Sunday, April 13, 2008

Obama Elitist?

"It's not surprising then they (small town people) 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," Barack Obama said.

Doesn't sound elitist to me at all... it sounds about right. Although, I have to say, I am surprised a presidential candidate would utter such truths for fear of just what is happening... attacks from all sides.
Posted by csm at 9:02 PM
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15 comments:

coreydbarbarian said...

but you forgot the context!

"You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, a lot of them — 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’ve gone 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." -- barack obama

and it STILL sounds about right! elitist my butt.

as someone in an indiana town, i have observed for years the bitterness of which obama speaks. labeling him as elitist is sheer political opportunism. he speaks truth!!

some folks in small towns that've lost jobs and been lied to for several administrations HAVE become bitter. barack never said all religious types are that way because they are bitter.

witness this interview from 2004.

April 14, 2008 at 6:33 AM
coreydbarbarian said...

and this bit from yesterday.

April 14, 2008 at 6:42 AM
Anonymous said...

Skinheads never see themselves as bigots; the Klan never saw themselves as racists and the far left never see themselves as elitists. Of course he is an elitist. When his guard is down we see the true Obama. He called the good folks of Penn gun toting, Bible thumping bigots. Not some, not few but just went ahead and generalized all of them. Check the polls, his chance there are long gone. He has shown a lot of bad judgment.

Those who constantly by into the after-the-fact explanations show themselves to be the gullible chicks at the fountain of the political nipple. David Dukes also has posted his explanations for his statements of bigotry. Sorry, I don't buy into that either. Senator McCain is looking really good right now.

Obama Watch

April 14, 2008 at 9:07 AM
BAWDYSCOT said...

Americans aren't used to politicians telling the hard truths. I personally don't agree with much of Obama's platform, but I respect the man himself(I read his first book years ago), and this is one of the reasons why.

Americans want everything warm and fuzzy. They want to be reassured everything will be alright. They want to go to bed every night with the thought things won't change too much when they wake. Complacent, fuck yeah. Complacency doesn't make good citizens. Awareness makes good citizens. A strong stomach and fortitude makes good citizens. Emapthy makes good citizens. Making sure your own shit is taken care of does NOT make a good citizen. This is the main reason I have a dislike for baby boomers; most think they are very aware, but they are easily fleeced, easily lead and easily placated. Soccer moms can go to hell!

April 14, 2008 at 9:18 AM
BAWDYSCOT said...

Yep, that is fcc alright.

April 14, 2008 at 9:20 AM
coreydbarbarian said...

yeah, you can tell by the way he claims obama never said "some", even though it's the 4th word in the quote. that, and the way he says these are explanations after the fact, when the first link is from 2004.

i just received an email from 3 local, lifelong republicans.

this will be their first democratic primary, and they are leaning toward obama.

apparently, obama's bitter comment rang true to actual midwesterners.

April 14, 2008 at 11:58 AM
BAWDYSCOT said...

The subject matter, the slant and the syntax gave it away. You can come out from behind the cover, fcc.

April 14, 2008 at 12:39 PM
Ceroill said...

Y'know, guys, I think you may well be right about 'anonymous'. *Waves to the 'stranger'*

April 15, 2008 at 2:10 AM
csm said...

Hey anonymous, McCain hasn't looked good in at least 8 years. We don't need old two-face, flip-flopper, Yosemite shoot-em-up, Granpa Munster, warmonger McCain anywhere near the oval office.

April 15, 2008 at 1:57 PM
Ceroill said...

By the way, why is it that only lefties are labeled as 'elitist'? To the best I know the word itself has no ingrained political orientation. Here's one dictionary entry on it:The belief that certain persons or members of certain classes or groups deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, social status, or financial resources.

By that definition, many conservatives could be considered elitist, as could members of any proud group or organization.

April 15, 2008 at 2:48 PM
BAWDYSCOT said...

Words get co-opted, Bob. Both sides are guilty.

April 15, 2008 at 5:58 PM
Ceroill said...

Bawdy, of course they are. I never meant to imply otherwise. It's always happened, since language was first devised, I'm sure.

As said in a fun little book I have somewhere, The Space Child's Mother Goose: See the little phrases go, watch their funny antics. The ones who make them caper so are masters of semantics.

April 16, 2008 at 5:00 AM
coreydbarbarian said...

i like that rhyme!

--

seems to me, when words (or ideas) get co-opted, they lose their actual meaning.

for example, earlier this week i had a discussion with a coworker about rush limbaugh's "strategy" of getting republicans to switch party affiliation in order to nominate hilary. they seem to think she'd be an easier opponent than barack.

and, for some reason, when i mentioned that the founders and framers were prolly counting on the voters to have some integrity when they designed the system, i was labeled an elitist - "there ya go with that liberal elitist b.s."

of course, with these mindsets, it's easier to see their problems with science; requiring things like a hypothesis, conclusion, and actual evidence, well that's just plain elitist!

April 16, 2008 at 7:18 AM
BAWDYSCOT said...

A perfect example of a word losing it's meaning is the word "liberal". "Classical liberal" is just another way of saying libertarian; of course today you have to add the word "classical". To me there are no dirty words; all words are good. What mankind does to them and the thoughts they conjure up is where the filth lives. Fuck!

April 16, 2008 at 9:51 AM
csm said...

According to Wikipedia, 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...

If that is the case, then McCain is an elitist, too. Only his criterion, like most of the Republicans, is money. I'd prefer an elitist whose criterion was intelligence over one whose criterion is money, wouldn't you?

April 16, 2008 at 4:55 PM

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