The pervasive aroma of liberalism that permeates throughout the Bay Area obviously taints me, but I don't understand the hoopla over Sen. Barack Obama's now infamous "bitter" statements.
As it is with most sound bite driven controversies more attention has been given to the exact words void of their context or the requisite critical thinking normally associated with reaching an informed decision.
So let us engage in a brief exegetical exercise of the senator's words.
Obama said: "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. 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."
Have small towns lost jobs? Did they fall through the economic cracks of the Clinton and Bush Administrations? Were they promised either by implication or an overt political promise that they would regenerate like the phoenix rising from the ashes?
Obama then added: "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."
Are we to assume that every single person who lives in what may qualify as a "small town" is represented in Obama's statement or that he was attempting to make a blanket sociological analysis?
For those who are hell-bent to live in the land of obtuse or are simply trying to make political points there is probably little reason to continue reading.
But people are bitter, frustrated, searching for answers; and those frustrations and fears have been played upon to make political points since the country's inception.
How many white southerners valiantly gave their lives in the Civil War, protecting a lifestyle that was as remote to them as for the slaves, which they claimed superiority? Many of the most violent terrorists during the Civil Rights Movement experienced economic conditions no better than those who marched for equality while facing police dogs and fire hoses.
What is the purpose of wedge issues if not to play on people's frustrations and fears? Has illegal immigration not been used as a way to explain job loss? Has same-gender marriage not been presented as exhibit A to explain America's so-called moral decline?
Small towns also claim the dubious honor of sustaining an inordinate amount of loss during the Iraq war -- nearly half of those killed in Iraq came from towns where fewer than 25,000 people live.
Obama's statements were made as the latest Gallup poll indicates 83 percent are dissatisfied with the direction of the country. If anything, these findings suggest Obama's comments did not go far enough--most of us regardless of the size of our community are feeling some measure of frustration.
Imagine for a moment if Obama had made similar statements about young black males. Would there have been a controversy? No, there wouldn't. Why? Probably due to the fact he did make similar statements just prior to what is now being called "bittergate."
I doubt these comments would garner similar above-the-fold coverage in most of the nation's newspapers, as did Obama's "bitter" statements.
If we strip away the wallpaper of this controversy what we find is not whether Obama is an elitist, but can the white person in rural Pennsylvania or elsewhere trust him to deliver where previous administrations have failed?
This is the hurdle that Obama must clear--it is not unlike the challenges that faced Al Gore and John Kerry.
Democrats have bemoaned for decades that many blue-collar workers vote against their economic self-interest in order to support Republicans, but their analysis fails to include that political support is as much emotionally based, if not more so, than it is issue driven.
Until Democrats understand this reality they will continue to be the party relegated to cameo appearances when it comes to who occupies the White House.
Byron Williams is an Oakland pastor and syndicated columnist. He is the author of "Strip Mall Patriotism: Moral Reflections of the Iraq War." E-mail him at byron@byronspeaks.com or go to his website, byronspeaks.com
Follow Byron Williams on Twitter: www.twitter.com/byronspeaks
People who are in denial don't want to hear the truth and an intervention won't work if you don't get the enablers on board or at least out of the room. Republicans have made enabling their stock and trade. It makes me sad to see H.Clinton emulating them. I thought better of her.
as a pastor I wish you would explain the "cling to religion" part. I am sort of kind of with the "bitter" stuff but I still don't get the religion connection
Here's what I heard your superman say about me and people like me. That we're nothing but Bible thumping, gun toting bigots. "They cling to guns" (gun toting) "or religion" (Bible thumping) "They have antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment" (bigot).
That's an insult to everyone who's willing to work with their hands and your superman isn't even man enough to apologize for it.
I honestly didn't care who won the Democratic nomination, I was eager to vote for the winner. But now hell will freeze over before I vote for Obama!
When you drive into a wealthy neighborhood do you see pawn shops every block selling guns.
No.
Lotta drive by's in Scarsdale, or Malibu? No, but in Watts, and Oakland, and Compton...uhm yeah.
But they're black, you say. We're talking about Americans.
They are Americans. And some carry guns because their government and law enforcement don't protect them. Why? They're poor. That's why.
Are their churches packed with raucous crowds, filled with parishioners, these wealthy neigborhoods. No.
Trinity Church on a Sunday, packed. Baptist churches throughou the south. Packed. Inner city churches, those joints are jumpin'. Why?
Because in the absence of hope, people gravitate to god.
Did Barack mock those instincts. No.
He didn't laugh at the unfortunate, the economically deprived, he said they gravitate sometimes to god guns and anger.
And you certainly have displayed enough anger in your posts to prove his point.
I feel that has a BIG part to do with why it's become so "controversial." Senator Obama delivered a message that was honest and and yes accurate. The media's love for soundbites, the right wing conspiracy theorist with the help of HELLary have taken a perfectly legit statement and spun it to their convenience. Sickening.
Great post.................Thank you.
If Hillary was running against a midget, we'd be arguing that people in Scranton were insulted at being called tall.
She's the Terminator, coming after Barack relentlessly since he beat her in Iowa, hell bent on his destruction. She's not racist. But many in this country are, so she'll use race against him, because she feels entitled to the White House.
She's nearly destroyed this party, and endorsed Senator McCain, and now in tandem they gang up on Obama like Harvey Korman and Slim Pickens did in "Blazing Saddles ", when they try to destroy the sheriff of Rock Ridge, who happens to be black. The Sheriff is a N.....
They don't come out and say it, they just infer it. Elitist my ass, just come out and say uppity...
Who us???
Yes you. No, not racist, just inclined to tapping into America's fear of a black man. Barack, you're really too good to be president of this country. Why bother.
And she's sad
That the one we love is anyone but her.
Especially that Barack guy.
O-O-Obama
Makes us wanna
Vote for him instead of her
No matter what she does.
Hill's bitter bad,
And she feels that she's been had
Because he's black and because she's white.
Hill's bitter bad,
And now she's really mad
She'll hug McCain and, maybe, vote for him, too.
O, what a turn;
What a mean, low down worm
She's turned out to be.
Destroy the party if she can't be President....
Because.....
It's her party,
And she'll betray it if she has to;
Betray it if she has to;
Betray it if she has to.
Or hold her breath until she turns blue.
oh desiderata! brilllllllllliant !!!
remember philip sydney? "the poet nothing affirmeth"? *sigh* ars longa, vita brevis.....
have you read barack h. obama sr.´s essay rebutting kenyatta´s "vision" of african socialisn?
it´s on politico. the neo-cons are going NUTS trying to prove genetic predisposition to toxic pre-existing unhealthy socio-political ideas, i.e. we are endowed by our Creator with certain inallienable rights, among them life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. REVOLUTIONARY !!!
What we need is more/better education. But the education needed is often resisted by traditionalists.
I'm somewhat encouraged by news from North and South Dakota that young people are leaning Democratic. But I'm deeply concerned about what will happen in the meantime.