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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Every week or so, some media pundit says something to this effect:
"Barack Obama is or seems to be X. He is associated with Y, and this cannot stand.
The American people need him to categorically state he is not X, or he is doomed, and will absolutely not win the nomination. He must repudiate everything that Y ever uttered, or face stinging electoral defeat."
Insert tax and spend liberal, Farrakhan, Jeremiah Wright, too black, not black enough, Rezko and many others for X and Y.
The media seems to love to set up hoops for him to jump through. Russert, Brian Williams, Glenn Beck, Jonah Goldberg and other point to such hoops with fingers covered in grease from McCain's barbecue/lovefest in Arizona. You know, Cindy's house. To his credit, he's demurred from some of these demands, and told his side of things. Clearly and calmly.
The speech in Philadelphia was inspired. Not a world changing event. But definitely inspired. The people that ABC and others are polling lately show that some of the electorate is ready for a presidential candidate to talk to American voters as if we are adults. Many media people seem to still favor junior high school level conversation.
Last, I want to see a McCain/Obama debate. I thought the debates in 2004 were one sided. The McSame/Barack-star conflagration should be a rhetorical massacre.
"but there is a core problem that obama's supporters are missing: the problem here is his speaking about one group (the so-called low-educated and downscale -- who are generally considered hillary supporters) to another group (the so-called educated and upscale) -- behind their backs. no one likes it and never has. and people of genuine good will toward obama, but who support hillary, resent it with cause. the negative reaction to his remarks is a very fundamental, human one."
They are not missing it. They are deliberately avoiding it. Now they are running around trumpeting the snapshot LA Times poll as indicative when, in fact, the polling that has been done consistently shows that HC has been steadily increasing her lead in PA for the past week or so.
Hillary was raised as a middle American WASP and made 109 million dollars in the last 8 years. McCain married a multi-millioner many times over, owns 10 fabulous houses and thinks that corporate taxes haven't been cut enough by Bush. Obama was raised by a single mother(his dad left when he was a small child) who had to go on welfare often and despite his biracial ethnicity, considers himself black because, in his words, he used to have a very hard time getting a cab, even in a 3 piece suit. Obama is the only candidate of the 3 running now who isn't an elitist and who can genuinely identify with the hardship small town people experience.
What's really funny about all the argueing here at Salon and elsewhere is that this contest has been over for some time now. Clinton doesn't have a any chance at being the nominee. I guess all the jawing keeps people entertained though.
Those silly voters still think they can hire someone to govern, that that is how we work here. Obama is snooty, like a HS debater who buys his evidence cards instead of researching. See? I can be snooty, too. And Obama isn't smart enough for me, sorry. He thinks he is, but he's not. Bitter and cling are negative terms, he dished about one group to another, then laughed at his own analysis. He thinks babies are a punishment for teen sex. And he is snide and just as negative as Hillary or any other candidate. His acolytes all laugh, which just encourages him. So...though he is problemmatical in a way different from Bush, the electorate may lockstep along and elect him like they did Bush. Then the fun begins..."We didn't know"..."Why did he?"..."Why can't he"...I can hardly bear to think about it. I know I will have to cancel cable to even survive.
I live in the midwest and what this lastest brohaha by the media mostly points to is who really is out of touch.
While Obama knows full well how we feel because he has seen it in his state of Illinois where so many jobs here have gone to Mexico and China, the press thinks the way to address this is to tiptoe around the issue or ignore it.
Obama, essentially is getting slammed by the traditional media for telling the truth of how we feel.
McCain and Clinton are as out of touch as the msm. They put us in this stereotypical view and pretend we are not angry. Resentful. And Bitter. They play the same old political games rather than take the opportunity to realistically discuss this issue.
And the talking heads, NY Times, ect. lambast and dither over how Obama 'insulted' us and will be destroyed by big bad republicans.
The media, McCain, republicans and Clinton are stuck in the 90s with their old school politics.
And all of these are confounded because obama is not taking a hit by the voters.
Maybe it's because he is right and we appreciate his talking to us like adults and not pandering and pretending to go duck hunting and downing shots with the boys in some tavern.
Quoth Barack: “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”
Relax, people.
It’s all good. All the enlightened folk from San Francisco (the center of all reason and moderation) have to do is explain to those poor rubes how Barry will bring in high-paying jobs at the new Gucci factories, open the secret government bins of fairy gold to pay for universal, top-notch health care and research, & etc. Once that message is spread, trailer park Joes will accept him as their personal savior, lose their bitterness, put aside their antiquated belief in God, their plebian concern for more than amendment one, and their naïve expectations of a secure border. Then they join our legions of the rational! Hooray!
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