It Takes Real Chutzpah for a Guy Who Owns Eight Houses (McCain) to Call Barack Obama an "Elitist"
McCain doesn't lack "chutzpah." Yesterday his campaign actually accused Barack Obama of being an "elitist" for saying that it's not surprising that people in small Midwestern towns are bitter after seeing their standard of living systematically destroyed over the last three decades.
Damn right they're bitter; they have good reasons to be. And most of those reasons are the economic and trade policies that have -- and continue to be -- championed by George Bush and John McCain.
The McCain campaign is managed by a cadre of Washington-insider special interest lobbyists. He and his current wife are estimated to be worth about $100 million. He reportedly owns eight houses. His let-them-eat-cake economic policies are based on George Bush's failed radical conservative "you're on your own buddy" philosophy. One after another he supported trade agreements that protect the rights of corporations, but ignore the rights of labor, and have devastated one Pennsylvania community after another. He gets most of his campaign cash from the wealthiest corporate interests around. And he has the gall to call Barack Obama an "elitist"?
This is the same Barack Obama who spent years of his life organizing out-of-work steelworkers on the south side of Chicago -- people just like those who live in Allentown or Erie or Pittsburgh or the Monongehela Valley in western Pennsylvania. He stood shoulder to shoulder with them, sat at their kitchen tables, spent hours in their church basements.
He didn't do those things as a famous candidate, but as a community organizer being paid $8,000 a year by a coalition of churches. You don't build a resume or a client list organizing unemployed steel workers. You do it because you respect the people and you care about justice.
In fact, the trademark of Barack Obama's campaign for president is the honest, respectful way he talks to everyone -- and stands up for everyday Americans.
If you want to talk about patronizing, or "elitism", you need look no farther than the way Bush and McCain attempt to use fear and division to divert the attention of middle class people from the economic policies that pick their pockets, lower their wages, destroy their unions, and outsource their jobs. And all the while they use our money to bail out Wall Street, and give giant tax breaks to the real "elitists" -- the economic elite.
It is Barack Obama who can lead a movement to change the way things are done in Washington. He can do it by empowering and inspiring the people who live in small-town Pennsylvania, and all of the other middle class Americans who have been left out by Bush-McCain policies that have benefited the "masters of the universe" on Wall Street and the Gucci-shoed lobbyist set on "K" Street.
As for Hillary Clinton, who joined in attacking Obama's statement: she should know better. She knows that Obama is the furthest thing from an elitist, and she should know better than to join in the Republican narrative about the candidate who is the likely Democratic standard bearer in the fall.
Robert Creamer is a long-time political organizer and strategist and author of the recent book: "Stand Up Straight: How Progressives Can Win," available on amazon.com.
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We all know what BO was trying to say. We all know what he was saying is true. People mare fed up well some. I am.. I watch jobs in my State go to Mexico. India, China ect. Nothing against immigrants but i see jobs go to illigal immigrants in my State building homes, picking fruits. I see Big industrial plants closed down and jobs shipped overseas. And some of these people who lost these jobs are frustrated and fed.up and yes even bitter. And nobody seems to care. We get back lead based toys from China for our children to play with.and Bad medicines like Heparin that kill some people. We need to wake up. BO apologized about his wrong choice of words unlike some other nominee who just lies and rationalize about lying insead of apologizing. Then on top of that the Spouse lies too covering HRC LIES about Bosnia. HRC will spin anything to take the focus off their lies...And even if they steal the nominee and give to her. She will not win over John McCain. McCaine would be a better change over her.
I thought I knew until he tried clarifying it. Now I really don't know and any possible interpretation I can come up with sounds like he hasn't got a clue about how average or even above average income people have to try to make ends meet. My kids medical bills have dominated every aspect of our lives for the past 20 years. I don't want to be told I'm bitter (I'm bitter about losing one of my two jobs, I'm bitter my wife has to have two jobs, I rage at what the republicans have done to this country, but neither of us are bitter people). I want my kids to have a better life than I did, right now I don't see much hope for that.
You know your bitter, you just don't want to be told? Makes no sense, sorry.
From my
observation is that LIES are a BIG characteristics of the Nation so to get ahead and succeed you just
have to lie, and if you dont lie you will never get anywhere. In the mean time the whole world is watching us, It is no wonder that the world look up on us like idiots and dunce. Even people in th third world don't really care much about US as before. We lost our Good standing in the World. We are in dire need of a President who can build up back our Great Nation ,and our people and give us back our Good standing around the world. We really need to wake up. I hope we will make the right choice in choosing the right Dem. Nominee and then the President. God Bless America.
HRC has been behaving like a Republican. She's also behaving as if she owns he White house and
no one else belongs in there besides Bush/Clinton. Over the life of the Dems Campaign HRC
behaved the worst out of all the nominees throughout the contest. She tells lies after lies with a very
straight face. In regard to the trade deals if anyone think that she's not for the NAFTA or Colombian
Trade well think again. We are blinded by lies over the years and when some of us hears the truth we
don't even know them any more. We are so embedded in the lies. When the USA really wakes up it is
going to be too late. Since of late when there is any good candidate who could make a good
Presidents arise they just got beaten down by us and we end up with you know what.
You bet! Sen. HOLLYWOOD Clinton,Of the $109 mill, two houses in elite areas, Bill's mysterious money connections, and McCain
with the rich wife and 8 houses, two 4-star admirals in his background, are both
calling the kid raised in an apartment by a single mom, grandparents firmly in
the middle class, working in the streets of Chicago to help people, who gave UP
and ELITIST law firm job-ELITIST???
If we are that stupid, we deserve 4 or 8 years of those two-er 3, forgot Bubba.
I don't believe the American people are going to stand for another 4 years of Bush, just under a different name, McCain. I don't believe middle working class, blue collar, or unemployed Americans are making a big deal out of what Sen. Obama said. I read it and re read it to see what the heck was the big deal. What he said is TRUE! The more Sen. Clinton talks about this the further down in the polls she will fall. Who is out of touch with main stream America, I think we all know the answer to that. Let's remember all of this when we vote. Our country and the world has waited long enough for a leader like Sen. Obama, this time we will get it RIGHT!
Hillary Clinton and her supporters want one thing and that is for Hillary to be President. These people are putting the cart before the horse by believing that AFTER Hillary becomes commander in chief she will miraculously change into a person of the people and do good things for the average joe. If her campaign is any indication of how she would lead then there should be no doubt that her supporters are wrong and that Hillary will not become the champion of the people but rather one more President detached from the people she governs and from the reality her constituents live in.
Hillary's most recent comments denigrating the truths Barack Obama was speaking proves how out of touch, how vengeful, how relentlessly focused and how short sited she actually is. This woman cannot be an honest broker of the truth because of the lies she has to tell to maintain the position she currently is in. Hillary cannot be Obama because this woman sold out long ago to the very lobbyists and corporations that created the situation that has happened in Pennsylvania and other depressed areas of our Country.
Let's cut to the chase and call this latest pseudo "bitter controversy" what is really IS: GUTTER POLITICS AT ITS VERY WORST, borrowing words right out of the Karl Rove playbook to divide and conquer the blue collar vote ! I used to admire Hillary, but NO MORE! By her statements that "Obama hasn't passed the 'Commander-in-Chief test'", then daring to label Obama as "elitist", she has shown that her quest for the nomination is not about the best interests of the Democratic Party, but ONLY about her raw ambition for power!
IMO, anyone with more than two working brain cells knew what Obama was talking about in his comments,--none of which were meant as derogatory, or "elitist"! He was referring to all those famous "wedge" issues which have been ruthlessly used, mostly by Republicans and now by Hillary, for many years to divide the working class/religious communities to vote against their own best interests,----yes, often out of frustration, fear of the unknown or unfamiliar, anger at their own economic helplessness/alienation! Here in my own area, people who don't "have a pot to piss in" still vote for Republican economic policies and continuation of an unjust war claiming the lives and limbs of their sons, simply because they hate gays, Muslims & Mexicans, and any kind of gun control. And yes, many of them "cling" to their religion which actively promotes those fears!
SHAME ON YOU, HILLARY, for playing right into the hands of Republicans!
Obama was not speaking the truth. I've lost one of my two jobs and when I think about it I'm bitter about the circumstances but I'm not a bitter person, I'm not turning to guns, religion, xenophobia or any of the other things he said. Why are so many people arguing about which candidate lies the most as opposed to what are the best policies for our country and who can best carry them out?
I love how every Clinton supporter tries to bring up Rezko to smear Obama, yet they always fail to mention that Rezko was also a big contributor to the Clintons. He was a White House guest and had his picture taken with Hillary...
So, if ya'all want to use the Rezko sword, be aware that it cuts BOTH ways...
Michale.....
Calling Obama an elitist is just like Swift Boating Kerry, they have all learned from Karl Rove, if you tell a lie big enough people will believe it.
Republicans are cashing in on their investment in propagandizing the term "Liberal Elitist". You've heard it. It has been driven into the public conciousness so far that it now seems intuitive, even though liberal and elitist is as extraordinarliy an oxmoron as the more recent liberal facist that they have been pushing.
The entire discussion over Obama's statements are predicated on the assumption that liberals, intellectuals and smart people are all elitists and therefore, somehow, do not understand the conventional wisdom of the public. It is a mass delusion, paid for by the RNC.
Get a grip people. The Republicans have changed you in ways so fundamental that you do not even notice it anymore.
We can all appreciate that "bitterness" may be an apt way of describing the way many Americans are feeling. However, defining the actions that Americans take as a result of the "bitterness" seems to be the issue. The idea that they resolve their bitterness by focussing on guns and God is a bit of a reach.
Attacking John McCain for the number of houses he owns is a similar kind of transference, and a bit of a reach as well. After all, John McCain is prepared to take public financing for the campaign.
McCain has already violated these same public financing laws of which you speak, Russ. Really, though, McCain can't do anything but take public financing, because practically nobody is giving to his campaign. His real support comes from the MSM. What money McCain's camp gets comes largely from corporations. He was born with a silver spoon in his potty-mouth. Hillary grew up, and remains, Republican. She believes in old-school, top-down government. All of which goes to show you why Obama's supporters will not so easily settle for business-as-usual this time around. His initial comments were poorly worded. He has since clarified his remarks, and I don't see anything objectionable in them. Let's move back to discussing these horrible trade policies and Iraq. You know, things that truly matter.
Labeling Clinton a Republicans is not really useful. I'm of her generation and when I was younger, there were many progressive Republicans who were far more liberal than some of today's Democrats.
McCain is prepared to take public finance because he knows he can't match Democrats in fund raising this year and now seeks to take political advantage of it. Democrats have advocated it, but the time to adopt this as a standard is not in the middle of a race, but in between races as the public dialogue will not then be influenced by advantage to one or the other candidate. And besides, making 527s illegal would have to precede an discussion of direct campaign finnace.
Democrats need to find a backbone and stick to it - either you're for public financing or you're not. It's the same with universal health care - either you back it or you don't.
suggesting that people vote on issues like guns and gay marriage, which don't really affect their daily lives in any fundamental way because they don't believe that anyone is government will do anything about their economic situations is not a reach. if they're all going to be shit on the economic issues that really impact your life, you might as well vote for someone who seems to be in line with your beliefs on these other issues. it's divide and conquer at it's best, it's been on perfect display in the politics of this country over the past 15+ years.
john mccain's policies do absolutely nothing for the average american that is suffering in this economy, and the idea that he's somehow taking the high road on public financing is to use bill clinton's phrase "a fairytale." if it's Barack "raised on food stamps elitist" Obama vs. John "republican donors don't love me so i'll pretend to take the high road on public financing" mccain, i'll the elitist come november.
Hypocrisy. Most of us have made remarks far beyond those made by Obama. It has always mystified me how poor unemployed blue colored workers can vote against their class interests by voting for Republicans. There has to be a reason why people will vote for people who take us to war and shift the burden of paying for it to them. Or who vote against giving working class people universal health coverage. For Clinton or any other American to claim that these people are the average American is racist. What they are saying is that the average is stupid and hates blacks, immigrants and homosexuals and to criticize them is elitist. Stupid America!
It's because the Republicans have been very successful at using wedge issues to get people to vote against their own self interests. Gay marriage, flag burning and so on. These are issues that hit people at an emotional level and emotions have a tendency to override intellect.
That is correct. republicans created BUZZWORDS like "elitist" and HClinton and republicans are now throwing them around at Obama. The game is to use SOUND BITES, ONE WORD, keep the message SHORT and STUPID, and Americans will BUY IT, believe it, vote on it.
Are Americans THAT STUPID?
Spell that:Y-E-S. Republicans know so.
Clinton tries to revise Mississippi comments
Mar 8, 7:31 AM (ET)
By SARA KUGLER
HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) - Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton tried to backpedal Friday from comments she made in October suggesting Mississippi was a backward place for women's progress.
Speaking to radio station WJZD-FM in Gulfport, Miss., the former first lady said the comments she made about the state in the run up to the Iowa caucuses "were not exactly what I said," even though they came directly from an interview she gave to the Des Moines Register in October.
For more information:
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080308/D8V98FO00.html
Hillary's Mississippi comments
By Jonathan Martin, Politico
October 25, 2007
I've been a little surpised that more GOP presidential candidates haven't jumped on the comments Hillary made to David Yepsen the other day in discussing her candidacy in Iowa.
In case you missed it, the third graf is key:
"I was shocked when I learned Iowa and Mississippi have never elected a woman governor, senator or member of Congress. There has got to be something at work here," she said, theorizing it may be the risk-averse nature of a state built around agriculture.
"I think not only do I have to bring people to me, I have to maybe reassure people here maybe more than I do in New Hampshire, which has had a woman governor," she said.
"I think Iowa poses a special burden, or a special obstacle to me because when you look at the numbers, how can Iowa be ranked with Mississippi? That's not what I see. That's not the quality. That's not the communitarianism, that's not the openness I see in Iowa."
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/1007/Hillarys_Mississippi_comments.html
If you go to the most expensive private school in Hawaii and then move on to Columbia University and Harvard Law School, you may not understand normal Americans. So you develop an elitist attitude. And, since you are sure you perspective is correct you openly express your condescension toward your fellow citizens. And when questioned about your clearly elitist remarks you apologize saying you “deeply regret” if some people were offended, not with your sentiments, but with the sentence structure Unfortunately, most people realize you have just reiterated the elitist beliefs of your original remarks. Problem is elitism is a terrible disadvantage in politics.
So, going to a Columbia makes one an "elitist". However going to Andover, Yale and Harvard makes one "the guy you'd most like to have a beer with". Got it.
Face it. You just want to tag any Democratic candidate with your "elitist" label and then you'll come up with whatever logical gymnastics you need to try to justify it.
Obama is defining himself as elitist with his own words and actions. And to your point, it's not where you go to school that makes you an elitist. Rather, it's your attitude about your fellow citizens.
the problem is that obama is right. dumbericans notoriously vote against their economic interest regardless of how screwed up their lives r. it's not bitterness, it's plain stupidity...
"Dumbericans? .. it's plain stupidity"
Could you please clarify just which Americans are stupid?
i wholeheartedly AGREE!!! When you vote bush in for a 2nd term...... i can say that
(AMERICAN POPULATION - KERRY VOTES - BUSH CRONNIES - NON VOTERS = STUPID.
PLain and SIMple.
rollingdivision:
You are a dishonest joker! So Obama who spent year earning $8000.00 a year as a community organizer, organizing steel workers who had lost their jobs when the Steel mills closed in Chicago, is an elitist. But Hillary Clinton, Yale Law school, wife of the Governor of Arkansas, Corporate lawyer with the Rose law Firm, Member of the Board of Directors for Wal-Mart, First Lady of the United States, Sen. from New York, who with husband makes 109 million dollars in 7 years is a woman of the people who is elitist? I really have a solution: Hillary Clinton and John McCain need to team up together because they seem to think alike. This would set free the Democratic party to chose its leaders who are dedicated to advancing the interest of the people. Right now people like me are confuse. We have to choose between a Democrat and a Republican Democrat to run against a Republican. II am the only one who senses that the Clintons are more supportive of Republican John McCain than they are of Sen. Obama? They seem to be giving the Democratic party an ultimatum: Either you nominate Hillary Clinton or we will support John McCain. He is not an elitist like Obama. He shares with Hillary "a lifetime experience" that qualifies him to be Commander in Chief. Besides, he is a real American, and a real Christian like Hillary
I live in Ohio, why do you think people here voted for Bush? "Because he has Christian Values"
Sorry but everytime the Right Wing, or Clinton attacks Obama on these "gaffes" or "naive mistakes" of his they prove how unfit they are to lead this country. You think it was wrong to say people are bitter because Washington, the Clintons, and Bushs have failed them? That every 4 years they are told they will get jobs that revive their community and 4 years later they have nothing to show for it. They can't trust politicians on promises for their local enconomy so they vote for them based on "Christian Values" and their stance on gun control. The ones that are insulting and looking down on people from these towns are the ones that can't acknowledge that, and go on lying to them again. They don't qualify for Bills Earned Income Credit, because they don't have a job to earn income with, and they arn't considered unemployed, because they havn't had a job available to them in so long that they don't count, and thanks to Clintons gutting the Welfare Safety Net (which Hillary personally rounded up the votes for) they don't get any government assistance.
rollingdivision: are you saying that people who attend expensive schools are not "normal?" This might cause one to believe that it is you who are the elitist. It is all in the eye of the beholder, I guess.
There is a reason why his comments are getting so much press....THEY ARE ELITIST COMMENTS! If we're gonna be real let's do that. Had Hillary said the same thing you'd jump down her throat. Just because you're backing Obama doesn't make the comments not elitest.
That said Obama highlighted a weakness of his besides his inexperience: Connecting with small town voters in a general election. I know you'll say that this is a primay race still and that he won Iowa. But those are old laurels. Against a very moderate Republican Obama will need to step up his "small town" game.
sounds to me like you are a Clinton supporter trying to disguise yourself. Or maybe you are a republican?!?!?!!?
Yes we CAN!!!
HOW DARE YOU CALL ME A CLINTON SUPPORTER!!!! lol. Not to sound too elitist, but I am cut from a different cloth than the likes of the Clintons. ...and yes I am a Republican.
jrockbg, elitisim is not the issue. Being right is the issue. The elaborate distractions and deceptions of the Right Wing have rendered the American public helpless and confused. This assessment by Obama is based on recognition of why the public elected Bush twice. They are obviously not able to fend for themselves in a world where information is filtered through corporate managed news.
The rudimentary symptoms of the powerlessness of the pubic are and always have been fundamental needs, personal security, scapegoating and fear. The perfect recipe for exploitation. You should be gald someone has brought it up.
Your "vast right-wing conspiracy" theory aside, winning should be the issue for Obama. In the general election, his small town love affair will vanish when stacked against McCain. Small town folks HATE Hillary.
Obama's got a good strategy. He could well win in November. But if Obama marginalizes small-town people's views he will ultimately marginalize his independent voter numbers.
Elitism is the belief or attitude that those individuals who are considered members of the elite, a select group of people with outstanding personal abilities, intellect, wealth, specialized training or experience, or other distinctive attributes, are those whose views on a matter are to be taken the most seriously or carry the most weight; whose views and/or actions are most likely to be constructive to society as a whole; or whose extraordinary skills, abilities or wisdom render them especially fit to govern. Alternatively, the term elitism may be used to describe a situation in which power is concentrated in the hands of the elite.
I fail to see elitism in anything Obama said regards rural people.
The "way" in which Obama phrased his comments is what made them elitist. Not so much the text. He placed religion on the same plane as the significantly less-important small town views on illegal immigrants. He made it sound as if small town folks only cling to those things in bitterness; As if they are only important in a reactionary sense and not on their own.
Lastly, Obama made it sound like he had greater perspective, or knew something they didn't. To say so in a sweeping manner attacks the collective intelligence of small town folks.
Sounds like "outstanding intellect, or extraordinary skills.....rendering him especially fit to govern."
I don't think Obama is any more elitist than a typical liberal. I know that sounds like a back-handed compliment, but I'm just saying few liberal Democrats get to say anything to Obama about being elitist.
jrockbg:
What is so elitist about saying that people in the "Rust belt" have suffered economic hardships for over three decades, and have become disillusioned about government and have therefore focused on issues that they believe they could have more control over. Why is telling the truth considered "inexperience?" You see, just because people like you and the Clintons and the McCains would rather be in denial, does not mean that Obama is an elitist. Was Martin Luther King an elitist for pointing out that the violence in the cities was because of the bitterness people felt about their economic conditions? No the elitists are the Clintons and the McCains who would rather pander to the people about faith and the Second Amendment while they are busy supporting economic policies that destroying those small towns, and waging war that not only kill and maim the children of the working class, but is rapidly bankrupting this nation. Obama spoke the truth. Some times people who speak the truth are persecuted. In time though, people will regret for not heeding the truth. Win or lose, Obama has shown us the proper way of engaging in politics, and his faith that ordinary people have the capacity to change their circumstances so long as as they are focused on real issues rather all the fluff .
It really is not what he said but how he said it. To make his point, he marginalized small town folks opinions on guns, religion and immigration.
There IS validity to Obama's point that feelings on the economy can be expressed through guns, religion and political views. Whose isn't? But the way he phrased it made it sound like their whole viewpoint is a reactionary one. Thats a huge insult to someone who has spent a lifetime hunting and feels pride in protecting their family. Its very offensive to someone who has studied the bible, gone to church and looked to their faith in ALL aspects of life. And Obama made it sound like their views on immigration are based on xenophobia and inability to see a broader perspective.
Furthermore, he mentioned that small town folks, in a bitter manner, turn to religion AND anti-immigrant sentiment....for the same reasons! Thats a smack in the face as far as their faith is concerned.
These off-the-cuff remarks show a more real side. This wasn't highly scutinized prepared speech(I'm guessing). For a candidate of "Hope" and "Change", Obama's comments are well below standard. Based on his campaign, you can't compare relative elitism to Hillary. I wholeheartedly agree no Clinton can lecture Obama on being elitist. But Obama's almost got this primary wrapped up. The American public is looking at him like the nominee. He needs to act like he's ready for the big time.
Better any comments based on truth than put up with Hillary the pathological liar
if mccain had said blacks believe in god out of bitterness over slavery, he would be mauled by the fringe liberal media, the kos'ers, this site and many more. face it, obama was wrong, he got caught, and it will cost him votes, maybe millions of them.
Being mad about slavery and racism is a helluva lot different than being bitter mexicans are moving in and your job is being shipped to India. Don't even try to equate the two.
people that like mccain are just dumb. Face it. you cannot be intelligent and vote for Mccain. they are upset that they are going to lose because people are getting smart because obama tells it like it is.
Yes we CAN!!!
I understand that for the privileged and corrupt few, people like the Clintons and McCain, they HOPE Obama was wrong. But, then, those folks don't have all that good a track record of late...not for leadership, honesty or even common decency.
your pathetic attempt to bring john mccain into yet another in a long line of ridiculous comments by barack hussein or his surrogates/mentors/supporters is so sad and yet so funny. you actually prove mccain is a better man, that despite his wealth, or his connections, he STILL enlisted and fought for his country, and paid a price no obama has ever paid. once again mccain looks the hero, and obama the elitist scum trying to destroy our faith, our families, and our country.
Above is a great example of the pathetic state of our country- passing off hate, ignorance and bigotry for supposed political discourse. I don't wonder why we are becoming a third rate nation when I read entries like that above.
Hi Karl!
First of all, officers don't enlist. Secondly, McCain married into his money (after ditching his first wife), which is how he financed his political career.
Not that I have a problem with him marrying into money. But you guys were all over John Kerry for doing that just a few short years ago.
I do have a problem with him cheating on and then divorcing the woman who stood by him and raised his children while he was a POW. But I guess she wasn't pretty and rich enough for him.
McCain did not "enlist" he got an appointment to the US Naval Academy and before graduation He selected Navy Air. His appointment assured him of a great education at USNA, He did not pay one dime for tuition but he was obligated to send 4 years as a Navy Officer (Regular not reserve) before he could offer to resign his commission.
this is cute...
McCain's affair, and a marriage based on a tissue of lies.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/specials/mccain/articles/0301mccainbio-chapter5.html
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