area to provide jobs, but hasn't been able to afford to staff the new facility it built.
Hillary and McCain don't think those people are bitter? My brother and his family are desperate to get out. There is bitterness and despair in those towns in Illinois. Maybe Pennsylvanians in the same boat are optimistic, but many of the folks I know believe their only hope of getting ahead is winning the lottery or a slip and fall lawsuit.
For every reaction in politics, there's a reaction to the reaction. They're not always equal, as in physics, but while the media and blogs engage in furious rapid fire chin stroking, the public forms its own opinion, which goes unnoticed until repeated polling settles the issue. And the current OVER-REACTION by the media qualifies.
The fact is, people were screeching Obama's campaign was over during the Wright kerfluffle, and now they're screeching “STICK A FORK HEH INDEEDY” over the words, “small town, guns, religion, anti-immigration, anti-free trade?”
The backlash will be inevitable, some waves will be created but at the end of the day, Obama will be FINE, and Chris Matthews will be there, scratching his head, wondering where he and his fellow OUT-OF-TOUCH dingbats went wrong. The thing is, the American people have forgiven behavior much worse (right, President Clinton?) than this and will probably be more mystified at the shrill, gleeful crowing from everyone else rather than Obama's comments.
Two very wealthy politicians calling their less wealthy counterpart “out of touch” with Americans who've lost their jobs. Kinda funny.
[...] Joe Gandelman at The Moderate Voice: It follows a pattern of American politics — one Americans will see often in the coming months until election day. But it’s a pattern that requires a candidate unguarded enough to set the damaging reaction in motion. And Obama — in what will sure go down as an Amateur Hour moment — did just that. [...]
[...] Democratic And Republican Critics Blast Obama’s “Small-Town”… Clinton voted for a credit card sponsored bankruptcy bill that made it harder for people to get out of debt, after taking money from the… [...]
aetgon, if you read this blog regularly, I'm not the classic political candidate supporter. I'm a third party voter that respects Obama's historic run for the presidency (I'm black). And how in the heck am I bashing Senator Clinton with this comment:
And Senator Clinton, don't you know that Republicans will use your criticism of Senator Obama's “small town” comments against you. They'll say your a multi-millionaire pretending to care while you roll in the money with all of your “activities”?
Senator Clinton is a Wellesley College and Yale Law School graduate (both portrayed as elitist places). If you think the Republicans won't call her “out-of-touch” as well in the GE, you are hugely kidding yourself. IMO, Senator Clinton should have circled the Democratic wagons, defended/clarified Obama's comments, then built upon them with “hope and optimism”. She could have garnered more votes while keeping Obama at bay (using his “hope and optimism” ideas in her own way) and seem magnanimous. A win-win situation (showing Senator McCain a united Dem party).
Methinks a creepy poster above with four 7's is projecting his own inner demons onto Republicans.
And seriously, the pieces of the Obama puzzle are beginning to emerge. He is a classic urban elitist liberal who pandered to an SF crowd of ultra-left loonies like some of the posters above, and spoke his own inner truth—he is a affirmative-action entitlement bigot against all the “little people” in “fly-over country” the the two left coasts abhor, because the “little people” people have traditional values & respect the Second Amendment. The “little people” are grounded and as Tip O'Neill once said, “all politics is local.”
The rootless deracine lumpenproles among the posters above and populating the shiftless feckless clueless urban zones simply hate real people.
The rootless deracine lumpenproles among the posters above and populating the shiftless feckless clueless urban zones simply hate real people.
What??? All people are REAL people pal. And it's funny how a person is a “ultra-left loony” when you recognize a bitterness in some of the American electorate. So everyone's happy go-lucky right? Oh I forgot. If your not “happy go-lucky” or “the better patriot”, your a “Michelle Obama-ist”. This whole issue is reeks of BS.
[...] BrothersJudd Blog wrote an interesting post today on Democratic And Republican Critics Blast Obamaâ??s â??Small-Townâ??…Here’s a quick excerptChristmas/Hankuka/Birthday/Wedding Show/Door Prize gift to Senator Hillary Clinton, presumptive GOP nominee John McCain, politically-aligned… [...]
[...] BrothersJudd Blog wrote an interesting post today on Democratic And Republican Critics Blast Obamaâ??s â??Small-Townâ??…Here’s a quick excerptChristmas/Hankuka/Birthday/Wedding Show/Door Prize gift to Senator Hillary Clinton, presumptive GOP nominee John McCain, politically-aligned… [...]
“Does Obama really believe that most people are stupid and they need the government to make decisions for them?”
Wow. You really have to be an extremist to believe that anything close to this was said.
Bravo.
As for this whole controversy: it's political correctness gone mad. Obama is religious and anti-trade, by the way. I suppose that also makes him a self-hating liberal elitist.
Or maybe he just can't say the word “bitter.” What a joke — as if Americans AREN'T bitter with the political process in this country?
Again, the political correctness is astounding.
Hey daveinboca, speaking of projecting inner demons, reread your own comment.
I'm bitter at politics. Been that way for a long time. And it isn't going away soon. I don't know if Senators Clinton, McCain, or Obama can make me less bitter either. And I'm bitter at the micro-parsing of presidential candidates words all for “THE WIN”. Whatever.
Fine. Senator Obama is everything negative thing those have said about him. Just wait till your candidate says “something” and their words are micro-parsed for effect. Frankly, if all three candidates would go back to the Senate and we then pick candidates by a raffle, it would be fine with me. Just so that this silly season would end.
TO CLARIFY A BIT: Most of my post deals with how people are reacting to it. When i say flat-footed and amateurish it's it means this:
We all know (and most certainly politicians know)how politics operates in the United States these days. If you say certain things in a certain way, then you can almost guarnetee it will be picked up and used in a certain way.
Obama and Clinton are in a situation where they're involved in bitter contest where the followers and/or operatives of each side can sieze on an assertion that can be twisted around…and at the same time realize that the GOP is cataloguing it for use against them.
I don't feel this is a fatal blow to his campaign. But Clinton and Obama should know by now the way the existing political system, coupled with the mainstream media and the new media, work. They can be totally honest and say what they think but they need to be ready if they make an assertion that can be taken, used against them, broadened and exaggerated. quoted in print, run in campaign ads (if it is videoed or audioed)…with snippets taken out of context to show the worst part.
This is the REALITY of how our politics operates right now. Hopefully that wasn't lost when people read this post. A statement can be politically flatfooted and amateurish and still be honest and refreshing and in some cases true.
Neither Obama nor Clinton can afford to give their Democratic and Republican foes a box of ammunition to use against them. During this campaign both have had moments when they did. In both cases, it's a bit astonishing that they didn't realize how things could be picked up and used against them.
John McCain is now escaping all of this because the GOP primary is largely over.
One further note. The system and the way campaigns are conducted could change. But it ain't gonna change in this election cycle because this is the way politics is conducted: find an opening, rip it open some more, leap on it, and keep ripping and hitting on it until the candidate bleeds. The opening almost does't matter and the validity of the charge made against the candidate (do people REALLY think Obama doesn't care about people in small towns — most people making the charge probably don't but they have to say it because this is the way they advance their candidates' cause).
Think of American politics now as a combination ballet and bull fight.
Where the bull isn't just fought, but thrown.
I have lived and traveled all over thiscountry and continent. Obama simply reported to people an observation that stares anyone and everyone in the face who happens to be in the parts of fhis country and continent. California for years has been the cultural and otherwise-definitional capital of this nation, but this nation and continent are far from homogeneous and many places are nothing like it, or like Texas, or Florida, or DC, and are never going to be like it any time soon; they have been left behind for decades by progress. Obama simply reported this fact, perhaps surprising and disappointing to those who are ignorant or who don't want ever to hear bad news, particularly if they never have left their pleasant, modern surroundings on the West, in Phoenix, or Las Vegas, or the northeastern Yankee-yuppie enclaves in Charlotte, Atlanta (particularly Buckhead), or in various parts of Florida. Exactly what was really wrong with anything that Obama said?
Denise D. H. describes very well a large swathe of urban and post-modern rust-belt-city America.
What really drives me crazy is that controversies can arise because certain forbidden words were spiken.
I just heard a great speech by Mayor Bloomberg in NY, expressing frunstration that candidates avoid complex problems, sticking more to apple pie and mother love rhetoric.
He's absolutely right.
Republican “Family Values” makes for bitter humans.
What are Republican Family Values?
Apathy, Callousness, Greed, Self Serving Self Interest,
Narcissism, Inhumanity, Death, Looting, Plundering.
davemartin7777: Luckily, we don't have to choose a Republican; we can choose Hillary Clinton, instead.
[...] leads among blacks.http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/03/pennsylvania-primary-poll_n_94943.htmlDemocratic And Republican Critics Say Blast Obama??s ???Smalltown … – The Moderate VoiceBoth Democrats are embroiled in a vigorous battle for the pennsylvania primary on April 22. ???It??s [...]
[...] MyDD :: Direct Democracy for People-Powered Politics wrote an interesting post today on Democratic And Republican Critics Blast Obamaâ??s â??Small-Townâ??Here’s a quick excerptChristmas/Hanukkah/Birthday/Wedding Show/Door Prize gift to Senator Hillary Clinton, presumptive GOP nominee John McCain, politically-aligned… [...]
[...] Read the rest of this great post here [...]
There's certainly a lot behind the reaction…. I agree with Joe Gandelman that this is politics in America today. However I do not think this is a big political error for Obama (though I will admit that it can be- depending on how aggressive (or not) Obama is with his response). It is interesting to see how Hillary is spinning this by pointing out that it is her experience that people are optimistic…. (More on this spin in a bit.)
I also read Pete Abel's entry and a comment that pyronite posted under that. pyronite was right on, that this is the other type of “PC”, patriotic correctness, when citizens say something against the US they must therefore be un-American. Therefore we must not be “bitter” in order to be patriotic citizens.
Lastly (and it goes without saying, I think) that there is a lot of personal psychology caught up in the reaction to Obama's words.
——
First, back to Joe's statement that this is politics in America today (and then Hillary's spin.) I think this is THE PERFECT EXAMPLE of spin. I believe Obama was right-on with Americans (at least certain Americans) being bitter due to circumstances beyond their control and Washington being out of touch. I think this is the equivalent of Hillary and McCain “swiftboating” Obama on one of his strengths and Obama's ability to pick up on the mood of a large portion of the country that they (Hill and Mc) can not relate to.
Obama IMO is the most “in touch” of all three candidates. He didn't have money or family connections to support him in politics. He paid off his student loans with his books, which isn't in the distant past…. He started as a community organizer and his drive for politics is to bring much needed help to average Americans who are not the wealthy and politically well-connected.
Compare this to the Clintons (Bill was first elected as Arkansas gov. in 1978 and has spent the last 16 years under secret service protection… I doubt that Bill goes to grocery store to pick up bread and milk and chats with his neighbors about their problems- to be honest Obama probably doesn't do this either with his current secret service protection, but Bill is much further removed than Obama). And compared to McCain who apparently has eight houses and who believes the fix for Americans in dire economic straits is for those folks to take second jobs and stop going on vacations….
So I think Hillary and McCain both realize that Obama IS closer to the average American than Obama. H and M feel this is a big liability for them (Obama knows this too, which is why he brought it up).
Just like the Bushies successfully swiftboated Kerry on one of his greatest strengths (being a decorated war veteran) Hillary and McCain seek to turn this strength of Obama's against him. The Bushies swiftboating efforts were able to put enough doubt in voters minds that they couldn't trust Kerry, and they should vote to re-elect Bush (who was partying and getting drunk instead of fighting in that war). At least there are no 527 ads yet on this against Obama, though the campaign's language and intended effect are the same as the swiftboating ads by those 527s in 2004.
The reason I think this Obama flap is the perfect spin is simple. I feel the leaders of our country are looking out for their own interests and not the interests of the typical American. Bush inherited a budget surplus and lowered taxes on the wealthy. Growing up I was told, “if it ain't broke, don't fix it” which is exactly what Bush has done with the deficit, we were on track to pay down the debt. But Bush choose to “fix” it and it is now broken. Another simple truth I was taught was not to spend more than I earned. Unfortunately Bush decided to spend waaaaay more than the country brings in. Now the country is definitely broken- and Bush could care less. Bush also vowed to go after bin Laden until he was dead or alive in Afghanistan (and who vowed to attack us), but then Bush decided to go after Saddam, who was no threat to us. Bush has done all sorts of other things that make me mad. So yes, I'm bitter and I agree with Obama's statement that there are Americans who are bitter and want a change in Washington.
However Hillary is spinning this to her advantage and to feed on the same dynamic that Obama zeroed-in on. Hillary responded that the voters she met are optimistic. And though I'm certainly bitter in many aspects, I am also VERY optimistic that our problems can be fixed. Hillary is framing this to help her and hurt Obama (and that's politics), even though she is essentially agreeing with Obama. In other words Hillary (like Obama) recognizes that Americans are having problems but they are optimistic about the future. Just as Obama understands that people are bitter- and he's running for president to fix those problems (and the optimistic assumption is that he will fix those problems). That's why this is the perfect spin, Obama picked up on this first and framed it one way, but Hillary saw it as a huge weakness for her but she understands that if she attacks Obama's words and makes a couple changes, then she can also make this work for her. Obama is casting himself as a Washington outsider who is more in touch with Americans than the Clintons and McCain, who are most definitely part of the Washington elite.
That's why I don't believe this is a political blunder for Obama. But he has to continue to aggressively show that he is more in touch with the average American than either Hill or McCain, and Obama should compare his circumstances with those of McCain and Hillary. Clinton and McCain are hitting back hard to take away Obama's asset of being able to tap into this angst. If Obama backs down from this, then Hillary and McCain will have won. But Obama's read on the bitterness is right-on.
—-
As I mentioned earlier, pyronite also hit it right-on that there is a certain amount of that other “PC” going on here- the “patriotic correctness”. As I was reading all the comments I was struck by how many of the postings seemed to discount the fact that anyone could feel bitter in America. These “PC” people remind me of someone who has been diagnosed with cancer and because it's been caught early enough it's 100% curable. But because they feel fine and are optimistic they stick their heads in the sand and refuse to take the difficult steps in treatment, which would save them. The cancer goes untreated and the patient dies…. This country has serious problems which need to be addressed. As an American I feel the best thing I can do for my country is to point and and criticize the harmful policies (or suggest new policies) of this country. If I don't speak up for what's best then I'm allowing my country to decline.
Another way of looking at it is like a parent/child. If a parent sees their child about to pull a pot of boiling water off the stove onto themselves, that parent will speak up. Or if the toddler is running to the edge of the Grand Canyon, that parent will stop the child. So it is with patriotism. If we care about our country we need to speak up and let our representatives know. It is our right and responsibility to do this under the constitution. But many people feel that any criticism of our government is unpatriotic.
—–
As far as the personal psychology aspect….
Much of it dovetails with pyronite's observation- being “patriotically correct”. But I feel that part of that does have to do with some folks needing to retreat from a bad situation as a way of coping. So it strikes me that when someone finds Obama's comments “unbelievable” it might be an overreaction to cover-up deeper feelings which are painful. Consider it a denial.
Then there are those who simply flat-out disagree with Obama, and that's fine. Though I think any reasonable person who sees that our economy is heading into a recession, who understands that a lot of Americans are hurting economically, etc. can't discount Obama's comments simply because Obama's comments don't fit within their world. That's sort of like candidate Y saying that a lot of people have cancer and more should be done to combat cancer. But then I say that candidate Y is making outrageous statements- simply because I do not have cancer.
It is important to argue the issues, but it is either naive or self-centered or just plain ignorant to dismiss a candidate's statements just because those statements do not fit with your view/experience of the world. Certainly I may not have fighting cancer high on my list of priorities but that's no reason to withhold my vote for candidate Y.
Now if Obama had said that those people in PA were bitter and wanted to take up arms to overthrow the government, then that would be an unreasonable statement which doesn't mesh with what people are feeling. Then there should be an outcry against it.
Bottom line, Obama is reading a very real feeling in America and because he is most in touch with this, the other candidates feel threatened and are trying to take Obama's power away from him. Obama should do more to show he is in a better position to relate with voters and address their concerns than either Hillary or McCain. His statement isn't a political blunder, unless he allows Hillary and McCain to make it so.
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And yet, you believe that you and he are superior.
I am not a Republican. I have voted Democratic for more than 25 years. But if Barack Obama wants to understand why people aren't voting for him, Dave, he need only read your screed.
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Here is what Obama said in 2004
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oGF3cyHE7M