For Barack Obama, It's Not a Question of Being Elite, It's About Understanding

Barack Obama continues to be under attack for comments he made that many have called elitist:

"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 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."

Some have spoken out saying there was nothing "elite" about his remarks. Maybe "elite" was the wrong word. Elite or not, his comments weren't very politic, especially if he was hoping to win over more voters in the Keystone state.

So on the heels of those remarks, I wanted have a chat with Barack Obama and his campaign staff about this:

My Pennsylvania parents found your comments condescending.

My mom and dad are farmers outside a pretty small-town who have eked out a living for the 50+ years they've been married. They've seen their kids grow up and be successful, yet their needs as farmers have been ignored time and time again by the government and politicians. The prices they pay for groceries go up, yet the amount my dad can get for his crops or his livestock stagnates or falls. They've seen the government adopt policies that favor large, corporate agribusinesses while small family farmers like them get the short end.

Their frustration has not caused them to develop a love of guns or a hate for others. They might not be Harvard educated like you, but they're pretty darn smart. Their frustration stems from politicians being out of touch with people like them.

They're frustrated because throughout their lives most politicians haven't been interested in helping them or developing policies that could benefit people like them. My parents see politicos taking money from huge corporations and hearing about massive tax breaks for entities that don't need them, while those same officials ignore hard-working people who have tried to make an honest living, raise their kids and have a little something left over for themselves at the end of the day.

My parents usually feel left out when it comes to presidential politics. With their Pennsylvania primary in April, many times a decision has already been made on the candidates by the time their election day rolls around and they've felt their votes were pointless.

This year, their votes mean something and they, like so many people in this country, are on the fence about which way to jump.

Barack, that's not good news for you after that speech.

No matter what the rest of us think about your remarks, for the people in rural Pennsylvania who feel the economy has left them behind, those comments not going to win you any votes.

Barack, if you really want to be President of the United States, you're going to have to dig a little deeper in the next week. Many find your speeches inspiring, but for better or worse, you need to feel my parents' pain without alienating them by suggesting they're not smart enough to understand the root of their economic problems or that they're so simple, they assuage their anger by sitting on the front porch with a rifle, Granny Clampett-style.

I know you've "apologized," but my parents aren't buying it. If you're interested in their votes, you'll need to do a little better than that. I'm sure they'd be happy to talk to you about what they'd like to see change in this country, if you have the time. I know my mom wants to discuss her grocery bill last week, especially what's happened to the price of flour, eggs and frozen waffles.

And while I haven't asked them, I'm pretty sure their comments won't have anything to do with "antipathy to people who aren't like them." If you're interested, let me know. I'll send you their address.

You can also find Joanne talking about other political things on her mind at PunditMom.

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Comments

[ElliottPhD]

Obama chose his words poorly, and he has admitted this. He addressed the same issue in 2004:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oGF3cyHE7M

I believe this more accurately expresses what he meant to say. People cling to such things as religion and guns as POLITICAL ISSUES because politicians either ignore or fail to keep their promises on economic issues. Most voters get this. If Joanne Bamberger and her parents have bought into the anti-Obama spin, it is unfortunate. I hope they and others will become better informed.

[Rule Of Law]

Remarks that "many" called elitist? No--Hillary called them elitist, and the MSM and the rest of the mindless Hillary bloggers obligingly repeated the meme!

[BuckeyeMike]

What Obama is not... an elitist.
What Obama is... an intellectual.

There's a difference. One gets to be an elitist by being privileged. One gets to be an intellectual by being smart.

[shep1900]

Call me picky, but I like it better when really smart people don't say and do "boneheaded" (Senator Obama's word, to describe his shady real estate deal, not mine) things on a regular basis.

[OtayPanky]

Let's cut through the partisan crap on this one...otay?

I'm 100% for Obama and 200% against Clinton, but what he said was truly STUPID...by any measure.

It's one thing to say that people are bitter because they've been left behind economically. That's 100% true - whether we're talking about rural white America or urban black America.

It's another to say that people are making their CULTURAL CHOICES because of said bitterness. Rural Americans love to hunt and fish - whether economic times are good or bad for them. A lot of them go to church - just like a lot of urban black Americans - because it sustains and nourishes them inside.

To deride the cultural choices of a segment of the population - or attribute those choices to bitterness at being left behind - is just idiotic.

The truth is that pretty much everyone on the trail makes a truly idiotic remark now and again. It comes with the territory of running for POTUS. And honestly, it's hard to blame the Clinton campaign for trying to capitalize on Barack's gaffe. It may well be her best shot at stealing the nomination from him.

[JasonEverettMiller]

If you are for Barack 100% then perhaps you should stop passing along the spin as the real context of his remarks. He was talking about VOTING habits around wedge issues that keep us from reaching political solutions. He was talking political choices and not cultural choices.

[Rule Of Law]

Obama's focus was on the cause of the bitterness, not the result of it.

And the cause is a Federal Government that has abandoned most of middle America, uses it when it's convenient and forgets about it when it's not.

Government says; Big banks failing--give them more of the people's money. People failing--well, they can just pull themselves up by their own bootstraps, even though we created the mess that caused them to suffer.

And in case you haven't noticed--it works. The more abused we are, the more bitter and angry we become, the easier it is to predict exactly what we'll do--and then use that to keep us off balance. That's what Obama is just beginning to say--and I hope he takes this message all the way to its end. The people need to be listened to, and he will open that dialogue. It won't be easy. Telling and hearing the truth never is. But what's the option? Business as usual?

[RobinVZB]

I don't object to Barack's use of the word bitter. There are people all over the country in small towns and large that are bitter about losing their jobs and their homes. The Bush administration's economic policy makes people bitter--or frustrated if you like that work better. I do, however, object to his stereotyping small town people as gun toters who hate those who are not like them. If Obama wants to be judged for who he is and not a stereotype of "the black man", then he ought not to be stereotyping other people. Obama ought to get to know some people from small towns. They are a diverse group of people just like black people are. They deserve to be seen as individuals not as a stereotype.

[cmolsen]

I recently read the surrounding paragraphs to the tiny bit that we're being force-fed, and he suggests that these groups are not monolithic. I encourage people to find the audio or text of more than that one "cling" sentence.

[Gibbons]

I have read the comments and they seem to be running about 20 to 1 against you which s normal anytime someone skewers "The Great One". I agree with you 100 percent I was raised in a small town of less than 800 people. I wish Obama now would make a comment on what people in big cities do when they become frustrated do they get religion and preach group hate of people not like them or do they turn to guns and.......

[JasonEverettMiller]

He did in the very next portion that wasn't mentioned in the Hillary and McCain and Corporate Media distortions of what he was talking about.

"But what has not so far been reported is that those statements preceded and were joined with additional observations that black youth in urban areas are told they are no longer "relevant" in the global economy and, feeling marginalized, they engage in destructive behavior."

This is a quote from someone who was actually there and didn't take his remarks out of context. Here is the link, as if you care, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-coleman/i-was-there-what-obama-re_b_96553.html.

[JacobSinger]

Ya know, I still feel that we are left with the lesser of the crop for democratic candidates, but the idiocy shown by centrists, rightwingers, the overtly-religious and putrid pundits really pisses me off, as Obama simply gave word to the obvious.

I makes me sad to realize that in my life time this country will not have an honest, religion-free candidate to consider, as this kind of knee-jerk nonsense is always snapped up for non-stop talking points by the most beligerently mindless factions in this country.

I grew up in a rural area in a religious family, and I have no problem is asserting that cutting semantic cartwheels to placate the terminally ignorant and close-minded does us far more harm than good. Surely this is at the core an education issue; I can't think of another 1st world populace that is so captivated by their own cultural and religous belligerence.

Unfortuantely, political candidates have to play this moronic game in order to get elected.

And when I consider the last few years in that light, it's no surprise that this same pompously ignorant faction was a key factor in delivering us two terms of Bush43.

[GDliberal]

A strange post from someone that was probably born and raised on the family farm but doesn't live there and hasn't spent much of their adult life in PA.
I wonder if you had stayed if you would be bitter? My guess is you would.

[Michale32086]

The funny thing is, if you read about the ENTIRE speech and it's context from people who were actually there, you come away from that with a "What's all the fuss about??"

Nearly ALL of what Obama is being slammed for is out of context crap that, when put into context, is perfectly reasonable and acceptable. Not to mention dead on balls accurate..

Michale.....

[JacobSinger]

A pro-Obama posting from the likes of you causes me to question your motivations; are you hoping that he'll get nominated because you think these comments will play well for McPain in the fall?

[Michale32086]

"the likes of" me??? How utterly bigoted of you...

Besides, if I was truly hoping for a McCain presidency, I would be sacrificing live chickens while baying at the moon (nekkid) in hopes that Hillary would win the Dem nomination. Because there ain't a snowball's chance in hell that Billary can win the General Election against John McCain..

THAT is a stone cold fact...

So you'll have to come up with another bigoted prejudicial line of thinking cuz that dog just won't hunt...

Michale.....

[savagetiger]

Put a sock in it...

Or vote for Hillary - I'm sure your parents will be much better off in the next four years if shes elected.

If you are too dense to follow the sarcasm, I'd be happy to sell you some ocean property in your wonderful state of PA.

[jmpurser]

So your parents agree 100% with what Obama said but they find it condescending that he said it.

Clear as mud.

[TerenceHartnett]

Fighting to get elected doesn't mean Clinton will fight FOR you when she is elected. She will start fighting to get re-elected in 2012 as soon as she is in the white house.

In other words, SHE IS NOT FIGHTING. She is campaigning. You will definitely see the difference when (if) she gets elected.

And she will start campaigning for 2012 as soon as she gets in the white house.

She will sell us out and move to the center just like Bill did; she will get re-elected in 2012 and we will lose the house and the senate and nothing will get done. And nothing will change in Ohio or Pennsylvania. Her and Bill are brilliant campaigners, but they aren't statesmen. She will not change a thing in this country. How do I know? Look at her campaign—it’s the same "ends justifies the means" crap as with Bush, who is another brilliant ruthless campaigner

We actually had a choice here--to rise above this dirty senseless political crap, but people love it, I guess. Obama tried. Oh, well.

[sand252]

If you read the transcript, the next line after his controversial statement is: some people are like that, and that is true. A person that unites does not have to say things that everyone wants to hear and that person (particularly in the nation that we live in) cannot say everything that someone wants to hear.
Obama is a person that is trying to take the time to understand people. Have you read the blogs of people who attended the event and weren't offended because he was being candid or the blogs where rural or small town people say that they are bitter -- some of who say in their town all they do is go to church and hunt. Do you not recognize that people that vote based solely on the person who will protect their 2nd amendment rights and honor God rather than issues that concern the economy, the war, the environment and health care exist?

He is a person that attends church, so he is not looking down upon those who do -- but can we not have honest discussions about situations that are affecting this country without other people saying, thinking or acting like: because I do not fall in this category, it does not exist! That is simply flawed logic.

[TerenceHartnett]

Look, I have a good health care program. I am not disenfranchised economically.

So why am I a liberal? Because I believe we are all Americans--equal.

It is getting more and more difficult to give a damn about the millions and millions of people in this country who are permanently screwed over--when flag burning, anything gay, or any other ridiculous wedge issue sways their vote.

"Look, what he said! I think looks down on us! Oh, my! I heard that he was really a Muslim . . ." and on and on. It is sad--really sad.

If you are actually going to vote based on what Obama said (or what you have been told it means), then I have to say you will get the government you deserve.

[6thVenom]

Well Joanne, why don't have your parents read the transcript of Senator Obama's speech today. He talks about the very same things you have done. And pardon, but what's the difference between frustration and bitterness? What's so offensive about being angry at a government that refuses to listen to real concerns but instead throws in wedge issues like gay marriage, and assault rifle bans to distract and placate?