Obama Enters Enemy Territory: West Virginia

Los Angeles Times:

In Hardy County, Democrats outnumber Republicans more than 2 to 1. But there is little enthusiasm for Barack Obama in this mountainside enclave, a portent of trouble for the Illinois senator in next week's West Virginia primary and the general election beyond.

Nearly 97% white, the county is as conflicted as any rural and working-class Democratic bastion as it struggles to adjust to the likely prospect of the party nominating its first African American presidential candidate.

Read the whole story: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[gditty]

Get out of there Obama!!!....the best way to help the West Virginians is to just let them be.

[MPeter]

You people in the media are demented to think that there is a no-go area for Obama in America. There are no parts of America that belong to Russia, Hamas, Iran or Al Qaeda. Why else would you acll it enemy territory? Obama is an American and an accomplished Senator!!! Shame on you for even writing this garbage.

[Dewtrell]

Obama has won more "white" states than Clinton, so this is moot.

[ObamaCanada]

The Clintons with their Small Town theme music and Bill Clinton out thier driving this working class angst against Obama has also contributed to the elecorate not liking Obama. If Obama was squeaky clean and had no Rev Wright or any distractions in his past the good folks of WV would find something to not vote for him. Can someone tell me why these folks always vote against thier self interests and then complain about the state of things in thier lifes. The people of WV will vote against thier self interests and cling to thier guns and vote McCain in Nov. so I think Barack Obama is a wasting his time stay in Oregon Montana South Dakota and get this puppy wrapped up on May 20th. If Wv wants to stay in the 19th century let them it's sad that a state can overcome it's racial divisions even in the year 2008. Goodbye hillbillies don't let the door hit you on the way out!

[bish66]

The electorate does not like Obama, because he is an empty suit.

If Obama was "squeaky clean", he would not be where he is now. John Edwards would have killed him in the primaries, no 1.5 million donors would have cared to give him even a fiver and all the voters would have laughed him out of the race early on.

As the only black senator in the senate, he sticks out. As the only black candidate, he commands the black vote in the south. As a white candidate, he would have to run on expericence, issues and his voting record. Do you see him anywhere near 15% in any state as a "squeaky clean" white candidate?

[donaldw6]

I decided he was the best candidate well over a year ago, and it had nothing to do with anything you're talking about. It never did. I'll give you a fair word of warning never to underestimate your opponent. Any illusion you might have that you're looking at the Democratic Affirmative Action entry would put you at a great disadvantage. Senator Obama's appeal is purely because he has a very high level of knowledge and understanding, and combines that with superior political and managerial skills, and of course, his great skill with the spoken and written word. All that would be just as true if he looked like John Edwards.

I shouldn't have told you all this. I should let you go on shortchanging him. But I want you to see what's coming, since you still won't be able to stop it.

[terragazelle60]

Have you bothered to look up his record? No...well you need to, that suit is not empty at all. Google" Obama ethics"...and "Obama Wounded Warriors".

About Hillary:
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0612-30.htm

[KarenJW]

I've never been to West Virginia, but by the sounds of it, it's not somewhere I'd want to visit! Racism is alive and kicking in America..........in West Virginia!

[heal57]

Most of the people with any kind of decent paying job in West Virginia are coal miners. They are afraid of losing the only source of income they have, so they cling to Hillary and believe her. You might say some are 'bitter'. I can understand that as my grandfather was a coal miner in Pennsylvania with 10 kids. That's a 'hopeless' situation for many West Virginians but they will come around in time.

Independent for Obama '08

[bish66]

Senator Byrd brought lots of money and jobs into the state. Education level in West Virginia is said to be excellent, so the demographics should be good for him...

If he does not rock the state, it is because he is not good enough.

[Spiriteddona]

It's alive in Brooklyn and L A!

[antaeus]

"Enemy territory": more proof that Huffington Post is a circle jerk of 20-somethings whose only apparent ambition is to see Senator Obama the Dem nominee. What happens in November? Who cares! The nomination will make history, and all those who don't vote vote for him are just stupid. The Dems don't need their votes anyway. Right?

[qdog112]

What a ridiculously divisive topic for this blog. This placed Barack and the entire state as adversaries from jump. That was just wrong. If any voters saw this, I'm sure Obama v. West Virginia won him some votes - NOT.

[dollars2donuts]

Shame on Huffpo for this divisive title. If you want a unifiying theory/paradigm about what has been driving this primary, this is the most persuasive I have read yet:

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3597/the_clinton_firewall/

Clinton knew EXACTLY what she was doing in the USA today interview, trust me. Her strategy this entire campaign has been to try to bring up race as often as possible so as to polarize uninformed white voters who already want an excuse not to vote for a black man (even though they're "Democrats").

Black Democrats are watching and taking notes; this has done severe damage to the Democratic brand within the black community, the most loyal Dem block. Democratic leaders will one day regret they did not stop the Clinton's despicable behavior sooner, but as a black voter I'm glad I got to see Democrats' true colors. They are just as racist as Republicans--no more, no less, so this is not the party we belong in, IMO.

[terragazelle60]

dollars,
No, Democrates are not racist. I am not.

Please realize that we are as different as any other population. I am ashamed at what is going on...as a hard working white woman at the age of 60...I have voted for Obama and will again come fall. I have hope that with him what is happening now will end. That maybe he is facing the ugliness so that we can all work to be who we are waiting for. BB

[DietrichMoody]

Obama won Alaska, Utah, Minnesota, Missouri, Kansas, North Dakota, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Washington, and Virginia. All predominately white states. And most of these state, larger in populace and territory, than West Virginia. Therefore, given Obama's electoral history with "white states" this story needs to be put into perspective. It's good to focus on W. Virginian's. But remember, it does not represent the entire Country, by far but it does represent a small segment of the Country that will find themselves shocked and maybe misreable as America moves forward, in order to remain the power needs to maintain.


The agendad media: loves, loves, loves to romanticize racism or bigotry. This being said, there is a lot of good in reporting this W. Virginia story; No matter what the reporters' agendas are or WHO THEY CHOSE TO INTERVIEW. In truth, in a general election these people will not vote for a woman and will use any excuse not to change the status quo. Myself, As a male white Republican, who works hard, I'm voting for Obama. I was taught that ignorance was a disease and toxic, and people around me, or who I've come across think the same way - period. We couldn't have come this far as a Country without the MAJORITY thinking this way.

[S1m0n]

Thanks God for Hillary Clinton's steadfast support in this rural mountain backwater! Such territories are the future of America!

[tiredofhillary]

Seems to me that Billary are banking on the white, un-educated, fun toting folks of WV. How could a voter allow a candidate to use them in this way is beyond me. The Clinton's are banking on voters who can be led by the nose; voters who don't think for themselves.

I am an AA woman and would not allow so-called black leaders to dictate to me. We should be smart voters. I rather have someone tell me they won't vote for Sen. Obama because he's black, than to not be able to tell me why they won't because they have been brain washed.

[Bluejay00234]

Hmm and how convenient that the toxic heroin Hills would take about the "white" vote in preparation for the WV primaries to appease her followers. Lovely how she gave permission to the racists of WV to not vote for the "black guy"

Sad.....

[qdog112]

I am sure he has conceded WV amd his campaign will play it just right. He'll probably make a few stops around UWV and Marshall, cozy up to any SDs and call it a day. In the GE he can let his VP and the locals do the heavy lifting.

[hibbiejibbies]

In Madison, W.Va.:

"It is very interesting, from the very beginning of this race there has been a sharp divide in the vote -- the people who need a president, who need to turn the economy around, who need to restore the middle class, who need to give poor people a chance to work their way into the middle class, who need to give our children a better future, who need to restore our standing in the world and the war in Iraq, but do it in a way that rebuilds our military and stands up for America's security and standing around the world -- they have been for her from the get-go."
And on and on... Ginning up the resentments and the class divide (and maybe other divisions). ... His message to these voters: Obama and the media are laughing at you and think you're stupid!!!

Obama has a clear problem with white working class voters. This kind of rhetoric exacerbates it. Clinton knows that -- he's trying to drive up turnout to maximize his wife's popular vote argument to superdelegates. He has every right to do so -- the race is not over, no nominee exists yet.

But this is what keeps Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi up at night.

- jpt

[Bertha40869]

Oh contrare mon frere. The problem lies not with Obama. He is a man of extremely high intellect and insight, and I would personally prefer to have someone in the White House who is visibly smarter than the rest of us. That's why they should be President. The problem is that to a lot of uneducated white people, black people are one of two things-on welfare and milking the government or uppity. There is no in between. A lot of them don't think that black people actually work for a living. Even Chris Matthews says that when he gets up early in the morning the only people he ever sees out and going to work before the sun comes up are black people.

Hillary is PANDERING. She is still pushing that ridiculous gas tax holliday because she has seen the statistics, and knows that a lot of W. Virginians just don't get it and are so afraid of black people in power that they only need a little bit of a reason to vote against him.

No Democrat has ever received the majority of uneducated whites. Ever. For Hillary to use that as a line of argument smacks of idiodicy.

[hibbiejibbies]

continued...

Per ABC News' Sarah Amos, this is what the 42nd president of the United States said Friday in Ripley, W.Va.:

"Hillary is in this race because of people like you and places like this and no matter what they say," Clinton said. "And no matter how much fun they make of your support of her and the fact that working people all over America have stuck with her, she thinks you're as smart as they are. She thinks you've got as much right to have your say as anybody else. And, you know, they make a lot of fun of me because I like to campaign in places like this, they say I have been exiled to rural America, as if that was a problem. I don't know about you, but I'd rather be here than listening to that stuff I have to hear on television, I'd rather be with you. There is a simple reason: You need a president a lot more than those people telling you not to vote for her."

continued...

[matthewhusseinsmith]

"No Democrat has ever received the majority of uneducated whites. Ever. For Hillary to use that as a line of argument smacks of idiodicy."

No, she's smart; she knows it, but she uses race to divide us, harm Obama's chances, prove her electability.

It is an act of desperation; the woman has gone off the deep end.

What Bill Clinton said is patronizing and condescending; again he's using these poor folks, he who raked in 109 millions in 7 years through influence peddling ( who in their right mind pays $500,000 for a speech? )

[hibbiejibbies]

Here is an article from ABC, please read it.

Bill Clinton's Message to Rural America

May 10, 2008 2:43 PM

As Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., avoids any real campaigning in West Virginia, the former president of the United States is out there ginning up resentments.

Bill Clinton has the right to say whatever he wants, of course. But he's a smart man. Brilliant, even.

He can do the math. He must know that it's quite improbable that his wife, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., will be the Democratic presidential nominee.

So what purpose does it serve for him to barnstorm a state like West Virginia and tell rural voters that Obama and his elitist political/media cabal allies are mocking Appalachia?

He's using the kind of language Democrats typically use against Republicans -- as in, stuff you say when you don't want voters to vote for the other guy under any circumstance.

This is tough stuff to walk back from.

continued....

[kay]

The Clintons are a train wreck for Democrats. They were a train wreck when they were in power, and they are a train wreck today.

It took almost 8 years to win red state races after Bill Clinton left office, but Democrats were making gains.

That Democrats allow the Clintons to conduct themselves in this manner makes me think they are cowards.

Time to cut the old apron strings, and show them the door.

[donaldw6]

They're polarizing people who didn't know they were so polarized until Bill told them so, and it's tearing my heart out. I've sent emails urging the Dem leaders to end this now. This is really hurting me what's going on here, as if you can't tell.

[cinnysmom]

We should give the good people of WV the benefit of the doubt. I drove thru WV a couple years back, stopped at a couple places and found the people to be very friendly.

[robXdion]

Now try doing that as black male and you'd have a different opinion.

[donaldw6]

It's no worse than Pennsylvania in that way, and probably a lot better than Kentucky. It's just there are no Pittsburghs or Philadelphias.

[harriscrl3]

I believe you I honestly do the media feeds on caricaturing and sterotyping people because its more exciting and sexy that way rolls eyes.

Carol

[Softnsweet]

Well I guess I need to apologize for the things I said about WV. I guess I am not giving them a chance. Ignore all my posts guys.

[Spiriteddona]

cinnysmom, you are fair and correct. people in the south are an uplifting people! a few folks, here, don't seem to know W. Va is in America!