11 April 2008

Obama makes a molehill out of a mountain


Huffington Post and others tried to capitalize on this earlier, an out-of-context quote from Obama supposedly characterizing rural Pennsylvanians as bitter, gun-totin' nutballs. If you read the original quote in context, you'll see how Jake Tapper et al. could carve it up for cheap hits on a slow Friday.
"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. And it's not surprising then 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."
Having been set up for easy lay-ups, both Team Magoo and No. 2 went in for some gimme points by issuing snarkments on this non-story.

Well, Sen. Obama slaps them both down with his just-issued response to it all:
...I made this statement -- so, here's what rich. Senator Clinton says 'No, I don't think that people are bitter in Pennsylvania. You know, I think Barack's being condescending.' John McCain says, 'Oh, how could he say that? How could he say people are bitter? You know, he's obviously out of touch with people.'

Out of touch? Out of touch? I mean, John McCain -- it took him three tries to finally figure out that the home foreclosure crisis was a problem and to come up with a plan for it, and he's saying I'm out of touch? Senator Clinton voted for a credit card-sponsored bankruptcy bill that made it harder for people to get out of debt after taking money from the financial services companies, and she says I'm out of touch? No, I'm in touch. I know exactly what's going on. I know what's going on in Pennsylvania. I know what's going on in Indiana. I know what's going on in Illinois. People are fed-up. They're angry and they're frustrated and they're bitter. And they want to see a change in Washington and that's why I'm running for President of the United States of America.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

GO OBAMA. THE TRUTH IS YOUR POWER!

YOU ARE IN TOUCH!

Anonymous said...

Obama just lost the election, and probably handed it to McCain. It's not about who's bitter; it's about seeming to characterize all those who value guns, their religion, fair trade policies as misguided, frustrated bigots. He's insulted Bubba to his face, and Bubba controls the election. It's not fair, but it's true. This is Obama's "I could have stayed at home and baked cookies and had teas" moment. It's over. It breaks my heart, but it's over.

-Scott

titmouse said...

Barack doesn’t make a mole out of a mountain, he says this is a mole and in contrast points to the mountain and says, I see that mountain just like you do and WE are going to scale that mountain together. I think the American people are tired of people treating us like children at best and “boo-boo the fool” at worst. He knows that people who have lived with this administration can certainly handle the truth and the truth has its advantages. Advantages like you can just give a straight answer when someone asks what the hell were you thinking when you said that. He doesn’t want to be your typical authoritarian Republican daddy (or grandpa) or your typical condescending Democratic “nanny” (I am female, and they called John Kerry feminine too so don’t start) He wants to be a leader, and leaders understand that you need people following you who are excited, involved and willing to pitch in. He has jumped in front of that parade Thom Hartman often talks about.
I happened upon the Lou Dobbs show last night completely by accident. I was channel surfing and saw something like Obama’s small town swipe or something like that on the bottom of the screen and stopped to watch. What can I say, the host some fill in lady was going after Barack and the opinion poll question they asked was about whether what he said showed he was elitist. If you ask me telling people that you know they are hurting when they are hurting and saying we will fix it together isn’t elitist, it compassionate and truthful. Being elitist is patting people on the head and saying it’s okay I’ll fix it for you don’t you worry, knowing full well that you have no skin in the game if you don’t create the movement needed to change this country because let’s face it you are a MULT- millionaire. By the way 54% of the people voted no it didn’t show him to be elitist, America is stupid. What struck me most was when some fool who undoubtedly makes in the six figures at some think tank to have stupid ideas that he tries to make sound smart said that Barack doesn’t understand the small town people who just want to hunt and got to church and go to work. I just yelled at the TV “that’s the point you idiot there ISN”T any WORK”!
Thank you Barack for standing up WITH us when we need you most and please stay safe!

titmouse said...

oops correction to above post:
By the way 54% of the people voted no it didn’t show him to be elitist, America ISN'T stupid.

Anonymous said...

Clinton is in the pockets of corporate America and McCain is a default GOP candidate surrounded by lobbyists who who has EIGHT HOMES and can't possibly relate to the problems of ordinary working class and impoverished Americans. Obama sees the frustrations and understands the problems and is attacked by lesser human beings for wanting to address them. Clinton and McCain aren't who they pretend to be. Obama is the real deal.

heynow said...

yup, when you're cornered, just talk louder. silly man how
when his voice rises up in pitch, sounds like a 12 year old girl!!! does he look like a TYPCIAL politico in that clip or what! and the clincher is ending with his Dean like moment, "I know exaclty what's going on! "I know what's going on in Pennslyvannia! I know what's going on in Indianna! I know what's going on in Illinois! Yeeeeahhhh!!! .
UNELECTABLE.
man, slick willy must be in awe, how obama tried to change up on the "cling to religion" to "take refuge in religion".
UNELECTABLE. Sowwey, thanks for playing.

Anonymous said...

All the candidates are out of touch. None of 'em represent my interests and priorities. Bunch of creepy lying manipulative arrogant condescending losers. All of 'em. Nothing unique or different about Obama. And just who is he to decide what issues ought to be important to me anyway? If he really wants to be an effective leader he will address the issues I care about. But he doesn't.

Anonymous said...

The question now is, can he turn the tables on them. Clinton and McCain saw what they thought was red meat and bit into like hungry wolves. Can Obama turn it into a poison pill.

Guzmán said...

>Obama just lost the election, and probably handed it to McCain.

It is if you watch Clinton News Network or Faux News or read Politico. They're having a media circle-jerk over this non-story. Turn off the TV, stop clicking on Politico stories, you'll feel better and be closer to reality.