Obama's Comments on 'Small Town' Voters- Sadly, he nailed it

nvrgnbk

Call him an elitist if you will, but he simply voiced an honest observation. In rural PA, many people tend to vote based on the fear that the Dems will force them to have abortions, confiscate their hunting rifles, burn their Bibles, and make interracial gay marriages mandatory for their children. Economic stimulus and improved educational opportunities be damned!

I know this to be true because I live and work in the center of the state.

Thank Jehovah for Philly and Pittsburgh.

Rivals Criticize Obama for Comments on 'Small Town' Voters

By VOA News
12 April 2008

Barack Obama speaks during a town hall meeting at Great Valley High School in Malvern, Pennsylvania, 9 Apr 2008

U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama has come under criticism from his rivals for saying small-town American voters turn to guns and religion out of bitterness with job losses.

Obama made the comment at a private fundraiser in San Francisco last Sunday. The Democratic Party senator's remarks only surfaced in the U.S. media Friday.

Obama's rival for the Democratic nomination, Senator Hillary Clinton, accused him of "looking down" on voters. She told supporters in Pennsylvania that she does not regard voters in the state as bitter, but rather sees them as "resilient, optimistic and hardworking."

Advisors to Republican Party candidate John McCain accused Obama of being elitist and out of touch with voters.

Obama defended his comments at a campaign rally in Indiana Friday, saying voters are frustrated and angry, because they have seen their economies collapse.

Obama accused McCain of being out of touch with voters, saying the Republican Senator failed to understand the U.S. home mortgage crisis.

Obama also criticized Clinton for voting for a bankruptcy bill supported by credit card companies, saying the measure makes it harder for people to get out of debt.

Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.

darth frosty

I firmly believe that Obama is the ultimate hope for bringing this country and the world firmly into the 21st century. I know that is a grand statement but I really do feel that way.

keyser soze

As someone who grew up in a small town, I can attest to this fact. Not all the people there, I think it's important to make that distinction, but the majority of them aren't willing to see the problems facing the rest of the world. They believe the world is no bigger than the town they live in. Many of them never leave their hometown. I feel sorry for them, in a way.

dinah

Here in Bama, I think most people vote for who their preacher-man tells them to.

SixofNine

There wasn't anything even slightly elitist about his comment. If anything, just the opposite.

He wasn't saying there is anything wrong with being an advocate for gun rights, for religion, for change in immigration or trade policy. He was making the point that when people don't have anything left but cynicism about their government's/politician's ability to deliver improvements on the really important issues, like job security and healthcare and education, they tend to "cling" to wedge issues.

And they tend to "cling" to those wedge issues to such a degree that they don't feel like they can be inclusive, they don't feel like they can afford to give an inch, and therefore nothing can get done on those issues. But that doesn't stop politicians from pandering to those very issues, which then makes it hard for those pandering politicians to get anything accomplished in Washington - they've got a fragile coalition of *wedge* supporters with seemingly opposite goals.

Bill Clinton did this with "triangulation", and the Republican's turned it into an ugly art form under the tutelage of Karl Rove and company.

Obama is correct, I think, to see that American's are wising up to that game. Instead of triangulating or pandering to single interest voters, he's taking a much more straigtforward approach, talking to Americans like adults: "yeah, you disagree on this or that (and we'll talk about that, too), but you know what? In the end, even the people you disagree with about godgaysguns, are people you need to be working with to get job growth in your communities, education for your kids, access to healthcare, etc etc.".

JeffT

They They They They

This thread is a good example of why I wish Democrats would go off on an island by themselves and tax each other to death.

hillbilly

So Obama is tha "anit-triangulator"?

Small town voters worried about guns... we dont want the govt to ignore A2...and the courts are starting to back our rights again.

Small town voters dont want to pay for a bortion out of our taxes... we dont want to pay for a lot of different things out of our taxes. Most of us want your folks to teach you about birth control. Oh, we really dont want to pay for your kids that are on perpetual welfare either.

Gay's... we really dont want to know who you sleep with or how you do your thing. Many of us see the need for civil union laws... and they would apply in many situations were people who care for each other need to insure or have property rights and all the other things that go along with the civil issues of "marriage".

Six is correct. The Republican party has mastered the concept of pandering to single interest groups.

Dont confuse the "religious right" with "small town voters".... we aint all out of the same cloth. Many of us know that "gays, guns and the flag" are the emotional issues that get sound bites.

WE as voters are more concerened about taxes, jobs, NAFTA, free trade, credit and debt.

A wiser man told me long ago... Vote your paycheck... if your broke ...well abotion wont be an issue cause you wont get much Pu$$y... if you dont keep a job ya cant afford a gun... and dont worry about gays cause ya know where your unit goes" Crude sounding but true.

It's the ecomomy stupid. The only truth Bill Clinton ever spoke.

Hill

Open mind

For those interested, here's the comment:

“So it’s not surprising then that 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,”

And here's a link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/12/us/politics/12campaign.html?hp

As for Nvr living in the middle of Pennsylvania, well the expression "fish out of water" comes to mind.

I think you should move to NorCal Nvr!

BTW, FWIW, my supposedly-JW immediate family is rooting for Obama!

:-)

OM

yknot

Well as we live in a soundbyte world..... this is not going over very well in my small town. I just spent my morning hearing lots of comments and I don't even live in PA or the Midwest. Grant you my area is not overtly Democrat but this year most counties did see a marked amount of people voting Democrat in our primary. Most voted Democrat because they were tired of seeing corporations bottomline being more important then keeping a consumer base here in the U.S. Many are on the same wave length as Lou Dobbs and protectionism. Comments like these are polarizing to others because they ask themselves 'Is this how he feels about us too?".

BTW here is the full quote:

SEN. BARACK OBAMA, (D-IL) PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE:" You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been done now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. And it fell through the Clinton administration and the Bush administration and each successive administration has said that these communities are going to regenerate but they have not."

"And it's not surprising that then they get bitter, they cling to their 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."

Gopher

I'm still leaning toward Obama (mostly out of the process of elimination of the other 2 candidates in my mind). His remarks may have been honest, but they were not diplomatic. Where was the Obama that was running for office to unite America? Where was his optimistic vision that together, we can build a greater America?

I think he'll have to do some more explaining of what the solution is - otherwise people will start to doubt him (not to mention he'll lose his recent gains in Pennsylvania). Heck, I never thought I'd say this, but Hillary sounds more optimistic than Barack right now. These comments will provide fodder for the Republican machine if Obama is the Democratic presidential nominee, and he needs to get out of this pessimistic way of talking.

Obama's Comments on 'Small Town' Voters- Sadly, he nailed it

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