Letters to the Editor
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Hillary Clinton says only big state should count...
...in the race for the nomination. She has an "insult 40 states" strategy. But Obama is the elitist?
Joan Walsh has taken David Talbot's fine magazine right down to the lowest common denominator by publishing this crap. And she doesn't even have the personal integrity to simply come out and endorse Clinton.
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Overreacting and loving it, second part
I just read Bob Herbert's column, and I think it is excellent. I would add his point to my own (with humility and admiration): that racism is a shadow in this whole brouhaha. And, yes, maybe Barack Obama should spend this next week meeting people who are racists but not happy about being such and reassuring them by his presence.
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@ Ana
Speaking of chickens… I think the Hillary Hens have aligned themselves with FOX on this one. It may be cosy for now, but the sly FOX will eat you for dinner. Cluck cluck cluck.
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Only in 21st Century America
Would Empathy be pilloried as Condescension.
What a glorious future we inhabit.
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Obama hates everybody!!
Two weeks ago it was race hatred we had discovered in Obama because of the ill-tempered remarks of a retired cleric. Today we discover Obama hates the working class.
What's next? Probably we will discover that he hates women because he is opposing Hillary so vigorously and has not given Michelle free rein on the campaign trail.
For the chattering classes to make so much of what are truthful comments about the people from whom this writer sprang sounds to me like the height of absurdity.
Working class Americans are bitter. They ought to be.
Blacks think they got a raw deal. They did.
Time for a little truth in politics? And how.
Obama '08!
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I thought this was debunked with What's The Matter With Kansas
Way to go. Thanks for re-retreading all the tired stereotypes of the Regan era. (Rush Limbaugh and Karl Rove "retreaded" them.)
I think Thomas Frank's book might be worth a read for you, if you haven't come accross it. It's those of us who come from "rubian" small-town America but who read the papers and become reliable progressives (if not always partisans) who put the lie to that assertion. How can you call me a latte-drinking efite liberal when I came from a working-class economic background in a small town in a "red" state? And yet I agree with Obam-go figure.
A stronger argument might have been that Obama was playing into the role of blue-state elitist that the Right has written for us. But I don't think that's true. Instead of condescention I saw his remarks as expressing empathy. It's Ms. Clinton's campaign that--predictably--is condescending to the voters by insulting their intelligence. She's betting they're not subtle enough to understand nuance-a play right out of Karl Rove's book.
While it's true that there is a deeper issue to explore here with respect to the educated class's condescention of the working class I'm sorry to say it's not neatly packagable into a partisan issue. Read Mr. Frank's book or spend some time talking to foreigners to see what I mean.
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@-- carrieboberry
If you're looking for a go-getter, someone who gets down into the details and is unapologetically partisan, Clinton is your candidate.
You're right. Clinton is resolutely unapologetic for being a partisan. The problem is, she's a partisan mostly for the GOP these days, championing their policies, their tactics, and most disturbingly, even their candidate, praising and holding him up as superior to the Democratic front runner as often as she can.
It may occur to you that this is why some people think it's a tad destructive for the Democratic party and not so "okay".
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Excellent article
I've been saying it for years and I will keep on saying it. Every time Gary Kamiya or some other supposedly really really smart person goes on about how average Americans are just too STOOPID to know what's good for them, a thousand of them turn around and give you the finger.
The working class knows that you look down on them, that you wouldn't want your daughter to marry one. They hate you right back, preemptively.
Obama may have done himself, or the party, a favor, by highlighting the class war that has been waged on the middle and working class by the Republicans for the last 30 years. It depends on how he works it.
He does, however, have a pronoun problem. Listen to his speeches. Check the I's, the we's, the you's, the them's. Some of his statements have a paternalistic feel, as if he is talking, not to or about his peers, but to a child. "Part of my job as President would be to keep YOU safe." Uh-uh. Bad tone. That needs to be us, the nation, the country, whatever.
On the plus side, he talks to people as if they are not too STOOPID to understand what he is saying.
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Hypocrisy Unbounded
Has it occured to ANYONE [ANYONE, ANYWHERE] that a short time ago Obmaba was being excoriated for standing by his long association with his Church and its sometimes controversial pastor, when to do so quite plausibley could help hold in place, or otherwise shore up, his support with a constituency it is believed he very much needed to demonstrate his appeal to. Now he is being accused of not taking committment to religion serisously? How does 2 + 2 get to 4 here?
Of course if your intent is to attack (read cheap shot) Obama . . .
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@AnaHadWolves
I don't want to vote for Hillary because she voted for the war. That's a policy and integrity issue. I don't want to vote for her because I do not trust her to find an efficient exit strategy in that same war she voted for. And I don't trust her protect my civil liberties, considering her flag-burning amendment.
I believe that we are changing as a country, and when it comes to civil liberties, these changes are not good. While I have my suspicions about Obama, I KNOW what the Clintons are about. They are about centrism; taking the easiest path.
When will Guantanamo Bay be shut down? When will torture be disowned? When will a fair and transparent voting system be implemented?
And, probably most important of all, when will our reputation as a democracy be restored? What do you think other countries are going to conclude when they see that our presidency gets passed down to families? Bush>Clinton>Bush>Clinton. They are going to conclude that we are a dynasty, and rightly so.
But now, AnaHadWolves, that you've put a knife to our throats, answer your own question. How are you going to bring Obama supporters to your aid if Hillary gets the nomination, now that you've called us lunatics and morons? Do you think that, given the campaign that Hillary has run, that we will feel good about campaigning for her? And why doesn't she care? She doesn't. The only thing that matters to her is winning, not promoting democracy or unity.