UPDATES: Barack Obama Big News Page
LISTEN TO THE FULL OBAMA April 6. FUNDRAISER SPEECH HERE Some highlights - Obama responds to Krugman toward the end of the audio (46:20); Obama discloses his trip to Pakistan (40:17); Obama discusses fundraising successes (15 min); Obama discusses energy, fuel efficient cars (18 min); "When people tell me they've all stressed about racial discord, well, you know, try slavery for a while." (26:02). Also, remarks by Hillary Clinton and John McCain, and supportive comments from pundits -- here.
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When I began following the Obama Campaign through Pennsylvania, the place was new to me -- as apparently it was to Senator Obama, since his Road to Change bus tour was heralded as the candidate's introduction to the Keystone State. Now the Senator has moved on to Indiana for a spell, but I'm back in PA, thinking about Obama's and my experiences of the people here.
Pennsylvanians are as friendly as Iowans-- and that's a huge compliment. (I love you Texas, but you get up on the wrong side of the bed a lot, or at least you did during the weeks before the primaries.) These Pennsylvanians are patriotic. On several occasions, they've awarded Barack Obama a standing ovation for his promise to restore the Constitution. Clearly, Quaker Staters feel a connection to the part their state played in the making of the Constitution; they see themselves in America's larger history.
At two town hall meetings in Pennsylvania, Senator Obama drew plenty of remarks about patriotism. In Harrisburg two weeks ago, one person called on by Obama chose not to ask a question. Instead a man who introduced himself as only Dennis told Obama, "Make a speech on patriotism because the Republican Party does not own the flag." In Wilkes-Barre a few days later, Obama fielded a similar comment from a man who said, "I believe that this nation now has dangerously low levels of patriotism and national pride.... My question to you is How are we going to reestablish America's reputation to Americans?" After leaving Pennsylvania and stopping over in Montana on his way to California, Senator Obama must have had these Pennsylvania questioners on his mind, because in Butte and Missoula he talked a bit about patriotism, introducing the subject as a theme we'll likely will be hearing more from him in the future, perhaps in a major speech at some appropriately historic date and time. Barack Obama and the rest of us will owe that to Pennsylvanians.
Another thing about Quaker Staters. The ravages of mining and old-style manufacturing have been unable, after all, to break the bond Pennsylvanians have with the natural world. Driving through the western part of the state, I thought again and again what great deer hunting country it is, and how my dad, a hunter in his younger days, would love it. Clipping a poem from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette by Jeff O'Brien, a citizen of Upper Turkeyfoot, Somerset County, I imagined Turkeyfoot's "ice hard in the cavities of the derelict woods/the long dark coming in the magnesium shifts of twilight" as I drove through and determined to order O'Brien's poetry collection from Amazon. I've wondered about Pennsylvania and its citizens in other times and seasons, and I would like to stay longer here to see.
In the midst of this harsh pastoral, Pennsylvanians are scrappy survivors. They complain (particularly about their governor and Clinton surrogate Ed Rendell, who doesn't seem as popular as the media make him out to be), but they endure. They refuse to be bound to the broken temples of commerce and manufacturing, the vacant Beaux Arts hotels, the rotting nineteenth-century row houses, the abandoned sidings and once-grand railway stations that inscribe Scranton and Wilkes-Barre and diminish Pittsburgh and Lancaster. Pennsylvanians are remarkably chipper. In the end, the material world that once gave them prosperity has not defined them. On the contrary, Pennsylvania unfolds in an interlocking chain of Turkeyfoots and Allentowns, held separately and together by a sense of shared community, of humor, of history, and of abiding faith.
These qualities of hospitality, patriotism and endurance are exactly what Californians need to hear about Pennsylvanians. And when he spoke to a group of his wealthier Golden State backers at a San Francisco fund-raiser last Sunday, Barack Obama took a shot at explaining the yawning cultural gap that separates a Turkeyfoot from a Marin County. "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," Obama said. "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. 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."
Obama made a problematic judgment call in trying to explain working class culture to a much wealthier audience. He described blue collar Pennsylvanians with a series of what in the eyes of Californians might be considered pure negatives: guns, clinging to religion, antipathy, xenophobia.
I'm not sure this is what at least this lot of Californians needed to hear about Pennsylvanians. Such phrases can reinforce negative stereotypes among Californians, who are a people in a state already surfeited with a smug sense of superiority and, as an ironic consequence, a parochialism and insularity at odds with the innovation, prosperity and openness for which California is rightly known. (Of course, this is a generalization, and as such does not fit everyone; but as a state characteristic I stand by it.) Californians might be better served by hearing that Pennsylvanians have a strong sense of their place in American history, for here California is wanting. California needs to hear that other Americans have gone through hard times and survived, humor intact. Since Barack Obama sees himself as the candidate best able to unify the country, these are the messages he needs to carry and his frank words about Pennsylvania may not have translated very clearly.
To give Obama his due, he spoke about working class Pennsylvanians likely because he had been thinking about them a great deal. And he spoke, as he often does away from large rallies, in a calm, even, matter-of-fact way. Every town hall meeting I've observed, from California to Iowa, Nevada to Texas, has showcased Senator Obama's core decency and high measure of regard for each individual.
It's curious, then, that he often has such a hard time making a connection with many working class Americans. With plenty of time for people to get to know him, like in southern Illinois before his first state legislature race and in Iowa before the caucuses, Obama has forged that connection. People get comfortable with the way his mind works. Obama is the man with the big picture; he jumps quickly from the particular to the general and back again, for he makes sense of the world in a synchronic rather than a linear way. For all his soaring rhetoric, there is a dispassion about him. And yet he blends rationcinative intelligence with empathetic understanding. This is a rare combination, and for many people, this aspect of Obama takes some getting used to. His Puritanical streak, moreover, while amusing to the press can be off-putting to everybody else.
Wednesday in Levittown, Obama told his audience, "We can find areas of common ground." But if we are going to move from divisiveness to comity, then Obama must show that he can lead us to see one another at our best and to measure one another at our highest worth. "I'm going to have a big table and will invite everybody," Obama often says. These were his exact words to Johnstown March 29. "I'll have the biggest chair, because I'll be President," he added.
One of the roles of host is making introductions. Just as Californians need to learn a few things from Pennsylvanians, the reverse is also true. California is the, most racially tolerant and ethnicity-tolerant state in the Union. California has found a way to bring strict environmental standards to prosperity's table. Californians celebrate entrepreneurship, open-mindedness and creativity.
In answer to the Wilkes-Barre gentleman's question about low levels of national pride, Senator Obama said, in part, that a new generation needs to move into government service, for there is "something big and noble and exciting and important about serving the country." First, however, Senator Obama-- and also Senators Clinton and McCain-- must see us and talk about us in such a way that sets the bar high. A leader will hold us to that standard. "Californians and Pennsylvanians," our next president must say, "find your best selves in one another."
Below is audio from the April 6 Obama fundraiser in San Francisco:
Full transcript:
OBAMA: So, it depends on where you are, but I think it's fair to say that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the places where people feel most cynical about government. The people are mis-appre...I think they're misunderstanding why the demographics in our, in this contest have broken out as they are. Because everybody just ascribes it to 'white working-class don't wanna work -- don't wanna vote for the black guy.' That's...there were intimations of that in an article in the Sunday New York Times today - kind of implies that it's sort of a race thing.
Here's how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn't buy it. And when it's delivered by -- it's true that when it's delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama (laugher), then that adds another layer of skepticism (laughter).But -- so the questions you're most likely to get about me, 'Well, what is this guy going to do for me? What's the concrete thing?' What they wanna hear is -- so, we'll give you talking points about what we're proposing -- close tax loopholes, roll back, you know, the tax cuts for the top 1 percent. Obama's gonna give tax breaks to middle-class folks and we're gonna provide health care for every American. So we'll go down a series of talking points.
But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. 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 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. So it's not surprising then that 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.
Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you'll find is, is that people of every background -- there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you'll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I'd be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you're doing what you're doing.
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Barack: But I think that we as a party are going to have to think about our overarching narrative, and we're also going to have to make sure that when we engage people, we engage them where they live and where they experience things. They're not thinking about 10-point policy plans. They are not thinking about the intricacies of the Medicaid B+ provision, and they're not thinking about North Korea. What they're thinking about is how do I advance my life prospects, how do I make sure that my child...
Charlie: But they seem to, I mean you know there's a book about What's Wong With Kansas, as you know...
B: Right, and my mother is from Kansas, so-- yeah.
C: And basically the book argues that to people in hardship cases, people who have not gotten the best end of the American dream, are voting on faith issues and morality issues rather than on economic interests, which suggests that that has somehow become a touchstone in a way that there's...
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B: Well I'll tell you an example. There's a town that I spoke about in my speech, actually, in Illinois-- and it's I think representative of many towns in the Midwest--Galesburg, Illinois, they've got 36,000 people, they've lost 4,000 jobs in the last two years, 20% of their employment base collapses because companies move out to Mexico. So you sit down and you talk to union workers, 50, 55-year-old guys, who the best that's being offered to them is retraining to be nurses' assistants, right, these guys with beards, tough guys who are used to handling heavy machinery. They're not optimistic about the prospects for them to be able to attain the kinds of economic security that they had under the old system, so they've got insecurity in their economic life. They don't know where their health care is coming from, they don't know what's happening with their pension. What they do know is that they can go out with their friends and hunt and feel a sense of camaraderie, and there's a connection between hunting and them going out with their father to hunt, just as there is a connection maybe for their wives to go into church and go in with their grandmother to church, and if we don't have plausible answers on the economic front, and we appear to be condescending towards those traditions that are giving their lives some stability, then...
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...you know they're going to opt for at least that party that seems to be speaking to the things that are giving-- that still provide them something solid to stand on.
C: And some sense that they're not being looked down on.
B: Exactly.
C: That somebody does not think that they are contemptuous of them and their lifestyle and their beliefs.
B: Absolutely.
C: It seems to me that Bush was able to convince them that at least in an authentic way, if you look at the results in terms of how people voted, that I understand you and I share --
B: I think that's absolutely right.
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Second, I disagree with your supposition that Californians are the most tolerant and open minded. The latest California Supreme court's decision calling home schooling, unconstitutional is a case in point. California's educational system is failing while homeschoolers generally score higher on achievement tests than their counterparts in the public shool system, and yet, there is little toleration for this form of diversity that is not politically correct.
I cannot but wonder at the personal attacks regarding your article. Especially as Mr. Obama stated he did say that which was quoted, but it was not the intention to make a disparaging comment. Still these followers seek to discredit and silence you. At the same time attack the followers of other candidates and parties and accuse them of being less than intelligent than they, as persons of differing opinions are not to be trusted, nor allowed a voice.
Again, I must observe that some people follow others not based on any articulable information. Just mindless devotion. Unable to persuade others on the merit of the candidate, they resort to a shouting attack to bolster their beliefs, denounce any facts to the contrary as lies and fabrication. Those tactics failing, switch to a personal attack on the person with differing opinions.
Mayhill is a faux Obama supporter and a Clinton plant.
Shame on you!
Easy vs HARD
In 2008, it’s become obvious that this country is emotionally dysfunctional and extremely de-tached from reality! The whole turning to guns, religions, and antipathy and anti-immigration and xenophobia is true. Only, it exists everywhere and and different forms. You don’t to be some elitist to realize this, I live in the heart of New York City in Harlem and I see people sticking to what they know best which is bitterness instead of actively trying to improve their situation or even understand! Pennsylvania, is just the tip of the Iceberg…people are bitter and the truth is that Obama pointed out the truth. I hear it in casual conversations. Mayhill Fowler suggests the people of Penn are “hardworking†and “tough†which practically proves my point. That’s all they have left in an economy on the verge of imploding from corporate Greed & Avarice that has turned this country upside down.
Irresponsible Fiscal policies gone unchecked from the Regan-Dubya’ Administrations, The dollar dropping in value so the fed lowers interest rates ( lowering the dollar further with “Funny Money†while Australia and other countries look at the USA 'Half-Price', Trade deficit w/China, A meaningless Iraq war which is going to cost us another 195 Billion by 2013 according to CNN news, evolving from the richest nation to the most in DEBT nation , Enron-Worldcomm robbery of peoples hard earned invested 401 K’s, and an unchecked credit fiasco of the Sub Prime Mortgage event.
To rephrase:
"Why would an a Clinton supporter try to plant in the anti-Hillary HuffPo?"
The question answers itself.
Also, Fowlers husband is a McCain supporter who works in real estate, military bases and energy. Apparently they are super rich and own yachts. So she could very well be a GOP troll as well. I think she was planted hoping for a "macaca" moment to play "gotcha" with. This bitter stuff is all they ended up with, and it seems to be backfiring.
THIS IS NOT FAIR REPORTING!
This doesn't expose anything about Obama being a so called elitist. What it really exposes is the say-anythi
She has been condescending and elitist the entire campaign; from her smug sense of entitlement, her surrogates (and husband) discounting him based on race, and her campaign's rationalization that small states and caucuses don't count.
But of course the media will continue to label her as the "beer candidate", even though she likes to remind people not to vote for someone they want to have a beer with. I really think the irony is just hilarious.
Top Story Another Clinton fundraiser has a suspect past
By Greg Gordon and Will Connors | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Thursday, April 3, 2008 email | print tool nameclose
tool goes here
Josh Merwin / Houston Chronicle / MCT
Fundraiser Kase Lawal, of Houston, in October 2003. | View larger image
HOUSTON — A Texas oilman who's accused of defrauding the Nigerian government by illegally pumping and exporting 10 million barrels of oil is a major fundraiser for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign.
Kase Lawal of Houston is at least the fourth person accused or convicted of criminal wrongdoing to help finance Clinton's political ambitions since 2000 and the second in her quest for the White House. The list also includes Chinese and Pakistani fugitives Wells ..... please click to read full story.
http://www
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McClatchy Newspapers 2008
And leave it to Obama supporters to blame Hillary for his troubles when he screws up. He blames other people for his foibles and his fans do too.
You must be the poster child for skewed thinking, tunnel vision and the director of imbeciles.
then pigs do fly. Wake up lady, she's a part of the system that has us in this mess.
But according to Hillary, the media is being unfair to her, lol!
http://mom
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Don't watch tv. It makes owies on your brain.
Perhaps you misunderstood.
At least people could note that this was essentially a private brainstorming session where Obama had no reason to try to carefully craft his words, and trying to twist theill adised use of the term "cling" when he apparently met "seek comfort from", to mean something nefarious is pathetic. But, Hillary has to find some way to escape from Bill's blunder in excusing her Bosnia lies with reference to her advanced age.
That he should immediately sue to have all copies of the remarks impounded? Obama v. Huffington Post, NYT, Washington Post, ABC news, etc.
Could he ask for damages? What's the dollar value of the nomination?
This explains it all. She is feeling defensive about her own situation, and she didn't really listen or understand what Obama was saying. Her own insecurity led her to jump to the conclusion that his remarks were critical and condescending, instead of truthful. Now I understand.
Unfortunately, this means a lot of people feeling the same insecurity will react the same way as Fowler. It's a shame. Obama has people's welfare as his centerpiece. He has grassroots as his engine. She should have listened more carefully.
But I must tell you, there was something in the speech that bothered me much more and that was hearing about (for the first time) Obama's 3 week trip to Pakistan out of college.
What was that all about?
With all the news surrounding Pakistan in the past months, I'm shocked that he has never ever stated that he had actually been to Pakistan until this fundraiser. Why?
Why has he never disclosed this?
I found that disturbing.
If you read the whole transcript of the speech, I find nothing condescending -- he's trying to give guidance to a campaign volunteer about how to help relate to Pennsylvanians with something other than canned campaign talking points. And he's saying nothing that hasn't been said before by Bill Clinton, John McCain and Ed ("many Pennsylvanians won't vote for black people") Rendell.
How anyone witnessing real estate & the dollar fall, energy prices sky rocket, two wars fought simultaneously (with no end in sight), pundants debating whether recession is "here or near", the steady outsourcing of jobs, major businesses failing sending former workers to the end of an ever increasing unemployment line as the average worker's dreams of retiring waves bye-bye, could possibly escape becoming "bitter" boggles the mind. Being bitter almost proves you brain works in the same way your reflex are shown to be working when your leg jumps after being struck in the Knee with a little rubber hammer.
it's not about people being bitter (anger or frustrated would have been better choices); it's about painting a group of people with the broad brush of stereotype.
"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 frustratio