Elitist My Ass

It has been awhile since I've been back to my hometown near Detroit, Michigan. I took the kids there in early 2007; the cold and unemployment were a stark reminder of why I left.

The abandoned buildings. For Sale signs. The way the road goes from smooth to bumpy when you cross the state line. Boarded up windows, failed 'revitalization' efforts. Friends laid off. Friends looking for work. Friends moving to get work. Family leaving, family staying, family commuting to other states for part-time jobs and part-time pay.

Make no mistake, I LOVE my hometown. I LOVE the Midwest. I think anyone and everyone should live and work and grow in these cities and towns-but understand when I tell you that Senator Barack Obama is DEAD ON when he talks about the bitterness of residents.

Are you hearing me?

This former Midwest girl is telling you Obama is not being 'elite' or 'out of touch' -he could NOT be MORE in touch. He's LISTENING and understanding that many of us who moved away and many of us that stayed are angry, frustrated, disappointed, disillusioned, and UNEMPLOYED.

In what world do Obama's remarks constitute 'looking down on'? I'm sorry, Senator Clinton-but are you HIGH? I am watching you right now, speaking in Indiana on CNN, and you are 'somewhat taken aback' by what Senator Obama said. Are you unaware that when life is as bad as it can possibly be, people turn to religion? Are you unaware that frustrated individuals tend to take up arms when they feel their very well being threatened by their surroundings?

Senator Clinton, let me be as clear as I possibly can here:

Barack Obama is giving voice to millions of us by speaking the TRUTH. He's simply vocalizing exactly what I hear from my uncle, from my high school friend, from my former teacher, from my now re-located parents. He is speaking about what he's heard, what he's been told, what he has seen.

Senator Obama's remarks reminds me yet again that he is one of us. He GETS IT. He knows that I LEFT Detroit. I AM BITTER. I AM PISSED OFF. THERE ARE NO JOBS IN MY HOMETOWN. I couldn't move my family back there if I WANTED TO.

When I do take trips back home it is depressing. My husband NEVER wants to visit because he can't stand how dejected everyone is and how run down the whole place seems. Are there some amazing neighborhoods and jobs-- of course. Is it horrible everywhere -- of course not. Is it worse there than in many other places in the US-damn right.

Do you think I like living 3-thousand miles away from my family and friends? Do you think it's fun for me to watch everyone I know get laid off, go into bankruptcy, lose their house, work two low paying jobs, move into their parents home? Do you think I am NOT bitter about any of this?

Spin it. Go ahead. Talk about how those remarks make him seem elite and condescending. It is so absurd that it only confirms for me that you and Senator McCain are COMPLETELY OUT OF TOUCH with what REAL Americans think and do and want.

I would suggest, however, that you take your rhetoric elsewhere. Because the more you yap about Obama being 'elite' -- while he's talking about how we really feel and you're releasing $109 million tax returns -- the more stupid you look.

Comments

[politigal]

Erin, you are so correct & Obama is so right about this- I laugh at McCain saying Obama is out of touch! & Hillary- shame on you- I used to like you a lot, but I expected better from you-it seems the longer you keep your run for the Presidency going- the less I like you. To think I almost voted for you in the Ohio Primary but when I went to push the button- I pushed Obama - ( not a light decision- spent time on each of your web sites etc. ) but the bottom line is- I went for the person who gave me hope, hope for change & above all hope to get beyond "politics as usual ". With your current attack on Obama you have proven to me that you would be a continuation of "politics as usual".
Please keep on blogging & talk to you friends & aquaintances about how important it is that we demand the truth & not fall for the pat pap the media is feeding us.

[pengal]

I agree 100%. Are there that many Americans that so delusional that they will buy into Clinton's BS? I'm angry that healthcare and education are unaffordable for most Americans. I'm angry that we all got to sit on our sofas and witness what is wrong with America while New Orleans drowned.

And, I'm really angry that this speech, along with what Rev. Wright had to say, will garner more attention and more outrage than all of the injustices that occur everyday in this county.

And by the way, nothing that Rev. Wright said bothered me in the least. Go ahead, express your anger -- it's healthy.

[Jazz42]

Ms/Mrs Erin Kotechi West.
I have relatives still living in Detroit.
I completely agree with you.

[shel3364]

I, too, have immediate family living near Detroit. I'm often asked when I'm going to move back. I blame it on the crappy weather, but there's nothing to move back to or for.
I remember in the 70's when jobs leaving and everyone was moving to Texas. There were jokes about bumper stickers that said "would the last one out of Michigan please turn off the lights".
That doesn't sound optimistic to me.
p.s. Are the people that Hillary "knows" in her $109m circle of friends?? I somehow doubt that she really knows or has socialized with people who are hurting in this way.

[MsCjay]

Hilliary is now saying that she knows about guns .... welll see for yourself. This was posted on the DNC blog.

Hillary Clinton Appeals For Gun Control Lobbying:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04E7D9173FF93AA35756C0A96F958260&sec=&spon

HRC CONTINUES ATTACKS ON OBAMA'S REMARKS

http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/04/12/882042.aspx

[Ono4Hoopono]

I think this is the turning point in the election. Clinton and McCain will regret their knee-jerk dismissal of what Obama said, because you are right. Obama is right on. When I heard it, I thought...OMG, he's done it again. He's tapped into what is really up with our country. Thank God for Obama, and for your beautifully articulated insights, Erin.

If one is not pissed off right now, one is not paying attention. It's as simple as that. And I agree, you turn to religion when things get tough, and when you can't provide for your family, you can go hunting with your gun to help out. I recall our sustenance being supplemented in that way when I was a kid, and people still hunt for food. I don't, but I respect someone's right to, and I'm an Obama supporter.

The framers of the Constitution, in Pennsylvania, put specific mention of rights for freedom of religion and gun ownership specifically because of the independent spirit of Americans. These things help us to stand on our own, but we deserve a government that lives up to its responsibilities, and the last several Reagan-Bush-Clinton-Bush administrations haven't.

Obama, and you Erin, [my new favorite blogger], are absolutely correct.

[Retrofuturistic]

I thought the comments (and I am an Obama fan) sounded both elitist AND patronizing. I live in the Midwest and I happen to be very educated, I am not an evangelical fundamentalist, I am not a racist, I don't have any guns, and I'm extremely well-read. So for Obama to describe me as religious, racist, and gun-toting, just by virtue of my living in a particular area, is insulting, and reflects a kind of insularity that he claims to want to get away from.

One thing the American people don't like is to be considered less intelligent than they are, which is a mistake that many politicians have made. I also think that some white people who were for Obama, because they were judging him by the content of his character instead of by the color of his skin, might suddenly discover that they don't like the idea of being patronized by a black man. I think these remarks will hurt him.

[charley0008]

Sadly, you missed the question that Obama was responding to when he made those remarks. He was not being elitist nor patronizing if you put it in context, nor was he talking about everyone in the Midwest.

[suzmad2]

Did you read the whole quote, or just the half quote the main stream media is running? I too am from small town midwest, am white and highly educated. I thought he was refreshingly honest in his quote. He pegged many people in small town Illinois! They are bitter, their jobs are gone and there is nothing left but the high school football team (if they have not consolidated with the four small towns in the vicinity). If you have not read the whole quote- please read, both the question he was asked, and the whole answer! It was very true- and again they will end up with nothing if it is McHillary

[naschkatze]

Gee I hope some Obama staffer reads these blogs. You have outlined the argument Obama needs to make. In fact, he ought to get you out there talking for him.

[naschkatze]

There is a theme running through this thread that Hillary Clinton is a Republican. I just sent the DNC a little e-mail claiming the same thing: Clinton is sending an anti-Democratic message, and aren't we supposed to take back the White House on the message that people are really hurting after 8 years of Bush? Clinton is saying that everyone she talks to is happy and optimistic, so my point is that things cannot have been that bad for working people under Bush, right? According to Clinton that would seem to be the case. And I'd like to know where all the work is, you know, "people are rolling up their sleeves and getting to work."

Anyway, many of you have brought out different aspects of this DLC Republican mole in the Democratic Party so I hope some of you will e-mail the DNC also and repeat your comments to them.

[happytrails]

But they don't/won't listen. Ever since HRC declared her candidacy, I have been sending back the appeals for money from the DNC with comments like those you suggest. The reply I get is always another request for money, which I do not send.
All we can do is hope that the Democrats in the upcoming primaries do not vote against their best interests AGAIN!
All we can do is hope the Democrats in the upcoming primaries will have the courage to vote for the future and not for the bankrupt past.
All we can do is hope that Obama wins and is truly an agent for change. We know that Billary does not represent HOPE or CHANGE or POSSIBILITY for anyone but themselves.

[northof55]

Erin,

I am from Michigan and have seen 300,000 manufacturing jobs disappear during Bush. Obama is absolutely right about rural America. You think there are rednecks in the south? Visit rural Michigan. I know, I live there, have all my life and quite honestly, I have a lot of redneck in me. I know rural America and Obamas remarks are spot on.

The cuts in the auto industry have gutted the states job base. But Michigan always does worse under republican presidents. Those great Reagan years, ha, ha, Michigan averaged eight percent unemployment. The problem this time, unlike the 1980s, those jobs may not come back unless the federal government stops incentives for moving offshore. Republicans are bad for the midwest and manufacturing states. Thats the bottom line.

As far as Michigan government, the last republican Governor, John Engler, did more harm to Michigan that any in the states history. We are still trying to recover as a state government. He cut taxes and bonded all state projects leaving the debt payments to kick in just after the next Governor, Gov. Granholm, took office setting a budget deficit up and cuts that are still taking place five years later. Communities have been hit hard from State cuts to local governments causing cities, villages and counties to lay off thousands of police.

Michigan has been killed from free trade and it isn't the liberals who done it. It was Bush I, Clinton (who I consider republican lite) and Bush II.

[Poboy]

"Michigan has been killed from free trade and it isn't the liberals who done it. It was Bush I, Clinton (who I consider republican lite) and Bush II."

And Reagan. Under Reagan American went from being the largest creditor nation to the largest debtor nation, all under Reagan.

Why do you think Japan paid him $2 million dollars upon his leaving office?

[lizzytysh]

Erin!! You are EXACTLY Right!! I'm from Michigan [Flint ~ my portion now being called Burton]... and I've watched and listened to Flint CRUMBLE... it would appear irrevocably. I listen to my family and friends still there talk about how sad it is there now.

This is another thing that Barack Obama has put on the table! Americans have become disillusioned and bitter for a LOT of reasons. I pray that those living in Pennsylvania will recognize his honesty and the truth in his words! He is LISTENING to and truly HEARING people!!! He's giving millions Voice!

[darker]

No American wants to HEAR THE TRUTH? Maybe not, because so far the LIARS HAVE WON.
AMERICANS LOVE LIARS. hate truth-tellers. Listen to Republican FEAR-MONGERS and vote for them over and over again. With stupid Americans like THAT, good luck, Obama!

[Herrington]

Who knows when Obama’s political ambitions were coined. Maybe it was literally his time in South Chicago as a community organizer, after 2 yrs at Occidental College and before taking Political Science at Columbia. Magna Cum Laude is very impressive at Harvard and president of Harvard Law Review is even more so. The man is arguably one of the smarter people on the planet.

But smart is the new dumb. It took Reagan and thirty years of conditioning, but smart is now a criticism along with liberal. Can any Democrat honestly argue that we are the party of stupid people? Education universally converts conservatives to liberals. That’s why Republicans hate public school.

If liberals are all elitists, as the Republicans have pushed for three decades, I guess we are doomed, because then none of us qualifies for public office. That is what we are up against here, and the MSM happily plays along, liberal is bad and out of touch and conservative is the only good.

Liberal Elitist is a conservative construct and Clinton is wielding it with the same conviction as any arch conservative mouthpiece.

I wonder where we would be without liberal elitists. Lets see, no civil rights, no New Deal, no monopoly law, there would still be slavery, and the would not be a U.S. Constitution. The fact that conservatives are busy undoing all these things is proof of the subversion of reason.

[colleen2]

"Liberal Elitist is a conservative construct and Clinton is wielding it with the same conviction as any arch conservative mouthpiece."

Quite so.
The DLC and that asshole Bruce Reed have been pulling up this canard every election for the past 5 cycles. It's old, it's stale and they never accuse republicans of being 'elitist'.
Thus Bill Richardson is 'Judas' and Joe Lieberman is a good 'centrist' Democrat

[booksnmore4you]

"Smart is the new dumb". Bingo. After more than a decade of AM talk radio hosts spewing propaganda, I sometimes doubt whether the average non-college educated American is capable of following anything intellectual.

[LeonBNJ]

The sad part is those decent paying, low education requiring jobs in much of American are long gone, shifted to lower cost areas of the USA, with low unionization, or to Mexico or overseas to China and elsewhere in Asia as well as due to technological improvements requiring many fewer employees. No politican well ever get many of those jobs back, but the voters must choose those politicans that will bring back some sound trade, labor protection, tax, business regulation and other policies that may end the drain of jobs. At least Obama 'gets it' to some extent as to how these angry voters have been abused by Republicans using 'guns and God' to attract these people.

[BaltoJim]

Great post, Erin. Hillary is again taking a page out of the Republican playbook by projecting one of her negative qualities onto her opponent. It's not a coincidence that she's claiming Obama is "elitist" the day after holding a multi-million dollar fundraiser featuring a performance by Elton John.

[shaddomagg]

I'm thinking that its HRC and St. McCain who are out of touch with these folks! Obama has nothing to apologize for if this blogger is right in her sentiments...and she should know!!!

[isis]

It's kind f funny that people who represent New York and Arizona get down on someone from illinois for talking about the Midwest. If anybody is being high handed and snobby, it's them. People in the Midwest are tired of being fly over people who are told what to think and when to get insulted.