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.
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Thanks for the post. To me, the Clintons are all about projection. They accuse Obama of anything that actually they themselves have done. Since they think they are "owed" or are "entitled" to the presidency, I'd say "elitist" fits them pretty well.
You get a soul clap on that one!
I don't post often but this post really moved me. Thanks to Ms. Vest giving voice to my frustration in watching two poiticians try to distract us, once again, from the TRUTH being given to us by a true leader.
Senator Obama is not perfect and we don't need him to be. We just need him to keep relaying the truth to us and encouraging (no, CHALLENGING) us to stand up for ourselves and do better.
Senator Clinton would do well to consider that "white working class" does not equal "easily manipulated due to lack of formal education". Many voters in Pennsylvania will see though this latest political power play and will cast their vote for something (and someone) better. I have faith in the citizens of PA to see beyond the soundbites and recognize who really is listening to their frustrations and is trying to speak to their needs with more than rhetoric.
People are ready to hear the truth, I think, because we're finally beginning to realize that the lies of the past have not served us well.
Again, I thank Ms. Vest for the post.
While Obama seeks to connect with real problems that many Americans feel, Hillary is all about pandering. HIllary doesn't want people to feel hope in the process - she thinks SHE is the process. Hillary doesn't want honest discourse about Americans' problems - she thinks SHE has all the answers. Hillary doesn't want to trust Americans to think - she thinks SHE knows what Americans should think.
Those that haven't been out of work have no idea what it's like - especially if there are no jobs to go to. How many workers - especially blue collar workers - have seen their jobs disappear and fight for other jobs paying 1/2 or less wages with poor or little in the way of benefits. How many couples work full time and still find it hard to make ends meet? How many parents have to see their children leave their hometown to find work - breaking up the extended family for the first time in generations - because good paying jobs just don't exist? How about those whose unemployment payments run out and they aren't even counted in the unemployment statistics? What have these good hard working people done to deserve this?
Not long ago, a job - a single job - was posted for a turnpike tollbooth collector in NE Ohio. Literally thousand of applications were filed for that single job. Obama has hit it right on the head. His presence in this race is refreshing. We have the real opportunity
Erin: You totally get it. I live in Northeast Pennsylvania and those things Barack referred to completely exist here. A question should be asked of Hillary and John Mac: what's more elitist, Obama pointing out mindsets that exist in many rural towns in this country, or being in the position to help introduce and vote for laws and policies that would help bring hope back to those communities, in the form of money for job creation or infrastrucure, yet instead deciding to continue to finance an unnecessary war in Iraq?
You GO, girl! My sentiments exactly.
About a dozen years ago, I had business that took me to Toledo, Ohio, all week every week for about six months. Talk about a depressed (and depressing) location. The city fathers had clearly tried to bring the city center back to life. The failure of those efforts made it an even grimmer place. And small towns that were dependent on a single big company for jobs which have gone overseas are no better off.
Only when the the angry (and yes, even embittered) workers who were left holding the bag stop voting their anger and allowing themselves to be distracted by wedge issues and start voting their economic interests will anything change. Remember that Obama's message is that change starts from the bottom up. HE gets it? Do the voters? I think so every time I hear the overwhelming reaction he gets when he says that WE have to do our part and stay engaged.
I am also a displaced worker from Toledo. When I go back, I'm shocked by the length of the lines at the food banks. The ironic thing for me is the H1B program (which Hillary supports) finally put me out of work for good even after moving 2500 miles to stay employed. The big question is, will Mexico build a border fence when the migration flow reverses?
It may not be long given the race to the bottom. We are on the verge of being the wealthiest third world country on the planet. When we are in as dire shape an Mexico, the flow will cease.
The H1B visa has to be one of the worst tricks ever played on working Americans.
Sen. Clinton must never have asked herself why 81% of the people think the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction. With 81% thinking like that there's bound to be a few bitter ones.
BAM!
Right on, Erin!
Thank you, thank you, thank you, I so appreciate reading your outrage at how the Obama statements are being played by Clinton and the media. Thank goodness we are in the age of the internet and we can circumvent the powers that have always built a narrative, then just repeated it over and over till that is all we thought about (Dean's scream). No more, now I can read blogs like yours and feel hope that the days of American’s being susceptible to the MSM’s (corporate America) manipulation is coming to an end.
Thanks, Erin, for your thoughtful, articulate and intelligent post.
Yep. He understood the problem and told the truth which gives me hope.
And he's already apologized for it which fills me with despair.
Anyone with doubts about Obama's observation should read "Deer Hunting With Jesus" by Joe Bageant. It's a real eye opener.
He is only saying her regrets it if people were offended, but that his observation is still true.
TRUE in sum and in all its parts, absolutely GREAT post, thanks--what a relief to hear people talking sense about this!
Thank you Erin!
"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?"
I hear you Erin! I'm from Pennsylvania but live in California. And while I wish Clinton was "high" if only to explain her selfish, destructive, delusional behavior, I'm afraid that this sort of pandering WILL work in PA.
Where I'm from it's going to take a lot for a majority to vote for "the black guy" But if Hillary can paint him as a snotty snob out of touch with reality at the same time...tha
Funny that this shady,dirty-tricks, couple who have made HUNDREDS of MILLIONS in the past decade (!!!!!!!!!) (and we STILL do not know EXACTLY how) cold possibly paint someone else as an "out-of-touch elitist"
Only on Planet Clinton is a black community organizer the elitist, while the corporate-
You have the audacity to complain, why you ingrate!!!
After all this administration has done for you.
Jobs are overrated. Who wants to work anyway. You see sea otters working? Hell no, they play in the surf all day and crack clam shells open on their stomachs.
If you can't say something nice about this country, well it's time for you and all your pinko commie friends with your birkenstocks to move up to Canada. Our forefathers busted their asses to allow you to fund illegitimate wars in other nations, spreading the seed of imperialism, and pushing our philosophies on tribal nations that have no interest in anything but sectarian supremacy.
Hillary says she doesn't see bitterness, who are you to tell her about your bitterness. You're lucky she doesn't have you all beheaded.
Really, some people. Brought to you by the Tongue in Cheek Association of America.
Funny - The sad thing is that this is exactly how most right-wing conservatives actually think. Sigh.
Apparently, some Left-Wing "Liberals" think the same way... Hillary Et Al...
Michale...
Oooo, shades of Minneapolis Mike.
A quibble: Teva sandals are much better than Birkenstock sandals. A survey of aged hippies would prove that Teva is the best sandals sold in the USA.
In the event her Hillaryship starts beheading people-I hope that she makes sure that the blades aren't like Slick Willy, a dull tool. I hope that her executioners & the blades they use are like Barrack Hussein Obama, skilled & sharp.
Neither BHO nor AAAA [Atavistic Anti-Anything Alliance] know of this comment & they wouldn't approve of my comment or me, if they knew of my comment or me.
larry lynch
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