Brava, Jane! I feel exactly the same. Except that, along with being angry, I admit that I'm also a bit depressed about this whole ridiculous "controversy," and the sight of Hillary tossing back her beer and Crown Royal and blathering on about shooting ducks made me physically ill. I worry that people will buy it. I worry that we will never again have an intelligent, thoughtful, analytical president because such a person will always be painted as an elitist. Like Jon Stewart, I want an elite president. Haven't we seen the results of electing an idiot on the basis of "I'd like to have a beer with that guy!"?
I have relatives who lived in rural western Pennsylvania, and the bitterness there is palpable--as it surely is in other rural areas and in cities and towns that were once industrial giants and are now just so many dots along the Rust Belt. For Hillary Clinton or anyone else to try to deny the real sense of despair and fear in these parts of the country is blind and stupid. To use it for political gain....there just aren't any words for what that is.
Here We Go Again
You know, I just spent seven and a half years disagreeing with the administration that has given us an unprecedented military and economic mess. I saw it coming, it came, and in some ways it was worse, and promises to get worse, than I foresaw. I the course of these seven years, I have had my patriotism questioned and demeaned fairly often. I was even put in a book, as one of a hundred people who were hurting America. When I got into this book, my relatives worried that I would get shot by some rightwing nut, even though several of them were and are rightwing nuts themselves (and they carry guns). All this time, though, I considered myself a patriot and a loyal American because I was able to see the destruction that was being wreaked upon the nation, and in particular, upon the middle and working classes, by the Republican liars and war criminals and job outsourcers and health care destroyers and army wreckers and infrastructure ignorers and media whores and agriculture blackmailers (see this month's Vanity
Fair).
So now, Barack Obama tells the truth about conditions as we know them--that the countryside and the small towns are dying in many places in our country, and that the corporatocracy doesn't care enough to do a thing about it. He points out that immigrant-baiting, gay-baiting, gun-baiting, and religious pandering have helped to destroy those towns and that countryside, that those being destroyed have been cynically enlisted by their very own destroyers to provide the votes that help accomplish the destruction. And this is what Senator Hillary Clinton says about it: "Senator Obama's remarks were elitist and out of touch. They are not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans."
From Senator Clinton's remarks, I infer that to actually see what has gone on in the US in the last 20 years is unAmerican. It doesn't matter who you are, where you were born, what you pay in taxes, what else you might have contributed to the culture, how you vote, who you support. If you don't support fundamentalist religion, job outsourcing, and free access to guns, then you are not even American.
I cannot believe how angry this makes me. I cannot believe that after the last seven and a half years, I can even get this angry. Yes, I know she is pandering to her audience. Yes, I know she will do anything to get elected. Yes, I know that she and Bill Clinton are corrupt to the core, and that I should have never expected anything better of her. But, please, any of you angry white women who still support this craven shill, don't mention it to me. Do me the following favor -- apologize to your children for not stopping the war that HIllary voted for, the war that is going to impoverish them. Then apologize to them for the effects of global warming that are going to make their lives hell. Then apologize to them for the school shooting they may someday see, the one where the kid gets the guns out of his father's gun case, or buys at a gunshow. Apologize to them for the meaningless wars they are going to fight and pay for. Then tell them that "American values" killed their hopes and maybe killed them. And ask them if they think it's going to be worth it.
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Jane: You ARE really angry, and bless you for feeling that way. I believe every grown-up, elitist and otherwise, should be righteously pissed off at the state of the world we're proposing to leave our children. I know I am. That would be why I'm working in healthcare, and voting for Barack Obama.
And what gives me hope is watching two generations- widely separated in age but incredibly similar in their passions - come together with different, but very complementary, virtues and skill sets. I came of age in the late 60's so I'm a flower child, a Vietnam war protestor, and a Baby Boomer. And when I watch the "young people" - of all ages - who support Barack Obama, what I think I'm seeing is the critical mass we finally need to begin change the world.
It's sort of like what I felt when I got to the end of watching Schindler's List. I was weeping my eyes out, not because the human race was beyond redemption, but because perhaps it wasn't?
I love your posts.
Excerpt from "Listen, Little (Common) Man!"
"They call you 'Little Man', 'Common Man'; they say a new era has begun, the 'Era of the Common Man'. It isn't you who says so, Little Man. It is they, the Vice Presidents of great nations, promoted labour leaders, repentant sons of bourgeois families, statesman and philosophers. They give you your future but don't ask about your past....I have never heard you complain: "You promote me to be the future master of myself and the world, but you don't tell me how one is to be the master of oneself, and you don't tell me the mistakes in my thinking and my actions."
"Your liberators tell you that that your suppressors are Wilhelm, Nikolaus, Pope Gregory the Twenty Eighth, Morgan, Krupp or Ford. And your 'liberators' are called Mussolini, Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin. I tell you: Only you yourself can be your liberator!" "This sentence makes me hesitate. I contend to be a fighter for pureness and truth. I hesitate, because I am afraid of you and your attitude towards truth... My intellect tells me: 'Tell the truth at any cost.' The Little Man in me says: 'It is stupid to expose oneself to the little man, to put oneself at his mercy. The Little Man does not want to hear the truth about himself. He does not want the great responsibility which is his. He wants to remain a Little Man...."
I have been voting in presidential elections since JFK. The one election I boycotted was Hubert Humphrey vs R NIxon. I would not vote for HH because of his slavish support of LBJ's Vietnam policy. I have never regretted this protest of the Democratic Party nomination process. Humphrey was a buffoon and after all, Nixon did give us an adminstration of uncompromising interest and entertainment. If our current congress had any political courage approaching the men and women of the watergate summer we would all be gleefully glued to the TV watching the stripping down of this ban of Republican buffoons but no such luck. I support Barack Obama and will not vote in a election which I will have to choose between 2 political pit bulls.
Better than that Jane, ask the children if they are bitter!
In the posts below, there are a large number who say that If Obama is not the nominee, they just won't vote, or will vote for McCain or Nader. (Of course a vote for Nader is just the same as not voting)
Want to hear a little secret?
The same people who say they just won't vote if Obama isn't the nominee aren't going to show up for Obama either.
The real voters in the country would not dream of not voting. Most of the ones who say they won't vote for this or that reason are the ones that will wake up the morning after the election and say to themselves, "ohhh yah,,, I was gonna vote...."
We've seen that election after election.
But since Obama will be on the ticket I guess we don't have to worry about them not voting.
Methinks Jane Smiley, the media, and Hillary all have it wrong. The problem is not Obama's elitism, or his inadequate explanation of American sociology, or his use of small town stereotypes to make a point about the failure of government. The problem is his LACK OF GOOD JUDGMENT in making this particular point to this particular audience about another regional population of Americans. The basic premise of Obama's campaign is that he has the superior judgment and good sense to do the right thing at the right time. Well, guess what? He's repeatedly demonstrated an appalling lack of judgment about what a President(ial candidate) should be expected to say or do in a given circumstance.
Hillary is taking the wrong approach! Forget Obama's elitism and point out that he's JUDGMENT-CHALLENGED. This is not Obama's year; he jumped in because he thought he could steal it away from her. So Hillary and her longtime supporters are supposed to just roll over and let this newbie walk off with the nomination without any vetting? It's too little, too late but finally the country is getting a real look at how unprepared Obama is to be President. The Republicans are salivating at the prospect of how to skewer him and run the show for another 4-8 years!
Sadly I agree with you. Even if Obama's supporters can spin this one and the HRC Haters can use it to strengthen their arguments in the long run, this will only help the Republicans. It is not any longer about a primary, it's now about an election and the American voter still hasn't focused responsibility for the Economy, Iraq or Health Care (or any of other many Bush era debacles) at the feet of Republicans.
That has been the job for the Democrats to do. They have failed in doing this. They haven't made this campaign about the American people, they have made it about the Democratic party. Their primaries aren't about America, they are about ... the primaries. The Democrats have stepped on their own story.
They had to make the case of "we will do a better job than them" and we will fix what's broken. But at this point, the only thing Americans are sure is broken is the Democrats.
Funny how Jane smiley's explanation of Obama's comments read so much better than his original statement. If he'd said what she said he might not have gotten so much heat when he talked about them.
Indeed the blunder he made was talking ABOUT them and not TO them.
Ummm ... did you not read the entire transcript of his statement??? I think not ... when you have done so ... then ????
It is pretty hard not to agree on the following ... Dems and Reps ... many politicians ... HAVE used "single issues" aka "wedge" issues to garner votes(ers) ... much to determent and economic interest of many Americans. The real tragedy of this "issue" is that Sen Obama's remarks are purposely and blantenly being taken out of context both by Clinton and McCain AND you!!!!
lescargot,
I hope you took the time to read in Huffpost an article written by David Coleman stating he was there and explained why Obama made the statement about PA and other small towns in the first place. When you read that you are able to get a much better mind set to the truth.
For years American have learned to accept a 1 second to 30 seconds sound bites and base on who(messager) has provided the message accept as fact or reject it all together.
Over a period of time lawyers have learned how to stack the jury to win, the politicans have learned how to stack their messages to win. As you can see from the state of America, this is a fact not a myth.
American have been used for so long, they get insulted when an individual has only pointed out what we have been doing wrong for years.
I heard this story years ago about a guy who was elected Mayor of decent sized city in the US and when citizens came into city Hall to complain vociferously about him or his policies, he would have his staff check with the registrar of voters to see whether the person complaining had voted in the Mayoral election. He says it didn't matter who they voted for, just that they had voted. If they had not voted, he sent them packing. hmmm
I feel the same frustration and sadness, a candidate is denied the right to express true thoughts and analysis of our problems, we may be doomed. Hillary must be stopped, she seems to be truly evil and Bill really is a liar (I used to like them both).
You can tell this topic is hitting a chord with people. As of now, there are a whopping 17 thousand comments here on HuffPost for this topic. It's obvious that we all see through the bs that McCain and Hillary are spewing about how "bad" Obama is for daring to point out that the emperor has no clothes ! That, in itself, is the true act of elitism: it assumes we are too stupid to fall for this lie!
with all the people stopping here, not one pointed out that my count of 17 thousand comments here was wrong! It should be 17 hundred. :0)
No, I bet it IS 17,000 comments, just not on this particular blog, but on all 10 of the "bitter"-themed blogs on HuffPo since Friday.
Sometimes the world is blessed with a true leader who understands the issues and tells it like it is. Some of them, like Jesus, get crucified by the pharisees because they speak of change that is dangerous to the people in charge. These true leaders speak truth to power because they are not afraid of the future. They understand that we are the future. Some leaders, like MLK, tell us that tney don't even need to get to the promised land and then the people in charge kill another one.
Obama is speaking the truth and it scares all the people with money and power, and that means the CLINTONS TOO! And those people want to crucify him with these false accusations.
But we know what he is saying and none of this matters because the truth will set us free. So all the Clinton thugs can just take a rest and stop wasting their time.
If they do manage to twist this and steal the nomination, I won't vote for them, I won't even vote. Unless I vote for Nadar.
This is Obama's time. It is our time. Hahaha!
I agree i think the thing that bothers me the most is she is doing this because she doesnt want to take slack for nafta or the columbia trade .. she reminds me of middle school, you know when people pick on you so you help them find someone else to pick on so they leave you alone!! kinda sad that a grown woman would do this . just showes how much she wants this and how real her faith in god is anyone who had a fear of god wouldnt do half the things this woman does!!!
"But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of 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."
Jane, please re-read Obama's words above or listen to the tape. Obama's words do not support your interpretation. If you leave off the "He points out that", I agree with your sentence, but Obama did not say that.
"He points out that immigrant-baiting, gay-baiting, gun-baiting, and religious pandering have helped to destroy those towns and that countryside, that those being destroyed have been cynically enlisted by their very own destroyers to provide the votes that help accomplish the destruction."
I've seen other videos of Obama explaining the issues of small town blight. The point is very similar. The reason they fall back to these values is that it's all they can control. The conservatives use the very values that small town America hold and hold it over their heads as a way of getting their votes.
The conservatives and the DLC democrats use the very issues that are the psychological refuges of small town America to steal their dreams.
It's a classic divide and conquer strategy. Use the fears of a community to get them to do what you want.
corporatocracy ??? What shall we have? Governmentocracy? Would that make you smile, Ms. Smiley? Was it better that we allegedly went 7 years or so with gov't surpluses? Was it better that Bill Clinton had the Gov't 500 Billion in the black? I absolutely disagree! The nation is NEVER better off with the Gov't in the black. Why? Because it meant that we, the citizens of the USA were OVERTAXED. In other words, it was stolen from us.
500 Billion in the treasury for all those years yet we never got Bin Laden then, Although Clinton said he tried. 500 billion surplus. Where was part of the military back then? In and over IRAQ and kosovo. Yes, I'll bet 500 Billion most Liberals dont remember we were the majority of the UN sanctioned "Containment" of Iraq. We were there and UN weapons inspectors were there until Saddam Insane threw them out. The UN got mad and ordered Clinton to bomb the crap out of iraq. This was happening as we bombed the crap out of Kosovo.
Libs tell us that iraq was never a threat to the US. Yet we were there in Iraq from 93 till 02 containing Saddam. How much did the UN pay?
Yes, the nation IS better when the government is in the black. Then we can afford to repair infrastructure and fund development. All you "Wahhhh, the government taxed me" crybabies get my goat. That is part of your responsibility as a U.S. citizen. You don't like taking care of your country, maybe you should go find a country where they care as little as you for infrastructure, clean air and water , safe places for your kids to play, good educations, police and fire services - it would be right neighborly of you to move so a patriotic person could take your place.
We owe so much money to China that you and your kids and your grandkids and your grandkids grandkids are going to be paying it off, if your family line hasn't died out by then. If it has, believe that the last of your line will not be thinking kindly of you, who helped place the US so crushingly in debt.
As far as Bin Laden, look at the timelines before you expect people to capture him before it's been shown that he committed a crime. The Cole was October 12, 2000. The CIA didn't make it's preliminary judgment until Dec.21st, 2000. Bush took office January 20th, 2001. They didn't decide that definitely Bin Laden was behind it until January 25th, 2001.
But you go ahead and believe what you want, don't let facts get in the way.
The world ... well ... most Nations ... including the United Nations determined ... AFTER many years of inspections ... that there were NO WMD! That Iraq was NOT remotely responsible for 911! Al-Quida was not in Iraq (In fact they were Saddams sworn enemies). And Bush 2 could not/ did not form a coalition even remotly resemblings Bush 1 ... to wage this invasion ... note, I purposly use invasion because this exactly what the US has done ... ALL based on lies, mis-information and distortion of the truth ... ummm sounds familiar ...could we be dealing with a pattern?
The UN weapons inspections ended in 98 when Saddam threw them out. UN never declared Iraq free of WMD in 98, 99, 00, 01 or 02. Plus the UN asked the US along w/ UK N France to enforce the NO FLY ZONE from 92-03. The UN determined Iraq a threat.
In 02 the UN asked Iraq for an inventory of their weapons (including WMD) -- Iraq obliged with reams and reams of DOCs and PC Disks. GW bush clearly stated that Saddam either step down or disarm. He did neither. We changed from a containment op to invasion.
Since the invasion, not one US plane, Warship or Building has been attacked
Why are you afraid of contributing to the country you live in? What is so bad about paying your dues to the country you feel is great? I'm assuming that you're a patriot. I instead you believe in nationalism then I'll understand your point. There is a difference; patriots believe in the prosperity and defense of their country. They believe in protecting and defending the constitution of the country. They believe in the general welfare of the country.
Nationalists, well they believe in something else entirely.
I believe that if the Federal Govt announces a surplus, taxes need to be cut right away. if you believe that the federal govt can accumulate a surplus without mitigation, you are a socialist or communist. The federal govt is NOT a for profit operation. The tax revenues that fund the federal govt, as well as state and local governments come from citizens, hard working citizens. Politicians need and MUST understand that.
NEW PENNSYLVANIA POLL: CLINTON ONLY LEADS BY 6. For all of the media hype in recent days, there has been no change in the polls in a new poll released today. Check out the poll below:
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x1327.xml?ReleaseID=1168&loc=interstitialskip
VOTE FOR BARACK OBAMA AND LETS GET A DEMOCRAT WIN IN NOVEMBER!
I had to read this article a couple of times because it caught my sentiments entirely. I too am so angry. Hillary's remark have been pandering for votes. Republicans are having a field day and McCain has a political partner waltzing him to the white house.
But wait it is not about me, it is about our children and grandchildren. What we are leaving them is a mountains of debt and a war built on lies. A country divided by race,money and politics. I want to hand them hope. I can not understand how any one could support this women who I once regarded to be a good democrat. I no longer can watch her. She has become a cartoon.
Thank you for your article. Your a great writer and I appreciate it.
well said!
Nanfitzking succintly stated my feelings. Jane introduced one more concept that should begin to come to the forefront, and that is this thing is about us. What is the matter with America if it can't see what Thomas Frank stated as the right wing plentiplaint. How can one listen to right wing talking heads tell them that they are being insulted. The insult is being ignorant and easily fooled. Jon Stewart said it better than most in that elitists are not the problem. Do we want someone like Obama to tell us what we need to know, and even to the point that we are with fault, or should we just let people like Pat Buchanan tell us who to hate, and who to trust. Come on America.
So, Ms. Smiley is realizing that the Democratic party has many different factions that don't all share the liberal viewpoints that some of us espouse? No shit. This has always been the dynamic of being a Democrat, to share the points of view where we can, but to respect each other where we can't agree. Sen Obama made a mistake by disrespecting some of the less educated, poorer, or culturally conservative members of his party - it's not the end of the world, just a learning opportunity. He can't win without them; he will know in the future not to pit one faction against the other. And so it goes.
Jonny38103
you do not made sense,
Senator can not disrespect the less educated, unless someone told the less educated they should be insulted from Obama message.
Senator Obama is not disrespecting the poor or culturally conservative because he stated in the beginning his message was about change of mind set because what we have been doing has not been working. Let us united and go in a new direction. Being in the same situation for 25 years or more why not try a new way of thinking and acting. DUH.
Jonny Jonny...the senator did not disrespect anybody, if he did anything, he talked to a group of people as though they were adults and a woman looking for her 15 minutes of fame decided to write a piece framing his statements as something they weren't....
Believe it or not Mr. Obama was and has in the past defended the small town principles . He wasn't "dissing" them. The question was "Why was it so hard to reach these people and his answer was essentially that they have been screwed so often by carpetbaggers and shysters that they stick with what they know and what makes them feel empowered.
He's said as much before but in more eloquent terms.
The people writing negative spin anything Mr. Obama does say is how they are making their living because they cannot find jobs any where else.
American have been exposed to negative media for so many years they are additive to this type of message. If you look at the positive articles on a few people comment. A negative article it has been as high as 3000+blogs on that one article.
these writers are blood sucker of the American people to get their bread and butter.
Until they start putting more balance (M.Fowler ass) to be more like Davis Coleman (the truth) they will always be unpatriotic American. At this time the people truly need a light in this dark tunnel, but not a train light coming their way. We the People have hit by lighting, thrown under the bus, the bus hit by a train to go over the cliff and now we have landed in a hole the size of the grand canyon. Some of the baby boomer don't know it is time for them to move to the back ground of the stage and play a supportive role to the next generation truly ready to lead. Our baby boomers have done a piss poor jobs of the nation. Can't we tell the old frats living in other countries to move over when I own don't to do the same.
Posted April 12, 2008 | 03:04 PM (EST)