Saturday, April 12, 2008

Obama Tells Truth, Gets Kicked by Hillary!

Randi Rhodes called Hillary a nasty name a week ago, and she got suspended. Now Hillary is proving she is just what she got called. It seems that Barack Obama told a group the truth about citizens in small town and rural America, and Hillary is now calling him an elitist for being honest about what is driving them.

Obama said, with respect to these people, "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." Exactly true. Nothing is going well for less educated, more isolated Americans. They have little good fortune to look forward to, since the path forward is extremely rocky. So they huddle together, talk tough, blame others for their problems, and support an ill-advised war against people different from them. We can certainly understand that behavior. Obama understands, too, and he was brave enough to tell it like it is.

This situation demonstrates why Obama should be our next president. He understands our country, the good and the bad, and he's willing to talk truth about it. That's the way to open the door for talking about change. However, if Hillary thinks the beliefs and values prominent in America's heartland are fine just as they are, then she should announce Mike Huckabee as her running mate.

Hillary is simply another suck-up politician. Rather than talk the truth that she also knows, she decided to acquiesce with, in a backhanded way, those who blame their problems on others. She called him an "elitist who does not understand the values and beliefs of Americans". I beg to differ. Obama understands very well the values and beliefs of these Americans. The difference between them is that she's more than willing to prostitute herself for their votes. Will it work? Perhaps. Prostitutes can be attractive when you're down and out.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

When you tell someone "You don't really believe all that bible-thumping stuff, you're just bitter 'cause you're poor," they tend to get defensive.

What he's done is further marginalize the already disenfranchised. Even though I believe he's right, it was a politically stupid thing to say.

When someone's in the gutter, you should give them a hand up- not speculate on how they ended up there.

Dave said...

LF, check Curmudgeon's post today on Second Effort, on my "Recommended" sidebar. Something to think about.

Lifehiker said...

Curmedgeon points out that Obama, Hillary, and McCain are all very well educated - they are all "elite" compared to just about anybody. That's why they can run for president, silly!

But Curmudgeon also points out that Obama put his feet on the street in Chicago, dealing with people far from the upper crust. I would add that Obama did not spend his early years at an exclusive boarding school or in an admiral's house.

ThomasLB has got me thinking about what "working class" means. Is is good to be "working class"? Do "working class" people really make the country go, or do they just go along for the ride? More later on this.