One thing I think Obama got wrong on the whole thing is that it's not really the working class generally that gets bitter, but the non-working class who want to be working class or those who are afraid of falling into the non-working class. Guys who have steady jobs and stay ahead of their bills don't in general get that bitter. Guys who constantly have to look for a new job or have the bank and other creditors after them do. When you spend everyday working to stay behind on your bills, you get bitter.
So, even if these guys did have legitimate working class bona fides, they aren't the people that are relevant to the discussion. There wasn't this widespread debt for people who work that there is now.
Think about the guys who are working class not because of any lack of academic ability or desire but because they had to start working in a factory to help out the family. I'm betting none of these guys were in that situation.
Our "Working Class" Press
A lot of inside the beltway talking heads and journalists have claimed a special understanding of working class Pennsylvania voters lately.
They say they understand working class Pennsylvanians because they come from Pennsylvania themselves. Or because their fathers belonged to a union. Or worked in a factory. Or drank beer. Or owned a gun. Or bowled.
I would submit that if, as a journalist, you have to explain your working class bona fides, then you probably don't have working class bona fides. That if you're commenting on working class voters in the national media, your perspective may be somewhat distorted by all those tax brackets between you and your subject.
Intellectual honesty is a diaphanous thing. And while they're sneering at the candidates for stopping to bowl, or have a beer and a shot in front of the cameras, some journalists have no qualms about reinventing themselves - recalling childhoods misspent on the mean streets of West Chester. Or Levittown. Or some other middle class place.
It all borders on disingenuity. And triggers a question or two:
In selflessly leaving Manhattan or Georgetown to go off into the wilds of Pennsylvania and interpret all things working class for the rest of us, did such people actually tell us what happened?
Or did they subliminally filter their coverage and analysis through a comfortable fiction they created for themselves?
All signs point to analysis through comfortable fiction. When they report from Crawford Texas, they wear cowboy boots that have never been in the proximity of real bovine-generated manure. When they report from Pittsburgh, they wear freshly-starched blue collar values.
They can't help it. Like the high school cool kids they were, they climb into the fashion du jour and anoint themselves arbiters of truth writ large and small.
Yea verily, no one gets to the White House but that they go through this throng.
And still they preen. And posture. And diddle. And while they diddle, real working class America burns.
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I suppose next you're going to tell me that Bill O"Bluster isn't an independent.
Yeah, Its kind of like telling a black person you understand their plight because you once had a black friend.
You need to live like a working class person before you can analyize it for the rest of us. Do you worry when you put gas into your car that you will have enough money in your pocket to pay for it? Have you done any grocery shopping lately and have seen the soaring cost of food, particularly the essentials? Do you and your kids worry how you are going to pay that next semester of college tuition? Do you wonder if your pension is really safe and will be there when you retire? How old is your car? Is trying to meet the mortgage, rent, utility payments becoming a scary issue? With factories closing and mergers happening every day are you worried that you will even have a job by the end of the year? Is healthcare something that keeps you awake at night should you and your family become ill? I doubt any of these overpaid pundits has a clue to what constitutes the working class and simply because they were able rise out of that label doesn't make them experts.
And once you recognize: "It's the economy, Stupid", you will recognize: "It's not Obama, Stupid, it's Hillary".
Why? 1992-2000: best economic growth in US History. Half trillion Republican deficit turned into half trillion Clinton surplus. And, btw, 22.7 million new jobs added to the economy that are still with us today.
Do you want "hope" for change from someone who has added zero jobs to the US economy, or "real" change from someone who has already added 22.7 million new jobs.
It is very difficult to penetrate thick skulls, especially in the face of a full scale media, right wing, and left wing attack on Hillary, that has worn on nearly 6 months now. But someone must be wondering why the hell do people keep voting for Hillary. Now you know the answer.
Wait, wasn't that Bill in charge back then? How is this Hilliary's legacy? This is irrelevant on either point because this is a very different economy. There is less to build on for new jobs because Bill sent them off shores with NAFTA.
Once a person has the rude awakening that they are, in fact, a member of the working class, they quickly realize: "It's the economy, Stupid".
One of the big problems in this election is that people do not even know what the "working class" is.
Most "liberals", especially the latte type, do not consider themselves working class. This is self-delusion just as their support of Obama is self-delusion.
There are a couple of simple tests to determine whether you are "working class".
1. Can you quit your job next week, never get another one, and live happily ever after. If the answer is "yes", then you are not in the working class. If the answer is "no", welcome aboard.
2. Do you have at least $10 million in liquid assets, not including your house? i.e. $10M can enable you to have a few hundred K income to pay the bills. If so, then, congratulations, you no longer have to consider yourself a member of the working class.
The key word is "work". i.e. if you have to work (i.e. "have to" not "choose to"), then you are working class.
So, all you so-called "professionals", time to get off your high horse and recognize who you are.
For-profit corporate news is not interested in reporting the "truth" , which kind of kills their entire credibility since that's the sole reason for the news existence.
Or did they subliminally filter their coverage and analysis through a comfortable fiction they created for themselves?
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This entire eleciton has been filtered through the media's verison of truth.
Working classer here. I am the 2nd child in a brood of 11. My father worked in a meat packing plant and mom kept house and took care of us. We ate supper together as a family everyday.
I have no formal education, but I knew what was coming down when Ronald Reagan interfered with the controllers strike. That was the beginning of the end for working class Americans.
I'd like to ask Chris Matthews or anyone else in MSM if they've ever had to add their groceries up by hand before they can go to checkout. How many times have they driven up to the pump and could only afford to put 10 bucks worth of gas in the car? Do they have to use toilet paper instead tissues to blow their nose? Have they ever had to substitute browned bread or cracker crumbs for meat in a meal?
I doubt it. Many of the folks in MSM would actually be ignorant enough to laugh about the instances I've described.
I have nothing to add here, other than to applaud this very moving and accurate comment.
It is strange, if you aren't in the media, you put in entries which show that you aren't working class when you send out a cv. You tend to develop nonworking class tastes such as buying art work & show your collection to visitors. The people who are still stuck in the working class have a right to see a former working class pundit or talking head as a phony. I mean the MSM people & the working class laughed at Hillary when she had a double of Crown Royal & chased it with a beer. But the working people had a different reason for laughing at HRC. Crown Royal is top shelf, not in the bar's well. You drink well whisky when you chase whisky with a beer. If Hillary chased a double of Segrams 7 with beer a working stiff could relate to that. You shout, "I'm slumming.", when you drink top shelf whisky at a working class bar. The MSM types laughed at Hillary for slumming to get votes. I can't recall why working class people laughed at Hillary since I quit hanging with working class people when I was graduated from a university.
If my comment is posted on HP & a working class person bothers with looking at my comment, they may tell us what is so funny to them about Hillary chasing Crown Royal with beer. I doubt if they will pay attention to my prissy airs.
l lynch
Understanding human and community motivation and behavior in a substantial and significant way requires, first, a genuine curiosity and respect for the other, and second, a keen mind. Not everyone has the necessary attributes. In fact, it is the rare individual who does. We train a lot of journalists to get the job done, but not all have the gift.
Remember the average American family with 2.3 children. Obviously, it never existed. We talked about it, sliced and diced it, but not even one ever existed. There are families with one or two children, less with three, and even less with four or more.
Unfortunately, we spend too much time listening to those who don't know, and longing for those who do. There are good journalists out there, but it takes time and a lot of effort to find them. I'm glad to have found quite a few here at HuffPo (Jane Smiley, are you listening?)
To all you people out there who grew up in working class families--your experience and memories are not the same as those of your parents, who may have been sitting up at night trying to decide which "amount due" could wait and which one had to be paid immediately. Our parents shielded us from such things. After all, they were going to send their kids (you and I) to college and there was hope for the next generation. Not so true anymore.
LOL, reminds me of newscasters I see reporting during wildfires wearing their starched and spotless yellow Nomax. Wherever they are broadcasting from is always far enough away from the fire that they don't need to wear fire gear, but they always do, think they are looking the part. To anyone who's worked on or been around real wildland firefighters (such as myself) they look totally out of place.
in US the GOP talk radio monopoly determines who is elitist and who is working class.
You should also mention that these 'journalists' are not simply ignorant of the working class, but are *wilfully* ignorant. It's not an accident.
If the media stars want to know what the 'working class' thinks why don't they ask the techs working on the set. Why not stay late one night and ask the cleaning crew? Why not ask the staff that watches your child while you're working, the nurses at the local hospital?
If they really want to know count the votes on Tuesday.
Someone please revive "Media Whores On Line."
The real problem is not that today's journalists can't really relate to the working class. The nature of corporate media no longer attracts the caliber of journalists that it once did. Folks with any integrity have long gone to other occupations rather than tow the corporate line. Hence we are left with the Charlie Gibsons and the Chris Matthews of the world - ready to twist the news in whichever directions their corporate masters want. Thank goodness for the Internet journalists.
If you have earned (or been lucky enough) to own fancy cars and a nice house, those of us who are still struggling and will struggle for the rest of our lives are, oddly enough, not all that envious or spiteful about it as long as there remains the chance that someday we will get to the same level. When we become bitter, it is because our chances have been stolen from us. We used to be able to start small and grow. Find a "fixer-upper" house today that can be purchased inexpensively so your family can have a yard to spend the summer outdoors in, and the kids can shout and play without the neighbors banging on the walls or ceiling (or calling the police to complain about noise) anywhere in the country. It can't be done. The vultures will swoop down on anything reasonable, spend some money on it, often not much more than a white-wash job, and get back on the market at 4 times the price. We have plenty of people wanting good jobs, plenty of containers coming into this country that are not inspected, why is there no training for these people to get a serious, much-needed job done and done well? Why is there nothing for the average person anymore? Everything costs as much as the rich can ask for it while the rest of us lose a bit more every month.
Not only are they not "working class" they are mostly not registered voters. Yep it's true, these reporters generally DO NOT VOTE. They don't register and vote to keep up the illusion of non-biased participation in our elections. They do their best to influence our elections but they don't vote.
People should ask when they interfere "what possible interest would so and so with his/her slew of degrees many of them Ivy League, with million plus a year salaries have in stopping a candidate I like?" It comes down to this, if they are not registered, and don't vote, then they will try to influence the election to best support their paychecks. That means they want either the Republican, since they are clearly in the top circle of earners, or the corporate interests of their employers to succeed to protect those checks. They promote the weakest possible democrat, attack and weaken the strongest oppenent to the corporate Republican.That is that.
The inside Washington press circles are the anti -Clinton club. It diverts attention away from Bush's failures when they openly refused to seriously cover or call for investigations on, or some cases, like Iraq, shamelessly cheer. They know if Clinton is nominated it will be an unbeatable team of Clinton/Obama. If Obama, his people will block Clinton on the ticket. Another weak opponent for Republicans to destroy like Gore and Kerry. Press tax brackets, jobs, and pay stay protected thanks to the "working class" press.
they assume that because they are not the "idle rich", that because they show up for their gigs everyday, that's "working class."
FDR was hardly the type to play poker with the boys, down at the pool hall, while knocking back a few brewskis. Yet he may have been one of the most sympathetic and friendly politicians, towards the working classes we have ever seen.
On the other hand,we have George Bush's "man of the people" pose. Both blue collar and middle class white collar citizens have been mightily screwed by the latter, while given a real leg up by the former.
Anyone can masquerade as a regular person. It's their actions that count, or should.
"Or some other imminently middle class place."
I think that's "eminently."
"Imminently" would imply something about to occur.
Such as Clinton going down in a blaze of gor-ey, followed in few months by Obama going up in a puff of hot air . . . .
I was raised in a working class family, I think (my Dad was classified as"white collar" by the large corporation he worked for, but, ironically enough, because he didn't have union representation, he actually made less than the union guys he worked with). However, I have an undergraduate and graduate degree from a college that is ranked just below Ivy League and so does my husband. Neither of us have ever had to "work for a living" (i.e., use our hands for anything other than writing or typing). So, even with my background, I wouldn't consider myself working class, or consider that I had some special insight into what it means to be working class. Apparently, reporters who have livestyles and educations more similar to mine than people in the working class have no such reservations. I'm reminded of the right-wing radio guy who was featured on Countdown this week. Apparently, he went after Barack Obama for being an elitist because he has a Harvard Law degree, when, it turns out, this radio guy has . . . wait for it . . . a HARVARD LAW DEGREE! Just when you thought things couldn't get any sillier . . .
You are a typical self-deluded "liberal" Obama supporter who has no clue what it means to be in the "working class". It does not mean "working with your hands".
It means you have to actually go to "work" to support your life style.
I am sure it will take you quite a while to come to terms with that, so I won't complicate it any further.
Being raised in a working class family means that your parents experienced life as working class. If you were a child in that home, your experience wasn't the same because you were going to go to college and you had hope.
You can look to Chris Mathews & Russert,They are quick to tell you they are working class.Well working class doesn't meaning owning 3 homes and being driven to the studio.How about that European vacation Mathews enjoyed recently is that working class ?
I find it interesting that I always hear on the news that "people in X are upset." And yet there's never any polling to back it up and even when they do talk to anyone, it's one or two guys they found on the street. But unless you're in a big city, you don't find many average folk just wondering the streets. And there is no respectable empirical discipline that takes that type of anecdotal evidence to show anything conclusive or even suggestive.
Most insulting is that I always hear about what people want to hear about. How do they get this information? Last year, Reuters stopped reporting on Paris Hilton to see if it affected business or anyone would notice. It didn't and nobody did. Yet after the week was up, they returned to reporting on Paris because people wanted to read about her. What? Didn't their experiment show the exact opposite? Let's face it, the press is lazy, out of touch, and uninformed about anything but the two or three videos per day that they show ad nauseam.
And thus, there"s great confusion about it means to be a working class American. These swells, if I may, think that going without a necktie or wearing cowboy boots is all there is to it. They"re wrong! If they want to know what it"s like in the working class they need to experience it first hand, like sitting in the Union Hall waiting and hoping to be called just before Christmas so you can actually celebrate it or to be thrown out like the trash whenever the company you work for comes up short on its ledger. If you"ve experienced that, then you can imagine what it"s like to be a working class American today.
I do disagree with Peter about one thing however, Those cowboy boots in Crawford, Texas have seen mounds of bull-s**t.
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Posted April 19, 2008 | 10:17 AM (EST)