I am one of the "bitter" people living in a small steel town in Pennsylvania. My father passed away from the silt that he swallowed for forty years. My husband is withering away from the same cancer-causing dust he swallowed for nearly forty years too. The bills are mounting and our income decreasing. The blood, sweat and tears were not counted when they sent our small town livelihood over seas.
No one stepped in to give affordable health care to my disappearing husband. No one took the time to look at the dying towns that surround us. Hillary Clinton went to her middle class supporters and glanced, as all before her did, at the For Sale signs from foreclosures, and the growing homeless population in Pennsylvania.
I watched her do an Irish dance as she pressed the flesh of what is left of our so-called middle class, who may soon to become the new poor. Where is our Governor, who I am very disappointed in? Somewhere dancing with Hillary and looking at the subtle segregation that has quietly existed in this state -- and no one tries to bring about change.
Barack Obama sees us, he sees the poverty dressed up in lambs clothing. All around, people have downsized their lives because they don't earn a decent living wage after having made three, four or more times as much in the factories and mills that are nearly gone -- but not forgotten.
Looking out from most windows in every small town, they can see the skeletal remains of their once flourishing hometown. There are many that have stood by graves, and in unemployment lines, and watched their schools close, and fought to keep their homes -- and lost.
"Bitter" is a good word, to describe some of what I feel -- but "mad as hell" are a few better words.
On another note, I have a son that is on his way to Iraq for his third or forth tour. I am not only mad but scared. Why am I frustrated with Washington politics? That is a question that everyone that voted for Bush twice should be ashamed to answer. They have only to look into the mirror and see the cause of our frustration.
I am also saddened to watch the campaign tactics, the bashing and bruising of one another -- and the media putting their own twist on everything. Each candidate has to be dead tired and frustrated with the millions of opinions they face -- favorable and unfavorable -- everyday on this trying trail to the White House.
If you want to twist someone's words, try twisting Bush's and run a clean campaign.
I'm a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and soon to be a great grandmother who wants a positive change for America. Within the past forty-odd years I have told my children and grandchildren they can be anything they want to be. They were raised in a generation where black people were told education would help you become anything you desire. Those words were just hope with limits. The day I cast my vote for Barack Obama, that hope will be a reality with absolutely no limits. Thank God that I am alive to see Dr. King's dream come to fruition, and still young enough to appreciate and share it.
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Dear Ms. Smithwick:
Wow. Can we just elect you instead?
Marylee,
We met today as I was canvassing in your Pittsburgh neighborhood for the Obama campaign.
Thank you so much for directing me to this article.
This is a beautifully and starkly written portrayal of the steel towns I know all so well and the frustration and outrage many of us feel over the politics of the last four presidential terms in America.
You joked that you silently hope that Barack is actually your lost son. Let me just say that I am sure that many a young males realize the blessings it would be to have as a mother or grandmother a human being as lovely as you, the beautiful woman I met today.
I will keep your husband and son in my personal prayers.
Mark DeFrancisis
God bless you and your family, Marylee
May God bless you and your family Marylee.
Dear Mrs. Smithwick,
Thank you for your beautiful post and for sharing such raw feelings with us. I cannot imagine what you must be going through with your husband while at the same time watching the life you once knew disappearing before your eyes, not to mention your son going to Iraq....again.
My sincere prayers are with you on all counts. You are obviously one of those very strong women, who it appears never had a chance to be otherwise, who has clung to hope for what must seem like a million years. I also believe that there is still hope, but it has certainly looked dim for a long, long time.
I, too, rejoice to see Dr. Martin Luther King's dream be realized. Barrack irunning is awesome. And winning in a state like Iowa! made me shout. And I really believe Obama will be our next president which means we have another chance as a nation to get this right...for all people.
Obama does see you. So does his wife. The grief of your life is known fully, only to you, but your heart is good, your ability to express yourself beautiful, and we all must believe in a better day. I so pray all your hopes and dreams are realized. You and so, so many other forgotten ones are in desperate need of being lifted out of despair and given a chance again for a happy, peaceful and good life. Which you rightly deserve.
BO in Harrisburgh Pa.. and Pa. citizen say "and thats why we're bitter" classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igVRMJAB6qc
Excellent !!! I am sorry for what you have to go trough, acctually I am not only sorry, I am pissed, and I totally understand your right to be bitter. I am an imigrant, married to american and I noticed even in a conversations with my husband the differences in expressing feelings. I am very open and he is reserved, finally one day I realized why is this happening and I think that even so I come from Eastern Europe I was always free to scream out my feelings, my toughts I have never had to repressed them. Here we teach our children to be nice and quiet and as a result grownups don't know how to express themselves, they not alowed to feel anything even close to being angry, being upsed is the highest negative feeling aceptable. Upset thou is a feeling of a victim, anger is a feeling of a person in power, only love and anger can change the world... Just think about it. Why it is that we are told not to feel the high amplitude feelings ?? I deeply belive there is a political reason for. Victims are much easier to control and govern then people in power. We are told that we have rights, but not powers... take a "right to vote" it's only right ... in my opinion right without a power is wortless.
WHY O WHY,DOES APPROX,FIFTY PERCENT OF THE VOTING PUBLIC,ULTIMATLY SUPPORT THE VERY WEALTHY.Is it the corp. media etc.?NO,these people are to blame,THEY HAVE REFUSED TO OUESTION,A LONG TIME AGO,THEY MUST BE CONFONTED PEACEFULLY.THE REST OF US ARE TO TIMID TO DO THIS,SO WE BEAT AROUND THE BUSH. IN THE END W ARE ALL TO BLAME.
I hate to say this. I really do.
In the end, the Democrats have only themselves to blame. For the longest time, Democrats have derided the people of Small Town America as a bunch of hicks, crackers, rednecks, what-have-you. Granted, Democrats have done a lot of good for the inner-city, their traditional base. But they've done it at the expense of those outside the city. After all, they're WHITE, and white people are supposedly all affluent, right? (Then Democrats wonder why they get branded "elitist.")
Republicans haven't done much better. Oh, sure, they've tossed Middle America a few crumbs, and told them what they wanted to hear - just enough to keep them conservative and loyal to the Republican Party, but not really enough to help. But you have to admit: it's more than the Democrats have done.
I am so glad Senator Obama has (finally!) spoken to this issue. He may have worded it poorly, but he's the first Democrat (as far as I know) who has finally recognized the problems of the small towns. Now, whether or not he DOES anything remains to be seen.
Anyone who finds something snarky to say about this woman's post has more than a few screws loose. I have no words, only hope that things will get better with so many citizens inspired to be active in our democracy, educate themselves about all sides of issues, and work toward consensus and balance.
God bless your family Mrs. Smithwick,
Sincerely,
Daughter of Vietnam Vet who was blessed
enough to make it home
Well said and thank you for an eloquent post. You are not alone. I believe that Senator Obama can help bring about a better America and that is why each and every member of my large family is supporting him too.
How naive Americans are. In the end they always get the leaders they deserve.
Real Regular People, Real Americans in need .
Someone has to step-up to their plight.
If not Barack, Who ?
The 100 million dollar girl ?
Is it just me or does anyone else feel like they are in the middle of a cyber Obama campaign ad?
This is a new low.
I think this woman from PA has a right to be mad when those like yourself seem to think she and her family are invisable or disposable.
Get over yourself and get a clue!
What is wrong with you? Have you no shame?
The Clinton campaign and its supporters have clearly lost all perspective in their fanatical devotion to this woman.
This is ironic, Obama supporters have rarely, if ever, written much about Obama that is specific to what he will do if elected.
Yes, it's just you....
It's an Obama campaign ad. Six months ago they were at the altar of Hillary Clinton and she was their goddess/saviour. Go figure.
I'll be emailing this powerful, touching and insightful piece to a lot of folks.
All the best to you, Mrs. Smithwick.
The shock expressed by the proletarians when their country betrays them would be comical, were it not so tragic.
They have been taught to obey authority their entire lives and when it's discovered that policy makers do not represent their interests, they are puzzled.
The politicians are counting on the moral bankruptcy of blind obedience to enable their continued policies of exploitation. They know that Americans will even betray their core values and religious convictions, for the love of the dollar and blind trust of authority.
How else could you explain a person betraying one of the 10 Commandments of Christianity (Thou Shalt Not Kill) for a paycheck from the military?
After supporting a system that wages an illegal war of aggression and long term occupation. After supporting a system that killed over 500,000 Iraqi children
http://www.unicef.org/evaldatabase/index_29697.html
After supporting a system that makes them act against their God"s Command, they act puzzled when they are treated poorly and are not afforded employment or health care. How can anyone expect loyalty from a system, which to support, they have to act against their religion, values and core beliefs?
These American soldiers should be building roads, homes, schools, hospitals and families in the United States, not destroying the same in an illegal war of aggression and long term occupation.
But I am not naive enough to expect this loyalty to our society, from those who have betrayed their own core values and our shared humanity.
When asked about overstressing the troops Cheney pointed out that they volunteered. They did volunteer to protect America. They did not volunteer to die for the Bush/Cheney stupidity tour of duty.
Nothing going on in Iraq protects America. It protects the franchises Cheney's buddies are trying to obtain in the oil business. Iraq did not and would never have attacked the USA.
While Saddam was slime. The same can be said about Cheney and Bush. None of them ever cared about the lives of their citizens.
Why would anyone send their son or daughter to fight in this war of aggression and long term occupation?
The politicians are exploiting the moral bankruptcy of Americans for their own profit.
We live in a nation where the people claim to be predominantly Christian and believe in the 10 Commandments, but will volunteer to kill people for a system that as this article clearly illustrates has betrayed them.
How can you demand loyalty from the system that you support, when your support for its actions betrays and undermines even your own system of belief/faith?
These soldiers should be at home building houses, cars and families, not 7,000 miles away destroying the same.
For the people who support a system that has killed over 1,000,000 Iraqi children to be shocked when that same system does not care for the well being of their families would be comical if it were not so tragic.
Ms. Smithwick, your essay clearly captures what a majority of us in the midwest feel. I came by for a short break to log on because I WAS tired of volunteering in Obama's office and needed to put my feet up for a few hours. But after reading your heartbreaking posting, I once again have an even stronger determination of what I have to continue ddoing today - volunteering and donating.
Here is hoping that your husband's health improves, your personal economic circumstances received some fundamental change and that most importantly your son and his buddies return home soon and safe and to a commander in chief (BO) who will not forget the service men and women he serves,
Our industrial base is gone. Not Obama or any of the other candidates will bring it back or make anything any better, change or no change. Good grief, it's not bad enough that they've taken the jobs out of the country, they want to bring in cheap labor to take the jobs that are left. It's hard to believe that people will continue to quibble and fight about candidates and political parties when they are all puppets of giant global corporations that don't care about anybody.
I come from a small Indiana industrial town and watched the factories close, and the people lose faith in the ones that remained. I saw pride leave people I loved. "Bitter" sounds like the right word for me. Each time I see Bush smile I want an electrical charge to go to his privates to wake him up to the consequences of his privileged disconnection. Each time I see the Washington Correspondents Dinner I find their jokes obscene, and those who laugh despicable in their attendance. To me, to seek the Presidency is to choose to bear the cross of the wrongs of the country and the powerless within it - to be almost broken and bent over by the responsibility and compassion you have chosen to carry for the people of the country. Instead, the Presidency has become a pedestal for pride and hubris and self-aggrandizement. The bitterness comes from candidates who "elevate over" to disconnected privilege that blinds instead of "connecting downward" to reality and compassion that sees, hears, and feels. I believe Obama and Michelle still see, hear, and feel.
Bush does NOT smile, he smirks. The rest of your idea sounds great and your analysis is right on, imo. Thank you.
He is smiling because he has done so much better than Daddy ever dreamed of with the first Gulf War! He will keep smiling and smirking, he cannot contain himself. Oil at $110.00 per barrel and going upwards everyday, the neocon nightmare is at full bloom, "Oh Joy, Rapture," said George.
What a lovely way you have of expressing yourself, I am very touched by your words, though sad for your fears and your husband's pain. But with people like you out there, there is real hope--and it restores my faith in human beings.
Thanks, Marylee.
Thank you for your post. I was starting to get all riled up and angry but then read this--I too am bitter.
Let's keep our heads up.
I find some fault with the entire Selection process, and I have no concrete expectations of any of these Candidates that they'll magically extract an answer from their hats that will 'one size fits all', deal with a vast swath of america's problems, because there's a lot of parts of the country that aren't doing so hot, and it's really neither their duty nor probably within their abilities to conjure up what might seem like a suitable band-aid at the moment.
Part of our national problem is, everytime there IS a problem, people look to the Executive to come swooping in and start air-dropping packets of $100 bills. Life doesn't work that way, nor should people be trying to elicit that type of response FROM the Executive. You got 2 hands, be your own miracle. Part of the decline of 'poor' regions unfortunately lies with the People, the people that stood there and watched it happen while wringing their hands waiting for 'the government' to do something. Well, congratulations, if you're an american citizen, you're part of the Government, so if you just sit n snivel, well, there ya go.
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I would like to add my small voice to the many compasionate folks that have responded to your article by saying that you are certainly not alone in the wilderness with your feelings. Bitterness and anger seem to be the emerging campaign issue that makes the fools we sent to Washington squirm. I think Obama did this country a huge service by bringing that to the forefront despite efforts to silence him...lapel pin or savy pastor not withstanding.
We share and understand your anger and frustration with the result we are forced to endure only hope . I deeply resent the republicans for trying to con us out of that with obsfucation and their political shell game. We can all agree that Bush may be the worst president ever, but the real victim of "gotcha" politics is the American people.
We have our oldest boy deploying for Iraq and harms way. Our family wishes the best for your son as I am sure yours does for ours. But gone is still gone. The parallels between Iraq and Vietnam are becoming more striking and another chapter of anger and bitterness is being written. I have hope that Pennsylvania will move past racial and political pettiness to speak their voices loudly in favor of change.
Thanks for your moving commentary and take whatever comfort there is in the fact that there are multitudes out there that share your feelings. God bless you and your family.
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Posted April 18, 2008 | 05:39 PM (EST)