Sunday Morning Sermonette: Obama’s ‘bitterness’ speech
Oh Noes! Obama said something true again! He’ll never get elected now!
When “egghead” Adlai Stevenson was running for president, one of his supporters gushed; “Sir, every thinking person in America will be voting for you!“ Stevenson replied; “Thank you, maam, but it won’t be enough. We need a majority.“
There’s an urban legend that Dwight Eisenhower was shocked to learn that fully half of US school children are of below-average intelligence. He wanted immediate action to correct the situation.
So it’s suddenly a big deal if Barack Obama says;
“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,“ he said.
“And it’s not surprising, then, 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,“ he added.
FOX News about had a giant spontaneous newsgasm over that one. They spent the whole afternoon (and will probably spend the next several days) calling Obama an elitist. John ‘flip-flopper’ McCain said that Obama was “out of touch with average Americans.“ (Excuse me, isn’t ‘average’ pretty much an analogue of ‘typical’ as in “typical American?“ Just asking.)
And surely the funniest comment of the day was made by Hillary Clinton, who said voters did not “need a president who looks down on them.“ Sorry, I should have warned you to turn down the gain on your irony meter there.
Remember when Reagan described the Soviet Union as an “Evil Empire” and everybody freaked out, but Andy Rooney (no fan of Reagan’s) said; “Would anybody care to argue that the Soviet Union is NOT an evil empire?“
Well, would anybody care to argue that a lot of rural American voters are NOT bitter about the sustained loss of their good jobs? Or that some of them aren’t clinging to their guns as if Armageddon were right around the corner? Or that many voters aren’t trying to elect a right-wing mega-church version of Jesus Christ into the White House? Anybody at all? Bueller?
OK, so Obama was telling the truth. No wonder FOX news is so upset.
We have had just about enough of of a president who’s an “average guy”, who’s “in touch with the average American” (whatever that is). I want someone who’s in touch with other cultures too. Someone in touch with inner-city poverty. Someone who’s in touch with race issues in a way no other president ever has been. I want someone who knows something about Muslims. Someone with a clue about science. Someone who knows our frakking constitution forwards and backwards. Someone with the guts to call stupidity by its real name. I want someone with some pretty damn elite abilities for our next president. If he doesn’t watch NASCAR, I can live with that.
I’ve heard Obama tell automakers to quit whining and get competitive. He’s told school kids that it’s nice they graduated 8th grade and all, but tomorrow’s another school day and they better study even harder. I’ve heard him keep a level head debating an absolute whackjob, Alan Keyes. He told white Americans not to expect patriotic hymns from older blacks, but then he turned around and told the black community not to expect white Americans to be happy about affirmative action. That’s a person with some serious knuckles.
Lots of people seem to vote on “Hey! He didn’t suck up to me enough!“ or “He didn’t promise me enough!“ or “He said something that could be interpreted as not complimentary to my demographic group!“ Well tough. You know the biggest demographic group that needs to get a frakking clue? Americans. And the clue we need to get is, that we’re not the world’s savior; we’ve got a log in our own eye. We’ve lost the moral high ground, the esteem of many of our allies, the value of the dollar, and any chance of a head start on climate change. It’s time to stop whining and start fixing.
(Cross-posted to Stupid Evil Bastard)
yeah, and if wasn’t for the fact that he is a socialist he might even have a chance to get elected. But I learned years ago that politicians who make rosy promises have never understood that there ain’t no free lunch..and rather than face the fact that business is in business to make a profit and that all labor costs and taxes are paid by the consumer these socialist types use an ‘us against them’ argument to convince the public that it is the wealthier Americans and business that is their problems and everything would be just fine if the rich would share their wealth.
Then they wonder shy business leaves the country..
Obama is scary to those in the USA who are the producers and tax payers and if per chance he is elected there may well be the revolution that the left wing has been hoping for..but they can’t win..remeber? They have disarmed all of their sheeple followers
Posted by GUYK on 04/13/08 at 10:55 AMThat bitterness comment helped cement my vote for McCain. Obama don’t cotton to guns and religion? I’m watching Fox make hay from it—pretty entertaining.
You know, the only thing I’m really concerned about is that if McCain kicks the bucket before the election, I don’t know who’d administer the 3rd Bush term.
It would be a nightmarish scenario if for some reason, the Democrats would turn out to be the default party in the fall.
Obama is scary to those in the USA who are the producers and tax payers and if per chance he is elected there may well be the revolution that the left wing has been hoping for..but they can’t win..remeber? They have disarmed all of their sheeple followers
So you’re suggesting a violent revolution, with barricades and burning tires? I thought the Democrats and other socialist fifth columnists were hoping for a political revolution. Are you implying that armed patriots may/would lead the revolution against the potential socialist coup?
Posted by Ted on 04/13/08 at 12:44 PM...those in the USA who are the producers and tax payers…
I’m led to believe that the “producers” don’t so much arm and send their own kids into the street (see Iraq recruitment) but rely on the trailer parks of America to fill those ranks.
Of course the force multiplier of arming the illiterate, the borderline criminal, and the disenchanted xenophobes is self evident throughout recent history.
Posted by Ted on 04/13/08 at 12:51 PMSo you’re suggesting a violent revolution…
You bet he is, Ted. He’s been itchin’ to shoot him some Democrats=Socialists=Communists since forever.
Here’s some news: your gun isn’t going anywhere. It wouldn’t matter if the president thought guns were the devil’s tools, the president doesn’t determine that.
Would I be right that you were going to vote for McCain anyway?Really doesn’t bother you that McCain doesn’t know a Shiite from a Sunni? Mixes up Iran and Saudi Arabia? That’s OK with you? I guess the main requirement for the highest office is the ability to talk tough and get us into wars we have no business being in. His “Bomb bomb Iran” statement bothers me a hell of a lot more than Obama’s self-evidentially correct statement that people are bitter about losing their jobs.
Here’s some more news: optional wars weaken America in almost every conceivable way.
GUYK: the biggest ‘Free Lunch’ lie in American politics is the notion that we can neglect to maintain America, neglect to invest in America, and somehow keep our position on top. But the Republicans (and their evil twins, the libertarians) have been telling it so long it sounds truthy.
Posted by George on 04/13/08 at 01:08 PMI’m not sure how to comment on what Guyk said. It’s so full of misinterpretations, conjecture, and opinions stated as fact with no supporting evidence.
Ted, I now realize why you are voting for McCain and understand your principles a little better. But your form of change is still a little too scary for me.
Onto Obama…
So does anyone else think people are just scared of the truth? Or is it being taken peg? When someone states how you feel in one simple paragraph and it just rips you off your high horse and you get a good look in the mirror. Suddenly you don’t like what you see so you attack the person making the statement. Or just politics as usual?Posted by webs05 on 04/13/08 at 01:14 PMWould I be right that you were going to vote for McCain anyway?
Really doesn’t bother you that McCain doesn’t know a Shiite from a Sunni? Mixes up Iran and Saudi Arabia? That’s OK with you? I guess the main requirement for the highest office is the ability to talk tough and get us into wars we have no business being in. His “Bomb bomb Iran” statement bothers me a hell of a lot more than Obama’s self-evidentially correct statement that people are bitter about losing their jobs.
I was going to vote for him anyway*. So I’m always on the lookout for more justification.
These points that you enumerate make me want to vote for him ever more. If he was a different republican from GWB I’d think twice about voting for him.
So I’m just waiting for us to bomb Iran. In moist anticipation. (I lost the office pool on that one—I had February 2008.)
=========
* As a chronic complainer, I’ve written numerous letters of complaint to McCain. I have his signed responses. They’ll be worth something on eBay once he’s president. I don’t have jack correspondence from Obama or Clinton. (But with my luck, he probably signed those letters with an autopen, unlike George’s correspondence).Posted by Ted on 04/13/08 at 01:24 PMYeah, what I want is a “nice guy” President no matter how dumb they might be. Or mean.
<a>href=“http://www.thestar.com/News/USElection/article/413964”>There’s a very good article about Obama by David Olive</a> in today’s Toronto Star. (Yes, Guy, I’m sure it’s a communist paper in your world…)
And I tried to hide my real feelings about McCain the other day, but I suspect I didn’t do a very good job. :-D
Posted by WeeDram on 04/13/08 at 02:26 PMI just hope he doesn’t back down. The truth hurts sometimes, and sometimes it’s not politically correct. The whole concept that we must “respect those with opinions differing from ours” has been perverted into, “we must respect opinions that, in our opinion, are a steaming pile of crap.“
Ask yourself: What do these gun-toting bible-belting armeggedonists hope to accomplish? They kid themselves that they could ever muster a significant resistance against any regular army. One might as well throw rocks at a tank. If they weren’t just trying to kid themselves, they might read some real military analysis of the effectiveness of militias during the Civil War. The situation is even more disparate now. They are every bit as deluded, wrong-thinking and scary as the Klan ever was. They are out there, in Pennsylvania and other places. I know some of these guys, and love them like they were my own brothers, but I think they’re nuts. The question then becomes, what drove them crazy this way? One could argue that it was self-interested jackasses spouting all maner of oversimplistic crap and holding up scapegoats to explain how we as a nation got this screwed.
Posted by Breakerslion on 04/13/08 at 06:29 PMGeorge - my sentiments exactly. Thankee kindly.
I must stop here before I start screaming. You know how I get when someone says they’re going to vote for McCain…
Posted by Dana Hunter on 04/14/08 at 04:53 AMLieberman says Obama’s a Marxist. Vote for him if you want an American hatin’ commie.
I’m going with the war hero. You know you want to.
Posted by Ted on 04/14/08 at 06:59 PMOMG!!! Yet ANOTHER Communist under my bed! He’ll have to compete with giant dust bunnies, but DAMN, I’m freakin’ (or “frakkin”, in DOF-ish) scared enough to pee my pants, soil myself and sign up (@ age 59) for a tour of duty wherever them thar loyal patriots wanna send me to DEFEND AMERICAN VALUES! (Hey, is Wal-Mart open yet?)
Posted by WeeDram on 04/14/08 at 08:29 PMWhat scares me is if Obama really thinks the reason middle class white peope only own guns or go to church because they are bitter. If Obama wants to get these votes , he needs to support Bill Cosby and not Jesse Jackson. He is a wonderful speaker but he has offered no real solutions to todays real problems. If his statement was the real truth, then why is he trying to clarify his remarks.
Posted by james old guy on 04/15/08 at 03:40 PMIf people who were offended by one cherry-picked and distorted quote were to, oh I don’t know, go peruse his website instead of listening to Rush Limbaugh, they might find out some of his solutions to today’s real problems. (Be sure to scroll down)
You probably won’t agree with all of them but they’re well-informed and well thought out. It beats the profligacy of the current administration, which offers “tax cuts” coupled with unlimited deficit spending as the solution to everything. (A hint: deficit spending results in higher taxes someday. Inevitably.)
One example from Obama’s record:
American Jobs: Barack Obama introduced the Patriot Employer Act of 2007 to provide a tax credit to companies that maintain or increase the number of full-time workers in America relative to those outside the US; maintain their corporate headquarters in America; pay decent wages; prepare workers for retirement; provide health insurance; and support employees who serve in the military.
Better that subsidizing oil companies, corn ethanol companies (often one and the same), and throwing a trillion dollars down the rathole of a “stupid war”. And most of all, better than actually providing subsidies for companies that moved American jobs overseas under the guise of “trade”. Tax cuts should go for constructive corporate behavior, not just for big campaign donations.
As Lloyd Bentsen said; “You let me write $200 Billion worth of hot checks, and I’ll give you the illusion of prosperity too.“ Long-term prosperity is something you invest and build into existence, not something you create with economic tricks at the expense of our grandchildren’s generation.
Posted by George on 04/15/08 at 04:49 PMJames: What kind of logic can lead to “ if Obama really thinks the reason middle class white peope only own guns or go to church because they are bitter” ? WTF? There is NOTHING in what Obama that would lead to that speculation. Perhaps a review of the concepts of cause and effect would be helpful. Plus reading the entirety of what is said (not just a media clip) is always a good thing.
Posted by WeeDram on 04/15/08 at 06:23 PMIf Obama wants to get these votes , he needs to support Bill Cosby and not Jesse Jackson.
James, did you listen to Obama’s race speech? Just curios…
Posted by webs05 on 04/16/08 at 09:10 AMHe is a wonderful speaker but he has offered no real solutions to todays real problems. If his statement was the real truth, then why is he trying to clarify his remarks.
Obama is busy fighting sound byte politics, which, if you are vulnerable in that special kind of way, distract you from those “real solutions to today’s real problems” that there black fella won’t shut up about.
JEEBUS F. N. CHRIST
Posted by Justice on 04/16/08 at 10:03 PMOBAMA FUNDRAISER NUMBERS
38
Members of law firms that lobby in Washington31
Partners10
Former federal lobbyists6
Manage lobbyists$3.5 million
Minimum the lawyers pledged to raise$138 million
Lobbying fees earned last year by their firms or subsidiariesFrom UsaToday:
1. Obama tied to lobbyists, but boasts of not taking money2. Obama’s claim of independence questioned
Posted by Ted on 04/17/08 at 09:29 PMWhich lobbyists? What interests? Things I care about? Coal lobbyists? Corn ethanol lobbyists? Blackwater lobbyists? What access did that get them? Was he sleeping with any of them? Did he get transportation in their jets? How does that balance against the small donors? What’s the maximum from any one donor?
I have never taken claims of independence seriously from any politician. I am more interested in what their policies are. Are they going to push carbon-neutral renewable energy? Get us out of Iraq? Support gay rights? Appoint unqualified political hacks to important federal agencies? What’s their health plan proposal?
At least Obama’s a regular guy who drinks coffee and not an elitist who drinks orange juice. I’d be just devastated if I ever found out he were an orange juice drinker.
Feh.
Posted by George on 04/17/08 at 10:20 PMAnd what the c**ppy journalist form USA Today isn’t stating in that article is that the money donated comes from people private wallets and not actually from the firm itself or from a PAC. Which makes a huge difference. Obviously an employee from Exxon that has democratic leanings is going to vote for Obama or Hillary, maybe even donate some money. This has nothing to do with influence over that candidate.
Besides, Obama is the only candidate I have heard of so far that has turned down money from people.
Posted by webs05 on 04/18/08 at 08:23 AMPUBLIC FUNDING OF ELECTIONS. FULL STOP.
If nothing else, it will stop these kinds of pissing matches.
Posted by WeeDram on 04/18/08 at 07:50 PMRead these two blogs today and felt they contributed to the discussion of guns and bitterness.
1. Mark Thoma over at Economist’s View discusses his history with guns.
2. Tyler Cowan though, nails it with this while discussing his compendium of anti-American sentiments:
7. The American culture of individual freedom is closely linked to the prevalence of mental illness and gun-based violence in this country. We can’t seem to get only the brighter side of non-conformity.
I tend to see Tyler’s point of view. And I suspect that Obama does too.
Posted by Ted on 04/23/08 at 06:25 PM
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