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

[hmmmmmer]

How old are these people that the media talk to, are they still remembering the Civil War stories their grand parents influenced there hatred with. This country rests on the intelligence of the young, but even then it is something to worry about. If these people would vote for McSame only because they are bigots then nothing is going to change their minds.

[msmaggie]

Yes well, the "intelligence of the young" would have some grasp of arithmetic. Old people outnumber, not to mention outvote, and yeah, yeah, yeah, THIS TIME will be different. The attitude that older voters, especially older white voters are somehow inferior in terms of intelligence, morals--yeah, that's a winning strategy. It's astonishing really, the willful ignorance of reality.

Obama can, and I believe will, win by courting the votes of older white voters.

[IslandGyal]

Yes, West Virginia has the 3rd oldest population in the U.S. after FL & PA.

[ObserverinVancouver]

As someone else has already noted, West Virginia was on the Union side in the civil war.

[timeforachangenow]

well put!

and to think it took a Canadian to make this point!

[paganmist]

This is what Clinton has done.

Mind you, of course there are racists.

But spreading around that he's a Muslim? That was Clinton.
Pushing patriotism questions? That was Clinton.

These people are laboring under misassumptions that will lose us the election in November, and Clintonistas really just don't care.

[naschkatze]

West Virginia is going to go Republican in November no matter who our candidate is so let's not agonize over it.

[dsmyre]

There is no big deal about Obama winning white voters. He's already won plenty of states with low African American populations:

Idaho 0.7% African American population

Vermont 0.7% "

N. Dakota 0.8%

Maine 0.8%

Wyoming 0.9%

Utah 1.0%

Iowa 2.5%

Hawaii 2.5%

Washington 3.6%

Alaska 3.7%

Colorado 4.1%

Nebraska 4.4%

Minnesota 4.5%

Kansas 6.0%

Wisconsin 6.0%

Connecticut 10.2%

Missouri 11.5%

[naschkatze]

Oregon, Montana, and South Dakota to finish off. Sorry, I don't know the percentage.

[08timefortruth]

Yeah but we don't count cause we're "white" and God knows white people cannot be for Obama, they cannot be fair decent human beings and they cannot voice an opinion stating racism in any form and from any segment of society is wrong. If you don't believe me just ask "robXdion"

[08timefortruth]

Oh, and they cannot be over 40 and not be racist.

[robXdion]

Aaaaawwwwww, did I hurt your feelings? I'm sorry........

Actually the issue is more about whites west of the Mississippi River are more open to Obama. Maine, Vermont and Connecticut are so far North they are a different breed altogether. And yes, many whites over 40 do have racial hang-ups. Geeee, maybe that's why all the other black presidential candidates (when these 40+ folks were younger) never got close. Maybe that's why Hillary didn't take Obama seriously with his "youth vote" appeal thinking older generations are guaranteed to show and wouldn't vote for him in large numbers. Maybe I'm just pointing out the obvious and you can't take it.

[msmaggie]

How many of these states had "regular" primaries vs caususes?

[creo13]

Why does that matter? They'er still voters, right? Clinton had the same opportunity to get those folks just as Barack. Her judgement told her they did not matter.

[MichaelTempler]

i have just about had it with those who say well caucuses don't count or are undemocratic

you know what's undemocratic

primaries

most people who vote in the aren't that well informed

with Caucuses you have to show up for an hour or so

oh I know the Clinton excuse is that working people can't attend these things

bs if it's important to you

you will show up

and what can be more democratic then the to have an opportunity to discuss the issues

and try to convince your neighbors

a number of the Caucuses were held on the weekend and working people don't work 24-7

I don't know anything about West Virginia so I won't be as ignorant about them as they seem to be towards Obama.

[evekendall]

Almost every state in America has low African American populations! African Americans make up roughly 13% of the total US population. And even in the state with the largest African American population, Mississippi, the percentage is only 37%. And Mississippi always goes Republican. So it is a huge fallacy that the AA population has any more effect on election results than any other group.

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmcensus1.html

[Ramirez]

The AA vote usually carries Pennsylvania due to massive turnout in Philly.

[fishsandwichesr2good]

WV is now one of the "57 states" that Barack has visited! Take a look...

http://www.stoptheaclu.com/archives/2008/05/09/obama-wants-to-be-president-of-57-states/

Can you imagine how the MSM crowd would have jumped all over McCain if he'd made such a ridiculous misstatement? "Tim" Lauer would certainly feature it on the Today Show. Good luck finding ANY mention of this gaffe here in the land of huff&puff.

[naschkatze]

Primaries, he meant primaries. His misspeaks are not anywhere near like McCain's and Clinton's/

[IslandGyal]

fishsandwichesr2good,
You are an idiot; if you think that an educated man like Senator Obama thinks there are 57 states. That was an obvious misspeak, unlike not knowing the difference between Sunni and Shiite, four times, even when questioning General Petraus and not knowing that Czechoslovakia is no longer a country. IF you want to equate those two, I am truly sorry for the American electorate.

[1PALady]

John McCain has made a lot of mistakes much worse than this one and has been given a free ride! The media likes him, but wait until they turn on him. His behind will be TOAST!

[tene]

i just hope that he has very, very tight security. but i applaud him for going.

[heather11483]

Heh.

[naschkatze]

Me too. He's a profile in courage.

[1PALady]

He's never going to convince some people no matter how hard he may try. Some people will never vote for a Black person. It's the younger generation that we have to put our hopes in. The older coots that have some racism at the core will always flock to someone like Hillary or McCain.

[caywen]

Kentucky and West Virginia is home to a high percentage of racists. Simple as that.

[robXdion]

This will be interesting given West Virginia recently had a hate crime case of a black woman being kidnapped and sexually tortured recently. And now they "struggle to adjust to the likely prospect of the party nominating its first African American presidential candidate."

The world is watching.

[IslandGyal]

robXdion,
Racial animosity outweighs commonsense any day, if it were otherwise, we wouldn't have racism and prejudice. The world could watch as much as they want, they are seeing the true Hillary and Bill Clinton, so much less for their under-educated supporters.

[paganmist]

Ugh, are you serious?

[robXdion]

As a heart attack.....

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,296346,00.html

[hmmmmmer]

The world may be watching, but I am guessing they don't care. In this day and age it is hard to even begin to understand that kind of mind set.

[fishsandwichesr2good]

Oh, and it's HIllary that's playing the race card?! robX, you are a pathetic dolt. You're trying to pre-emptively paint the entire state of WV as racists based on that one sick hate crime?

[robXdion]

You have been posting racially antagonistic BS attacking blacks on HuffPost for the past 2 weeks. I just point out the facts and you call me the idiot??? Listen, I just call it how it is. If the sky is blue....well dammit, then the sky is BLUE. Clowns like you have found a creative way to claim victimhood by screaming about a "race card" when someone points out obvious racism. Pathetic.

[MichaelTempler]

I don't know about the other posts

and I don't know anything about W. Virginia

but the fact this seems to be the first state that Obama is skipping is an indication

of the resistance

Obama isn't as well known so there is no fair comparison

and when was the last time W. Virginia mattered in a primary

if it has always gone republican it may have been ignored by the deomocrats for decades

[evekendall]

The worst kind of generalization. Anyone could take the worst crime in any state in America and make the same nonsensical, hateful statement about that state that you just made. Totally ridiculous and mean-spirited.

[robXdion]

No, it's survival. That's what blacks have had to do in America for ages. Look for clues of white racism and avoid an area or community out of fear of becoming the next statistic. It's a generalization that has kept blacks alive and relatively mentally sound despite unprovoked white racial animosity. Now think real hard about your post and see how nonsensical you seem in the face of that truth.

[bessie1]

Why is the following (a direct quote from this article) not considered racist, but saying "white people" is racist? I guess there is no such thing as a double standard when it comes to Obama. How about the fact that his campaign planted someone in the audience to heckle Bill Clinton yesterday? That's okay too.

"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."

Sign me in as a supporter of Clinton, who will now vote early and often for McCain.

[robXdion]

How do you know his campaign "planted" anyone anywhere? Why is it anytime someone dares to speak out against them or challenges them, they must be part of an Obama scheme of attack? I don't think his reach is long enough to coordinate such an effort. If anything he gives people the courage to speak up.

[heather11483]

Agreed.

[heather11483]

Um... You can only vote once.

[fishsandwichesr2good]

heather, are you so stupid that you didn't get bessie's joke? Obama is from Illinois where the motto of the state Democrat party is "dead or alive, vote early and vote often".

[motherfather]

Bessie1, if after being blatantly lied to, if after continually being pandered to and being shown to be downright dishonest by the whole country, you decide on Hillary...then I think you are not smart and maybe a little uncomfortable with people who are different from you. I think that is a noce way of saying what I want to say....god knows. Go vote for MCCain...you deserve what you get with him.

[debwarot]

Hi, Bessie.

The words you are referencing ("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.") did not come from Obama's mouth now, did they? They are the words of Stephen Braun, a writer from the Los Angeles. The comment you refer to which included statements about 'white people' was a direct quote from Hillary Clinton. Comparing a statement made by one of the candidates to a statement by a newspaper writer doesn't really make a lot of sense, does it?

As far as your accusation that Senator Obama's campaign planted someone in the audience to heckle Bill Clinton, what is your proof? Isn't it possible that someone just simply disagreed with him and spoke out?

Your vote is yours to use as you see fit, but please realize that a vote for McCain will mean four more years of a war that we should never have started and is literally killing the young men and women that are our future. It will also mean our economy will continue to sink and more Americans will suffer financially. Is this really what you want for our country?

[IslandGyal]

debwarot,
Why would it be logical that some lay citizen spoke on her own, minus being an Obama campaign plant; that would be simple, no conspiracy and no reason not to vote for him based on that faulty premise.

[heather11483]

As to the quote you give, correct me if I'm wrong, but Senator Obama didn't say that. All he has said about WVA was that Senator Clinton is heavily favored to win it.

The media and reporters have done nothing but talk about so-called 'working class, lunch-pail, joe six-pack, undereducated, low-information, blue-collar, poor white people who won't vote for the black guy'. They have said it over and over again, and frankly, the individuals who are in that demographic ought to have the sense to be insulted because it's not just racist, it's classist.

Senator Obama has not ever used such language to describe his voters, nor has his argument ever been about what 'kind' of voters support him. And that's what Hillary just did, and it's the difference between them. Instead of being divisive and marginalizing a good chunk of the Democratic Party, he values every vote he gets, and has shown that since day one in his campaign.