Letters to the Editor
-
no disagreement. weeping
they weren't fabulously wealthy, I get it, but nor were they by any stretch of the imagination economically insecure.
My snark didn't quite get my point across effectively: Hill's touchstone to working-class roots seem, to me, based on a time that hasn't existed since before her husband's presidency. The opportunities for advancement & access to luxuries such as annual family vacations were much more available for hard-working non-wealthy people to attain in past years.
and AKA, as someone who in the past 6 months has amassed 13K in credit card debt trying to feed my family and keep my house since a layoff from crappy corporate job, I don't feel insulted by Obama's words...on the contrary, I feel validated by the acknowledgment that I am bitter as hell. Then again, I'm an atheist who owns no firearms, so maybe your point is over my head.
-
obama and the PA white working class
Though I'm not a native Pennsylvanian, I have lived in south central PA for some 35 years - the very demographic area Obama was talking about in his remarks that have been so badly misconstrued (what else is new?) From where I sit, what he said was spot-on. Are people even listening to what the man said?? If they were, how could they think he was being condescending? To my ears, it was just the opposite. People can parse every word if they like - and they do: should he have said "bitter?" Would "angry" have been better? Maybe "resentful?" And what about the choice of the word "cling?" No one wants to be told that they "cling" to anything; it sounds so. . .desperate. So Hillary and McCain (abetted by the media hacks) jump on it, pile on, pandering to what they think people want to hear. And they (they!) accuse Obama of being elitist. I'm sorry, but for ultra-rich and privileged Clinton and McCain to accuse Obama of elitism is ridiculous. Of the three, Obama's the guy who was NOT born to wealth and privilege. If he seems smart and well-spoken now, it's because he is - and he did it himself, on the strength of his own native intelligence and determination. Please, give me a break.
What Obama had to say was something important, thoughtful and yes, profound. Once again, he talks to us as if we were adults. If the panderers and the cynics win, we deserve what we get.
-
Ah, Tom Payne, your bitterness is sweet to me
because you know too, as I do, that your candidate is dead now, dead as a doornail. And it is JOY!
-
More from FDR
"It is because I have sought to think in terms of the whole Nation that I am confident that today, just as four years ago, the people want more than promises.
Our vision for the future contains more than promises.
This is our answer to those who, silent about their own plans, ask us to state our objectives.
Of course we will continue to seek to improve working conditions for the workers of America‹to reduce hours over-long, to increase wages that spell starvation, to end the labor of children, to wipe out sweatshops. Of course we will continue every effort to end monopoly in business, to support collective bargaining, to stop unfair competition, to abolish dishonorable trade practices. For all these we have only just begun to fight.
Of course we will continue to work for cheaper electricity in the homes and on the farms of America, for better and cheaper transportation, for low interest rates, for sounder home financing, for better banking, for the regulation of security issues, for reciprocal trade among nations, for the wiping out of slums. For all these we have only just begun to fight.
Of course we will continue our efforts in behalf of the farmers of America. With their continued cooperation we will do all in our power to end the piling up of huge surpluses which spelled ruinous prices for their crops. We will persist in successful action for better land use, for reforestation, for the conservation of water all the way from its source to the sea, for drought and flood control, for better marketing facilities for farm commodities, for a definite reduction of farm tenancy, for encouragement of farmer cooperatives, for crop insurance and a stable food supply. For all these we have only just begun to fight.
Of course we will provide useful work for the needy unemployed; we prefer useful work to the pauperism of a dole.
Here and now I want to make myself clear about those who disparage their fellow citizens on the relief rolls. They say that those on relief are not merely jobless‹that they are worthless. Their solution for the relief problem is to end relief‹to purge the rolls by starvation. To use the language of the stock broker, our needy unemployed would be cared for when, as, and if some fairy godmother should happen on the scene.
You and I will continue to refuse to accept that estimate of our unemployed fellow Americans. Your Government is still on the same side of the street with the Good Samaritan and not with those who pass by on the other side.
Again‹what of our objectives?
Of course we will continue our efforts for young men and women so that they may obtain an education and an opportunity to put it to use. Of course we will continue our help for the crippled, for the blind, for the mothers, our insurance for the unemployed, our security for the aged. Of course we will continue to protect the consumer against unnecessary price spreads, against the costs that are added by monopoly and speculation. We will continue our successful efforts to increase his purchasing power and to keep it constant.
For these things, too, and for a multitude of others like them, we have only just begun to fight."
What the hell happened to the party that we went from this to snipergate and bowlinggate??
-
@ bb
"as someone who in the past 6 months has amassed 13K in credit card debt trying to feed my family and keep my house since a layoff from crappy corporate job,"
I wish I knew what to say. My heart goes out to you, sincerely.
That anyone is in this situation in this country fills me with rage.
Wow. Just wow.