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A Postcard From Small-Town Pennsylvania

Posted by SHAUN MULLEN, TMV Columnist in Economy.
Apr 14th, 2008 | Comments

Geez! I don’t blog for a day or so and all hell breaks loose out on the old campaign tail.

Many commentators have weighed in on Barack Obama’s “bitter” remarks, and as someone who has worked in, traveled through and is blogging this week from one of the most depressed areas of small town Pennsylvania with among the nation’s highest foreclosure, bankruptcy and unemployment rates, all I can say is:

Right on, brother.

Hillary Clinton, of course, takes voters for fools who will be so superficial as to relate to the hurt in what Obama said but ignore the larger truth. I happen to think that these folks are well outnumbered by voters who understand what Obama meant and that once again his candor and Clinton’s superciliousness will work for him and against her.

* * * * *

Look, I have a cool job, a wonderful woman, the love of my family, excellent health care benefits, a 30-speed trail bike with a titanium frame, a rich cultural existence that includes the latest books and best in music, ballet, opera and theater, and I yelled “Free Tibet!” when the local Chinese cultural association trooped by the other day in a parade celebrating the 250th anniversary of my own small town. (One guy gave me the finger in return.) I suppose all that makes me “elitist” as Clinton accuses Obama of being — and I too can’t bowl a lick.

But even I’m bitter.

I’m among the 80-plus percent of Americans who tell pollsters that the U.S. is going to hell in a hand basket, the majority who long ago broke faith with The Decider over the Mess in Mesopotamia (didja known that another 19 of our brothers were killed last week?) and one of the Haves who look at middle-class acquaintances with deep concern who are quickly becoming Have Nots as they fall further into debt and wonder how the hell they’re going to be able to keep their Uncle Leo in a managed care facility let alone send their kids to college.

Just as Bush-Rove have, Hillary and Bill Clinton want to drive us apart; as tone-deaf as the clingy aspects of Obama’s remarks were, he wants to bring us together.

Not a tough choice for many people and I believe many Pennsylvanians. That is why the results of my own informal poll show that there continues to be movement away from Clinton and toward Obama with eight days to go before the primary hereabouts and that the “bitter” flap has been less a bump in the road for Obama that a defining moment of a Clinton campaign in its own bitter final throes.

Photograph of abandoned Bethlehem steel mill by Tony Karp

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Marlowecan

Shaun has gotten the talking points memo from the Obama campaign. Focus on the "bitter" comment...at all costs, avoid any reference to "cling(ing) to guns and religion".

This has ramifications far beyond the primary. Democrats are more urban and less religious than the population as a whole.

Is the "large truth" the fact that small-town Americans
"cling to guns or religion, or antipathy to people who aren't like them"

Those are Obama's exact words. The words the Obama campaign has instructed its surrogates not to talk about at all costs.

That suggests, contra Shaun, that the Obama campaign knows EXACTLY how devastating those words might be in the long term.

From ABC News:

" But Obama allies are trying to focus on the "bitter" part alone....No mention of the "cling"-ing to guns or religion. Likewise, when Obama's most valued surrogate in the Keystone State, Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., took to CNN this morning, he steered clear of explaining the guns and religion part of Obama's comments, even when pressed specifically to explain it."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/

elrod

That's not true marlow. He spoke directly to the "clinging to guns and religion" aspect at the Compassion Forum last night. He's not avoiding that part of his comments at all, though he is certainly making more hay out of the bitterness remarks because Clinton was stupid enough to hand out "I'm not bitter" stickers. Clinton turned lemonade into lemons and Obama turned it back into Jack Daniels lemonade.

IAMALEX2

Bitter? Of course we're bitter!! Obama only said what most Americans are thinking and saying to one another. We have the right to be bitter...

Our President has put us in a war that has no justifiable reason to be in, a costly state to stay in, and no foreseeable end in sight.

Millions of Americans are having their homes foreclosed and their vehicles repossessed...while gas and the cost of living keep going up! Has anyone thought of passing a bill to limit the cost of fuel, or maybe reduce the taxes put on a gallon of gas from the feds, states, and counties in which is sold? How about not only investigating the mortgage companies but also investigate the oil companies too!

Bitter? Millions of Americans can't even afford healthcare and those that do have it, treat it like auto insurance and are too afraid to use it in fear their rates will go up or their policy will be dropped...

Our Public Schools seem to be out of control..not teaching real world studies like how to file a tax return or the credit system (like they are never going to need to know that) but instead forcing parents in to having their kids learn Spanish....the only thing we seem to be getting out of the schools these days is late breaking news on another shooting rampage at our local high school or college....now we get a bunch of teens who are beating each other to get on YouTube!!

Bitter?! No we are PISSED OFF and we're all just praying the next President won't be as out of touch and so willing to sell our Country down the river as the current one has.....

By the way, Has anyone seen the NEW $5 Five dollar bill?...on the front it says "In God we trust" and on the back it says "Good for one gallon of gas"

JillyDybka

Support for religion, the 2nd amendment of the US Constitution, and community doesn't equal "bitterness" in my mind, so I found Obama's words offensive.

(I'm a Buddhist, grew up in the rust belt during the last recession, and am getting very sick of politicians trying to polarize, polarize, polarize.)

Marlowecan

Elrod said: "That's not true marlow. He spoke directly to the "clinging to guns and religion" aspect at the Compassion Forum last night. He's not avoiding that part of his comments at all..."

Obama knew he had to address the god issue...it was a forum on religion, after all.

The key point: Obama tried to shift the tone of his words.

Instead of "clinging" -- and there is no way that is not a negative, pathetic sounding word -- Obama makes it appear that they are resolutely relying on their faith.

These are Obama's words at the Compassion Forum.

“When economic hardship hits, they have faith, they have family, they have traditions that have been passed on from generation to generation. Those are not bad things. Those are the things that are left.”

These are fine sounding, noble words . . . BUT they are NOT the words he used in San Francisco.

"Clinging" is synonymous with weakness.

As for the guns comment, Obama has referenced it indirectly only in attacking HRC's comments.

Elrod...in the span of two sentences in San Fran...Obama linked "clinging" "god" "gun" and "racism" with small-town America. There is no way that is good.

If you think HRC is hard on him...the GOP will absolutely hammer him on these points in the Fall.

ChrisWWW

Marlowe,
What in the world does any of this have to do with any issues that matter to anyone anywhere? Please explain.

carperry

Cool job, wonderful woman, multi-speed bike. This guy sounds like one of my kids and just as out of touch with the grit of that majority of Keystone Staters without "cool jobs." I read a similar blog recently. My recollection was that it's author admired Obama because he looked so cool wearing a suit without a tie, his stage was crowded with stars and his wife was as stylish as Jackie. That picture of Bethlehem's former works. If you take another look at that valley you will see the new casino the proceeds of which will help care for the Uncle Leo our author references. It is not, you see, nephews and nieces that pay for his care. They have no legal responsibility. I am old enough to have spent considerable time with friends and relatives in managed care. The excellent physical facilities I am familiar with are staffed with caring people. The money to operate, in a majority of cases, comes from the state. The idea that we should simply 'cut and run' from our responsibilities in Iraq is to ridiculous for comment. In closing, I also have a multi-speed bike, did my PhD work at Lehigh (in Bethlehem) and served in the military. Possibly most weighty of all my comments, I grew up in a Pennsylvania town with a one screen movie, without a traffic light and where my family, both sides, had lived since the 1830s.

shaun

carperry:

You must have missed class the day they were teaching at Lehigh that state-sanctioned slots parlors run by people with organized crime ties will not help Uncle Leo in the long-run, only enable a few folks to get rich in the short run.

I am blogging two counties over from Bethlehem where the slots boomlet already is fading.

I am glad your world is so perfectly wonderful and apparently without even a trace of bitterness.

Pyronite

81% of Americans believe that their country is headed in the wrong direction. Cynicism towards the political realm and of the government is high. "It's not going to change anything anyway" is a familiar refrain. What's the opposite of Congress? Progress.

I'm not sure how you can say Americans aren't bitter. They have every reason to be bitter. What's really at issue is a certain kind of political correctness that won't allow commentators to acknowledge the word "bitter."

Bitter
bit·ter
Pronunciation:
\ˈbi-tər\
Function:
adjective
3: Cynical and resentful

Slamfu

"in the span of two sentences in San Fran...Obama linked "clinging" "god" "gun" and "racism" with small-town America. There is no way that is good."

But neither is it untrue. Thats what makes Obama so different as a leader. He will bring up and address topics that other politicians won't touch with a ten foot pole. In my opinion topics that need to be addressed and looked that otherwise society is content so pretend aren't there.

PWT

Shaun, of course you're bitter, you're a democrat. You were bitter in the 70s, you were bitter in the 80s, the 90s and now. You will die a bitter man because you are unable to focus on what truly matters. You 'have' so much, but you enjoy it so little, of course you're bitter.

Davebo

Geez PWT, was there a point in that attack?

Or is this just a case of one of the dead enders needing to say something, but not able to put your thoughts into words?

runasim

Marloweccan said: "Clinging" is synonymous with weakness"

Yes, and weakness accurately describes the condition of small town America.
Is telling the truth forbidden, a moral failing?
Is it better for politicians to accent faith in order to distract from the bitter (yes, bitter)realities of very hard lives?

You are right in saying the GOP will hammer him with this,
The question for you and me is, then: should a candidate pander to his enemies in order to win, or should he speak the truth?

The GOP has been successful at co-opting the English language and to reduce it to a code for attack.
It's high time someone stood up to them, and spoke truth instead.
Let's see if the public has been so brainwashed that they no longer see the truth behind the code. I think people are more intelligent than they are given credit for,.
but it takes leasership to educate them as to what is really going on.

If Obama loses over, this, it will signal the triumph of spin over truth.
In that case, there will be no meaning at all to politics, debate or struggling to right the wobbling ship that is America.

PWT

Yes, Davebo, there was a point. My point is that Shaun Mullen is a bitter man despite all that he has. Further, small town Americans are not bitter despite all that they may not have. Shaun, like Mr. and Mrs. Obama, has incorrectly projected his bitterness onto others.

ChrisWWW

My point is that Shaun Mullen is a bitter man despite all that he has. Further, small town Americans are not bitter despite all that they may not have. Shaun, like Mr. and Mrs. Obama, has incorrectly projected his bitterness onto others.

Oh. There was a point amidst the attack. Now, we wait for proof to back up his claim that there aren't bitter small town Americans.

runasim

PWT 's coment comtained the followintg: " ... incorrectly projected his bitterness onto others"

I don't know about people living in ivory towers, but bitterness is rampant, and not just in small towns.
How else would you describe the resentment caused when parents realize their children's lives will be more difficult than their own? How else would you describe the disappointment when upward mobility is blocked by prohibitive costs of higher education? The simply non-rich are joining the poor in shared feelings of fear, resentment, and, yes bitterness.

Talk about elitism!

PWT

Or, ChrissWWW, you could show us some surveys demonstrating that small town Americans are bitter.

By the way, I did not 'attack' Mr. Mullen. I stated that he was bitter. He, himself wrote that he believed that America was going to hell in a hand-basket - I consider that to be the statement of a bitter individual. So, calling a spade a spade is not an attack. Lets say I call you a cock-sucker. You scream that you've been attacked, yet another man's penis is in your mouth. Am I attacking you or am I stating a fact?

ChrisWWW

PWT,
You didn't just say he was bitter (which he himself acknowledged). You said he was bitter because he was a Democrat. You said he was bitter because he is unable to focus on what "truly matters." Those are two statements that appear to be attacks, given their tone and lack of a factual basis or logic.

As for whether or not people are bitter, I think it's fair to assume they are given the polls that show almost half of Americans think they are worse off than 4 years ago, 2/3rds think the country is moving in the wrong direction, 2/3rds aren't confident their children will have a better life than them, almost 1/4 think it's impossible to start off poor and become rich, 1/4 are dissatisfied with their lives and so on.

PWT

ChrisWWW,

You sound bitter, you must be a democrat. Is that an attack or a fact?

DLS

Bitter + Angry [tm] = help needed

runasim

PWT,
Speaking of surveys and statistics, can you provide some that show Americans, in small towns and large cities are not disappointed, worried, scared,, resentful and bitter?

Is this going to be a 'prove there is no God' game?
This is too serious for games, btw.

Jim_Satterfield

In the mind of PWT bitterness and democrats are aligned because his brand of Republican is too delusional to recognize anything going wrong with their approach to things. So they can't be bitter because they don't know anything about the real world that people outside their circle see.

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