Obama's Not Running For Sociologist-In-Chief
Barack Obama clearly wishes he hadn't said what he did about the feelings of small town Pennsylvanians -- at least the way he explained it at that fundraiser in San Francisco. (Note to the candidate: there is no such thing as a "closed" event; there's always someone with an electronic device ready to blog on The Huffington Post).
Obama's not running for Sociologist-in-Chief. But there is a powerful element of truth in his comments. Starting in the elder Bob Casey's 1986 campaign for Governor, and again and again since, both James Carville and I have heard or read -- from focus groups or polling reports -- the frustration, anger, and yes, sometimes bitterness of people in depressed towns in the Keystone State who've had politicians promise them help that too seldom comes. Even in the Clinton years, when Pennsylvania gained jobs, the hollowed out economies of once-thriving blue collar communities were largely bypassed.
The political question here, of course, is whether the Clinton and McCain campaigns can exploit Obama's remarks to tag him as an "elitist" -- a label, their focus groups probably tell them, that can really hurt. Ironically, Obama's the one raised by a single mother. He's the one who only recently finished paying off his student loans. He doesn't know what it's like to have $100 million. The opponents who are attacking him are the ones who inhabit that financial neighborhood.
Hillary Clinton has seized happily on Obama's words as a way to distract attention from the latest flight of one of her husband's misguided missiles. Just as the video that irrefutably confounded her tale about sniper fire at the Tuzla Airport was being returned to the network vaults, President Clinton's ill-timed and inaccurate account of the episode rewound and replayed the tapes. Then Obama's talk gave her the chance to push the pause button. But now she has to be careful not to push the "elitism" attack too hard. The Clintons haven't lived in the real world for at least twenty-five years; they've been in a bubble surrounded by aides moving from one mansion to another. This doesn't mean they don't care or can't empathize. But it does make it awkward to damn the guy who was a community organizer helping laid-off steelworkers as someone who is out of touch.
The truth is that Obama didn't "demean" -- Senator Clinton's word -- the aggrieved residents of the forgotten Pennsylvania. Remarkably, he did demean not just the Bush, but the Clinton administration for letting them down. And by citing guns, religion, and opposition to immigration as things small town Pennsylvanians "cling to," he confused the comfort of the familiar with fear of "the other." Of course, faith and culture are refuges in distress -- and they should be. Obama knows and says that.
So his sociology wasn't clearly or ideally stated, but it was fundamentally right. The impact will be determined as Obama returns to Pennsylvania and then critically in the back and forth of the debate on Wednesday night. What he said in San Francisco was very different from Gary Hart's gaffe in 1984, when he lost the New Jersey Primary and the Democratic nomination by apparently comparing that state to a toxic waste dump -- at a fundraiser in, of all places, California. Will Pennsylvanians instead decide that Obama wasn't condescending to them, but empathizing with them -- and that their plight would be his mission as president?
No one gets to the nomination without going through the valley. Hillary Clinton and John McCain have learned that this year, and so has Barack Obama. Now he has to do it a second time, on another controversy. It's a test for him, for Clinton, and for the voters.
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O'bama is so "articulat
O'bama supporters wants you to think he is "articulat
Hey ..o'bama supporters
and at the same time a BIG BLUNDER.
You sound like an English major, too.
The difference between Obama and Clinton is simple. Obama tells the truth, even when the truth hurts. Clinton lies. (With all the serious problems in this country, she thinks she can persuade people to vote for her by gulping down a shot and a beer. Great qualificat
As for McCain, he doesn't have a clue.
P.S. I'm a blue collar worker from Pa.
Please tell what truth he has told?
O'bama was caught....
O 'bama always make these prepared speeches..
O'bama has been sold as....."ar
o'bama don't want you to turn to your religion..
SO......ho
your God and religion is supreme...
Sociologis
Also, people (Obama) don't have to be rich in money to be an elite-ist in thinking and attitude. Some people would even say that this thinking (talking down to non-college educated people) is fashist.
Die hard Hillaryite I see. Spinning the elitist card now. Duhhhh have we ever had a president that wasn't elitist? Hmmm The Washington
What the **** is "fashist"? Did you mean "fascist"? Of course, it would be an idiotic comparison even if spelled correctly - basically, you're saying that most people are blithering idiots that don't have any idea what they're actually saying when they throw around insults. Last time I checked, fascism is a political ideology, and is similar to communism in that individual needs are subordinate to the interests of the state.
The last thing that Obama is guilty of is talking down to people - that would be more the style of our illustrious president, speaking like a fool and pretending to be "one of the people." (You really can't get much more elite than the Bush family, folks.) Obama actually talks to people as though they're intelligent enough to understand him if he uses words with more than one syllable, pronounces them correctly, and god forbid, expresses complex thoughts in compound sentences. And for his trouble, he gets referred to as "elitist".
Folks, he's not talking to you as though you're stupid. He's talking to you as though you're intelligent enough to follow the conversation.
IMO - Obama is arrogant with a big chip on his shoulder. He also is a sore looser, his temper flares and he sulks every time his poll numbers drop. He has made statements of warning, for people not to listen to Washington or government insiders - what the heck does he think HE is? A Senator IS an insider - he's out of reality and he's supposed to be smart, but turns out he's just a smart-allick.
As the Pennsylvanians rose to give Obama a standing ovation, I saw the shock and dismay on many faces. That a candidate expressed their feelings came as a shock to them. No candidate in living memory has been that sensitive to them. Their sad expression reflects the knowledge that it's a long road back.
Hillary and her kind never propose anything. They hang back until they see an opening they can exploit. In their terms an elitist is a person capable of independent thought. Very few people with clear thinking have made it through the public school system in the last three generations.
I guess we will know next Tuesday how the people in rural Pa. feel. That is, if Sen. Obama not only expressed the way they feel or if they recognized his duplicity. Perhaps, "Hillary and her kind" will rise. i don't see any continuity in the last two sentences of your remark, but independent thought and elitism are not synomonous. Examples: high schools have elite groups such as athletics, cheerleaders etc.; College fraternities and sororities. In fact, it may even be true that independent thought is not compatible with elitism. This is demonstrated by Sen. Obama's chameleon qualities which allow him to alter his speeches and demeanor according to the "class' of people he is addressing. Sen. Clinton, on the other hand, has been proposing universal health care for sixteen years. She has proposed, written, sponsored health care for National Guard troops who have served in Iraq. She has proposed a moratorium on foreclosures and a cap on interest for five years. Sen. Obama's proposal on health care was an afterthought. His economic proposals came after Sen. Clinton had released hers. When someone comes along who can make jokes about serious issues, smooth enough to avoid answering questions and present himself as a man of the people, but his actions show the opposite, it is so reminsient of George Bush, the country needs to take notice. Hillary Clinton is doing what is required of her by pointing out the problems of character in her opponent.
When this race started I was a supporter of Hillary Clinton. I confess that my support was largely based on my respect for her husband and his accomplishments while in office. Nevertheless, I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt… even though she had voted to give Bush the power to declare war on Iraq.
But as time has passed Hillary has lost my respect and my vote. She has shown herself to be, on too many occasions, disingenuous, an opportunist, an unrepentant liar and someone who is willing to say and/or do anything to win… even if it means destroying the Democratic Party and its monumental opportunity to finally get the Republicans out of the White House.
Obama is no more an elitist than Clinton is a heartland farm girl. He’s a well educated, articulate Black American man with a vision for real and positive change in America. Unfortunately, it seems that some folks (on both side of the colour line) still find that a “bitter” pill to swallow.
The pity of it all is that the Republicans don’t have to do a thing to win the GE. Democrats, following Hillary’s lead, are handing it to them on a silver platter… albeit a bloody and tarnished one.
Karl Rove and his kin are dancing in the aisles… 4 more years! 4 more years! And a hundred years in Iraq!
"even though she had voted to give Bush the power to declare war on Iraq. " ???
Oh no. That was her defining move.
No no no the tide HAS turned. and the outgoing rush will carry the remaining neo-cons into obscurity. Come November.
Spot on. Time has damaged Hillary in my eyes. It has allowed her darkness to creep out on all sorts of occasions, and even if her intent was to damage someone else, it has had the boomerang effect, so to speak, and has done her more harm than good.
Her own fault really.
Obama, on the other hand, has once again risen to the occasion. Apologised to those who were offended on the one hand but explained what he was trying to get across on the other. Bravo.
Hardly would I expect any Presidential candidate to be perfect, but Obama has fallen upwards every time. He can't help but speak the truth, and he did so once again here. Scientific proof for his statements abound, but don't tell the McCain/Clinton spin machines.
I was an Obama supporter myself. But the more I learn about him the less I respect him. At least with Hilliary I know what is in store for me, and she is smart, tough and resilient. I def will vote for her over Obama any day now. Obama is still learning, and all the hype is a great cover for a lot of what Americans don't know and are finding out slowly but surely... he is not any different from those he holds himself so highly above.. he is very much the political opportunist saying what we want to hear and saying what he thinks his champagne sipping elitist Dems want to hear when he is behind closed doors with them as well.
Sure Hillary is smart, tough and resilient. She is like a bulldogthat will chew off the leg of the democratic party to get the nomination.
That said thats not really the problem, the problem is she is deceptive. She and Bill have their collective hands in everything and whatever is not politically popular she will say she opposes it meanwhile behind the scenes not only her employees, Mark Penn but also her husband working to and endorsing exactly that which she saysshe opposes. Example: Nafta and Columbia Free Trade. Her finances are being enriched becouse of these actions. You see a conflict of interest??
I totally concur with your thoughts! I was elected as a Clinton delegate to a county convention in Colorado. After the caucuses, Clinton's increasingly bizzare behavior and her outright lies made me think that she is unbalanced and unfit to be President. On the day of the convention, I switched my vote to Barack Obama. I'm disgusted with the Clintons (yes, I lump them together where they belong) and their "kitchen sink" strategy. Hillary has no shame. She cannot win the nomination, unless she
can convince enough Super Delegates that Obama is unelectabl
whoa! Wait a minute. You switched your vote? I thought that was what all the Obama supporters were screaming about a few weeks ago. I live in Colorado and I just might call the Democratic headquarters and find out if that is allowed. Has it occurred to you the African American voters strongly approved of Pres. Clinton and supported Hillary before the Iowa Caucus? And do you seriously think Republicans will vote for Obama? And this is another thing you need to consider. Hundreds of thousands of Hillary's supporters will stay home in Nov. because of the elitism and lies of Sen. Obama and his supporters. McCain may win the general. Thanks for nothing miz kitty.
bitter
Now Hillary has just shown her true republican self. Teaming up with McShame to hit the Senator with a one two punch. My statement to the young Senator from Illinois,"If you hear hollaring behind you it proves you're still out front". As if anyone on the planet isn't bitter about the current state of world affairs? Americans, more than anyone can hollar regime change in Washington. Naw not just bitter that's not harsh enough. I wanna damn some sons of b$#@! or daughters of b$#@!. Children overseas fighting about some damn oil while the elitist daughter's and son's sit safely back here. Why ain't Chelsea's ass suited up with some night vision glasses any stead of running around college campuses telling us none of our business? Talk about elitis.You want your mom to have the highest office in the land, but you feel it's not our business that your daddy has been disbarred for lying. We can't ask about his lying ass. Oh I forgot your boyfriends dad is where your dad should be behind bars. Get lost... Show me how much you're for the war effort, send your children, like the Prince Phillips. Bitter,mad as hell, angry, frustrated, pissed the f off, smoking, sizzling, and any other name you wanna apply to it. You F'd up that time, team McShame, and Hillary Rotten dam Clinton.
jgjo891
I am in agreement with your post. The hyprocrisy of the media, esp. Lou Dobbs talking about the country being based on equality of education, race etc etc etc. What planet is he living on? How does that help the American people who are indeed suffering; no jobs, no health care, no hope, to distort, manipulate, convolute the truth. Could it be to assuage their own consciences to the fact of what's happening in America and has been for close to 3 decades due to neglect, and lies of politicians who do indeed make empty, meaningless promises and panderings during election time for political gain?. They really must think these aggreived are stupid too. I am glad to see there are sensible people out there who actually agree with what Obama is saying. Maybe there's hope for America yet.
PS is Chelsea's boyfriend really in jail and for what crime?
A recent New York Times profile of former "first daughter" Chelsea Clinton , 27, gave quite a bit of info about her and about her relationship with Marc Mezvinsky , her steady boyfriend of at least the last two years.
Unlike the progeny of some presidents, Chelsea has led a quiet and law-abiding life and was an outstanding college scholar. She has a graduate degree in international relations and now works for a hedge fund in New York.
Mezvinsky, 28, works for the investment bank Goldman Sachs. His parents, Marjorie Margolies-
This may surprise you, but a lot of Sen. Clinton supporters are also dissatisfied with the economy and the war. We put the blame where ii belongs, on George Bush. Hi trillion dollar war, tax breaks on capital gains, estate and dividends benefiting the wealthy and his refusal to veto port barrel bills from his own parties congress is destroying the economy. The country hurt after 9/11 and Sen. Clinton represented the people most affected. Did she want revenge, like many did in the US, was she reflecting the attitude of her constituency, did she perceive a threat or did she not believe Bush would go to war without letting the inspectors finished their work? Do you know? Do you know whether or not Sen. Obama would have voted with the seven opposing the resolution or with the seventy three supporting? We will never know the answer to either of these questions, but I am betting on Sen. Clinton and her experience to get us out of the muddle George Bush has made. I feel that I know her and I believe in her. Your nasty remarks re. her daughter, her husband and her are exactly the reason her supporters will stay home in Nov. if Sen. Obama wins the nomination.
SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Led by the Chicago press corps that has covered Obama for years, the candidate today faced a barrage of questions in what turned out to be a contentious news conference.
Questions centered on why his campaign had denied that a meeting occurred between his chief economic advisor and Canadian officials as well as questions on his relationship with Tony Rezko, a Chicago land developer and fast food magnate, now on trial for corruption charges.
Obama claimed that when he had first denied the meeting between Austan Goolsbee and any members of the Canadian administration he provided "the information that [he] had at the time."
He added, "Nobody reached out to the Canadians to try to reassure them. They reached out, unbeknownst to the rest of us; They reached out to Mr. Goolsbee, who provided them with a tangible conversation and repeated what we've said on the campaign trail."
When did the meeting take place? Why did the Canadian officials reach out? Did Goolsbee not come forward right away and admit the meeting to Campaign Manager David Plouffe and Obama when both denied it last week? These are questions that went unanswered as the press conference was cut short.
Much of the back and forth, though, between reporters and Obama was about his relationship with Tony Rezko, with reporters demanding to know why new details were emerging from the case though Obama and his staff had claimed they had been forthright with all the details.
Poor Senator Barak Obama - First the elitist, now the unelectable.
Well, I see the latest word is that Bill and Hillary are agonizing over how to tell Barak Obama that he’s unelectable.
It seems that there is all of this dis-information going around about him.
Let’s see. There’s the fact that many people think he’s a Muslim; closet or otherwise
and attended school in a radical Muslim madrassa.
And, Oh yes, he wouldn’t renounce that Rev Wright for making those racist remarks. We just know that those nasty Republicans are going to bring it up and destroy him with that one. Plus, there’s the stuff about him being an elitist.
Yeah right. The Clintons and their operatives went to an awfully lot of trouble to shout all of this dis-information from the rooftops.
Look, the Clintons may have meant well in the early nineties. However, somewhere along the way they decided that if they can’t beat them they’d join them. They did well financially. But, they became Republicrats.
That’s why the Republicans voted for them in the primaries. Either way, if Senator Clinton becomes the Democratic candidate, the Republicans win whether she wins or loses.
Bill and Hillary, your time is over. You have made your place in history and you have and will make a lot of money.
Now is the time for the Democratic Party and the American working class to fade President and Senator Clinton off into the sunset.
"somewhere along the way they decided that if they can"t beat them they"d join them."
YOU NAILED IT!
Let me see if I understand you. Are you saying Republicans are voting for Hillary? Because I could swear I heard Sen. Obama say the Republicans were voting for him because he is a uniter ( seems like I heard GWB say that once). I've also heard the story that Republicans are voting for Hillary because Rush Limbaugh told them to. You say " the Clintons meant well"? That's big of you. Do you think it strange that it is the working class supporting Hillary? Of course they are the great uneducated and unwashed. Please, Please go back and read your comment. It is so condescending and arrogant. It is clear Sen. Obama's campaign is top down.
i couldn't make a lot of sense from your comment, but your Sen. Obama had a big supprise for the people in Pa. today. HE WAS WEARING A FLAG PIN. i wonder what that means?
LANNY DAVIS-TONIGHT ON LOU DOBBS. I hope that everyone will watch this snake. Lou Dobbs is really out of touch. He says that people are not angry and that Obama is out of touch.
Lou Dobbs is the most conservative of all the conservatives. But worse, he is a hypocrite of the worst order. He pretends to be something else. At least O'reilly and Hannity acknoeledge their political leanings. I used to say that I would sit this out if Hillary gets the nomination. No more. I will vote for McCain. I want to faciitate America in coming to its soluton OR NOT.
if Hillary gets the nomination, I will NOT vote for McCain. That would be a dismal thing to do. Better to sit it out.
IMO - Lou Dobbs keeps issues important to most of us alive and we love him for it. . . .
All Lou Dobbs reports is the truth. A lot of people cannot handle the truth or do not want the truth to be reported because they have something to hide or gain by people not knowing the truth. So they call Lou either a bigot or hypocrite because they want his message to be discounted or camaflouge
S-o-o-o, you're saying if we're not going to become good neighbors to the rest of the world and give up our drive for hegemony, interference in everybody else's business, bombing of foreign civilians on the basis of flimsy "intelligence," etc, etc, then you'd prefer we bankrupt ourselves more quickly for the sake of the rest of humanity?
Not sure I agree completely, but I admit the thought has crossed my mind occasionally. I've told my friends for years that the US will not reform itself until things get "bad enough," meaning that the American people must first start feeling some real hardship and pain. Stan Goff wrote an article several months ago arguing pretty much the same thing, that we'll have to "go through it" before the system can be reformed.
I can envision some real catastrophe such as attack on Iran, oil at $300/bbl, the rest of the world totally pissed off and refusing to trade with the US until we turn our war criminals over to The Hague. I think that would get our attention.
Right about some things, but given your lack of success in the political biz, don't you think you oiught to be on the Clinton team?
Hillary is making it more and more dificult for me to vote for her, but I could never vote for McCain. I don't think this country could go through another eight years with a Bushkin at the helm. I just hope that I won't have to choose between a beer guzzling liar and a sword rattling hothead.
Yes, there were some positives during the Clinton years, but we have Bill-o to thank for NAFTA and for opening the one way door to China.
If Hillary's husband was a pilot, do you think you would want her to fly you in a jet fighter because she sat in the back seat for eight years? Carpetbagging, beer guzzling and a wild imagination are not great qualifications for the presidency.
Proud to be labeled "Elitist".
If I am considered Elitest because for the life of me I could not understand why "trailor park" found it necessary to align themselves with a crowd that has never and never will push their interests and posted Bush/Cheney '04 signs in their front yard. Then I'm Elitist.
If I am Elitist because I refuse to let my child follow the worst military objective in my lifetime. Enabling bad policy that has murdered over 4000 Americans.
If I am Elitist because I saw the big picture of the paper thin mortgage crisis and didn't get suckered into a rate that was too good to be true. Them I'm Elitist.
Finally if I'm Elitist because I have the intellectual security to not vote my religion andfind it necessary to carry a weapon to make up for my "short comings"..
America you don't have the right to call people elitist when you were too stupid to not see the bullshit the absolute worst Presidant in our history has sold you. Honestly it's easy to feel smarter than the idiot still sporting the "W" sticker on their car or the dillweed that doesn't believe in evolution. Until this country has the ability to stop chasing the shiney objects and realize that YOU are not the center of the universe. You will always be mediocre at best.
Looks like Obama is running for Barista-in-Chief!!
I am so sick of Barack Obama, if he really didn't mean to say those words (just words) then why didn't he say it to the people he was talking about instead of going to his rich elitist friends and saying it like the voters were some kind of idiots.
Many people have already known about and seen the real Obamas' but those die hards who want him to be real won't admit it.
Please stop defending him, let him show his true colors and let people see him for what he is and make their decisions.
It is so hard with people like Chris Matthews on MSNBC and Campbell Brown of CNN drooling over him like he is really something special, he is laughing at them.
As for paying off the loans please check his wifes salaries and the help he has received from Rezko and his other despicable friends.
If the Clintons have millions they earned it.
Did you check their donations to charity?
You mean the donations that all went to Bill's foundation? Yeah, they are great humanitarians, those Clintons.
There's only one way to settle this.
Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton engaged in a contest of disparaging remarks until it got the better of both of them. Alexander, of course, died and Aaron was charged, even though he wasn't ever convicted, with murder. There was some confusion since Aaron was a New York citizen, where dueling was illegal but, the duel was held in New Jersey where dueling was legal. You can see the issue fast becoming a matter of states rights technicality discussions. Aaron's political career, however, ended.
There were more similarities than just the name calling. Alexander had an affair with a con-man's wife and Aaron was always ready to claim victim status as a result of his perceived slights by George Washington and others. The problem with Aaron was that you never knew where he stood and he was known to change loyalty and stories at the drop of a hat. He also had some arrangements south of the border that were troubling. The MSM special interest groups held their breath for Alexander's writings because they increased readership. Things haven't changed much.
There is more to write about how Obama's beliefs are race affected and Hillary's words are pathological but I'm running out of words. Perhaps Hillary and Obama could take a trip to Columbia with their campaign staffs and test Hillary's stated knowledge of guns. It would not matter who won as long as someone won because the winner could not come back either.
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