Barack Obama's "small town" critique: Is this a game changer?

Much as Desi Arnaz often demanded of Lucille Ball on their famed sitcom, Barack Obama has some  'splainin to do.

Relative quiet on the political news front became anything but as word spread Friday of an item on the Huffington Post concerning comments Obama made at a private fundraiser Sunday in San Francisco.

Blogger Mayhill Fowler was there with her tape recorder and, after setting up the payoff to her item with her own observations about Pennsylvania, related this quote from Obama as he sought to give his Bay Area crowd some perspective about a different part of the country:

"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."

Here's the entire post, which includes audio of Obama's mini-spiel. And that's the part that resonated -- and how.

Hillary Clinton campaign aides sought to stir up interest in it -- and then pounced when reports it started to seep into the mass media, clearly seeing the potential contretemps as ...

the Obama stumble they've been hoping for.

The candidate, appearing at a "town hall" event in Philadelphia, had this to say: “I saw in the media it’s being reported that my opponent said that the people of Pennsylvania who faced hard times are bitter. Well, that’s not my experience. As I travel around Pennsylvania, I meet people who are resilient, who are optimistic, who are positive, who are rolling up their sleeves."

Etc. ...

Tonight, after Obama, speaking in Indiana, took a crack at defusing the matter (more on that later), Clinton spokesman Phil Singer responded with a statement calling it "unfortunate" that he "didn’t say he was sorry for what he said."

More telling than the expected, and somewhat restrained, reaction from Camp Clinton was the outrage from other quarters -- making it a virtual certainty that this story won't fade over the weekend.

On CNN, the Lou Dobbs talk show devoted virtually its entire hour to what, with typical subtlety, it billed as Obama's "Attack on Small-Town America."

The segment included an online poll that asked, yes or no, whether participants believed Obama's "comments reveal his elitist attitude toward every hardworking American?"

(A guest host filled in for Dobbs, who no doubt was off somewhere kicking himself for the bad luck of not having the chance to huff-and-puff on the subject.)

Various arms of the Republican political apparatus also swung into action. Here's a sample:

* Steve Schmidt, a top advisor to presumptive GOP presidential candidate John McCain, declared that Obama's remarks showed "an elitism and condescension towards hardworking Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking. It is hard to imagine someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans."

* Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman Robert Gleason Jr., in a statement issued by the state GOP,  was pronounced "appalled" by Obama's comments. Said Gleason: "I find Barack Obama’s comments incredibly insulting, and believe many others in the Keystone State will as well. In light of this most recent statement, I believe Americans are going to have even more questions about his values."

(Even more questions? No doubt a nod toward the Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy.)

* The National Republican Congressional Committee fulminated that Obama "talks a good game about uniting the country, but when he thinks no one is looking -– such as at fundraisers on the West Coast –- his personal biases against Small Town America are revealed."

* After Obama's Indiana appearance tonight, the McCain staff held forth again. Said spokesman Tucker Bounds: "Instead of apologizing to small town Americans for dismissing their values, Barack Obama arrogantly tried to spin his way out of his outrageous San Francisco remarks." In the three other sentences that wrapped up his statement, Bounds managed to work in the "elitist" characterization twice.

All this within just a few hours after the Huffington Post item percolated. Imagine what the barrage will be like as it takes root.

Obama, as mentioned, offered his initial response to this new furor while campaigning in Terre Haute. Here are the pertinent parts:

"I was in San Francisco talking to a group at a fundraiser and somebody asked how’re you going to get votes in Pennsylvania? What’s going on there?  We hear that it's hard for some working class people to get behind you’re campaign. I said, 'Well look, they’re frustrated and for good reason.  Because for the last 25 years they’ve seen jobs shipped overseas.  They’ve seen their economies collapse.  They have lost their jobs.  They have lost their pensions.  They have lost their healthcare.

"And for 25, 30 years Democrats and Republicans have come before them and said 'We’re going to make your community better.  We’re going to make it right' and nothing ever happens.  And of course they’re bitter.  Of course they’re frustrated.  You would be too. In fact many of you are.  Because the same thing has happened here in Indiana. The same thing happened across the border in Decatur.  The same thing has happened all across the country.  Nobody is looking out for you.  Nobody is thinking about you.  And so people end up -- they don’t vote on economic issues because they don’t expect anybody’s going to help them. So people end up, you know, voting on issues like guns, and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. And they take refuge in their faith and their community and their families and things they can count on. But they don’t believe they can count on Washington. So I made this statement -- so, here’s what's rich.  Sen. 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?  Sen. 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."

All well and good. But we're betting not nearly enough.

-- Don Frederick

Photo credits: Orange County Fair (Lucy and Desi); Associated Press (Obama)

Comments

[beebop]

Okay.

1. Which "successive" administrations?
2. Not a good idea historically to criticize your Democratic predecessor -- I guess the fact that he is the spouse of your opponent must make it tough but where are hope and change ?
3. Jobs were up in Pennsylvania during the Clinton administration, Barack. Facts are not your forte.
4. Using disparaging words to discuss the middle/working classes in front of affluent moneyed investors/backers is really not a wise move. The "folks" in Pennsylvania understand that the media assault is being funded by people outside of Pennsylvania, but really, to be so in your face is foolhardly.
5. To use the word "clinging" when referring to matters of faith coming from you is really ironic, don't you think? It brings the problematic Reverand Wright back to center stage.

[Average Joe]

I am not an Obama suppporter, but even I can see right through this one.

Instead of analysis, your readers get bits of negative rumor-drivel that is passed on by you, along with every other mainstream outlet. One of the main reasons that the media has lost credibility--and is a 19th-century dinosaur fast on the road to exctinction-- is the awareness by media consumers of the "herd" mentality of the press. Why should we lend creedence to what you report, when you report and blog the same junk all the others are reporting

By the way, don't you people know how to look at things in context. The man was talking about the atmosphere of electability for a black man in small town Pennsylvania.

[Independent Listening in WY]

I have not only read the full text of Senator Obama's remarks, I have listened to the audio tape and read the full text while listening to his verbal comments. Those of you who keep professing that Obama is being misunderstood and that his comments are being taken out of context should do the same.

I do not care what his intent was or whether Obama was right or wrong in his comments. The reality is he was foolish to utter them as he did, where he did.

If he is so "right on" with the truth, then I have a suggestion. Go to PA, WVA, KY (states I know well) and try to sell your ideas to voters in these states using the same language Obama used in San Francisco. Let's test the theory of Senator Obama's wisdom of prophecy.

He spoke out of turn; his words were flawed. I don't care how the liberal media wants to spin and protect him from himself. Obama made a major mistake, and he will take the justifiable heat for it.

Oh, and for the record. I have spent most of my entire life living and working in major urban centers (NYC/SF (yes)/Miami/London/Tokyo). Also lived and worked "en bushe" in West Africa, as well as in the hills of KY. I have graduate credentials and teach comparative government at a local community college. I have been registered as an independent for years and vote accordingly. My husband and I now live in a small ranching/farming community in WY.

What Obama said was foolish and insulting and in no way accurately describes the complexity of what exists in any rural community today in the USA. It reflects his lack of in-depth understanding of problems beyond his experience. Ah, but who needs experience, when you have such superior "judgment."

[Bobc]

What Obama got wrong is, it's not "anti-immigrant" we are upset with, it's ILLEGAL immigration.

It's not "anti-trade" we are upset with, it's that free trade is not FAIR trade!

Citizens are bitter, they are fed up with tax dollars spent on illegals, and sent to corrupt foreign countries, the U.N., that would love to see our sovereignty disappear.....

We know Obama has signed off on with the U.N. to take more of our dollars to give to foreign countries....namely Africa.

We know George Soros and the U.N. would love our borders to be trampled with more and more illegals.

Obama, McCain, & Hillary will never pull out of the U.N., and will do and say, anything to get more $$$ and votes.

[Patrick]

Obama's Terre Haute speech hit this ball out of the park. When the Clinton campaign is sending around critiques by Grover Norquist, you know they've reached the end times. Elitist? When Obama talks about 25 years of disappointed expectations in the Rust Belt, he knows what he's talking about. He started his career going door-to-door in a community on Chicago's South Side that had just seen its manufacturing jobs move away, and he's spent his political life talking with, and representing, exactly these kinds of communities, these kinds off working people who have not had a fair shake and who ARE angry. He knows them and their concerns 1000 times better than Hillary Clinton or John McCain or Lou Dobbs does. The people being condescending are the political and media hacks who are selling the same old combination of happy talk and divide-and-conquer that has perpetuated the very situation Obama was highlighting in his remarks and his speech.

[Robert Bob]

Oboma is going DOWN. He may get the nom but he is proving to be a disaster. Republicans have learned that no matter how bleak the future may look, you can never underestimate the incompetence of the Democrap party.
Mcain in a walk.......

[Nabil Elibiary]

Umm... What exactly is the problem with that? He's telling the truth. Those people in those small towns, they have fallen through the cracks -- America has forgotten about them. They don't want to be told that they're positive and energized, they want WORK. They want opportunities, and I'm confused as to why saying that aloud would be a bad thing.

Excelent remark to those who took Obama's words out of contest. They are eager to make him stumple and end up giving him free publilcity when he explains it.

[lowdowndog]

Spinmisters, cease. Bitter and frustrated may be a poor choice of words but are not problematic for Obama's gaffe. "... they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them" is problematic. Don't you get it? He is calling small town Americans racists, bigoted, hicks. In an unscripted moment he reveals his snobbery. Elitism won't win him an election. He just a plain old pol peddling hope.

[Allen]

In the small town where I live in Indiana, people are tired, fed-up and bitter over losing their jobs. Another major business shut-down in our town and we are angry about losing our jobs. I admire Senator Obama for being real and facing the harsh realities of unemployment. My question is - Does Senator Clinton want us to bottle up our bitter and unhappy feelings? I don't want to deny the way the feel and I don't think we can bottle up these feelings. We have to face them head-on. This country has been denying the awful realities of war in Iraq for too long. President Bush is in denial, and I want a president who honestly faces how people feel. I agree with Senator Obama - I am clinging to my religion and frustration - because it's all I have right now. We need to have a president who is honest about the tough economic realities out there. I can't deny the way I feel.

[Nabil Elibiary]

These sick minds try to make us believe that Barack Obama was criticizing the small town's people. Absolutely not. He is with them. He is explaining why they are frustrated. He is explaining the injustice that had befallen them by shipping their jobs overseas. They lost hope that no one will ever care about them. Obama will change Washington way of thinking to be "American first".

[Mr. Bbill]

I think the fuss here is not that he referred to people as angry or bitter, but that he said that their opinions on crucial issues are driven by emotion rather than principal.

I think that, back when these communities were doing well, you would still have found considerable support for controlling the borders, not regulating gun ownership, etc. etc.

The idea that middle-class American is just a bundle of emotions without a single brain between them, now that's elitist. Intellectual elitism has got nothing to do with money or how well off your parents weren't.

[Pearson]

When Obama makes a statement, he is excused because apparently, what he said is basically true. When Ferraro makes a statement that is basically true, she is pilloried for being divisive.

....

[DB]

Senator Obama is a political genius that understands the frustration of working class Americans. Yes, we are bitter and it is time for the working class to have a voice in Washington! Honestly, it is obvious that the elitists want Senator Obama out of the race so they can continue to keep the disparity gap between the rich and poor.

According to the tax records, can Senator Obama take $15,000,000.000 from his bank account and “LOAN” it to his campaign? No, but Senator Clinton did and took it back even though she had millions to spare! Now that’s elitism!

Obama speaks the truth, thank God for him!

[Robert Sheard]

People who believe that obama remarks are inapproate or either intellectual ignorant or just part of the extreme right that has this country in a downward trend. What amazing to me is the media, with some excepts, to save their jobs ,go with the flow which is causing harm to the physic of America and the world. The world need a brilent leader like Barack.

[William Garland]

Let's turn the tables and assume another candidate made insulting remarks about those residing in large cities. I don't think those trying to brush aside Obama's remarks would join in the chorus then. Obama said something just plain stupid, offensive and insulting about a signigicant part of the US population in the context of a political race . That casts doubt about his maturity and judgment. He claims to want to elevate the level of discussion, but his conduct belies the claim and when he thinks he's in a safe venue, vents prejudices to cater to the audience. Obama has shown his true stripes, he's just another politician who will insult and demean Americans when he thinks it to his advantage. Get down off your high horse Mr. Obama, and join the rest of the politiicians in the gutter.

[tlsmith1963]

I didn't get the impression that he was criticizing working-class people. Let it go.

[betty]

IM SORRY BUT AMERICIA DOESN'T NEED TO BE TOLD WE ARE ANGRY.I GUESS HE IS JUST WHAT HE HAS HEARD THE LAST 20 YEARS IN CHURCH AND WE ARE GETTING A TASTE OF WHAT WE CAN EXPECT TO GET FROM HIM IF HE IS ELECTED.WE NEED A LITTLE HOPE,THOUGHT HE WAS THE UNITER,SO MUCH FOR THAT.PA WE THINK YOU ARE WORTHY AND GOOD LUCK IN YOU PRIMARY. A TEXAS NURSE

[cathy]

Bi-racial child of a single, poor teen-aged Mother...IS ELITIST? What a JOKE! No, MSM, the PUBLIC IS BITTER and ANGRY! Watch the polls after THIS! WE'LL show ya. Clinton and McCain are PLAYING OLD- STYLE POLITICS, plain and simple. THIS Election is TOO important for Voters to fall for THAT! We are smarter than you think...Watch...

[Carl]

He said People have given up hope for anything better, after decades of broken promises, so they vote according to what they know...gun rights, etc....something concrete...he said it w/understanding and compassion, explaining WHY he was having trouble winning over these voters...saying it WASN'T because of race, but a cynical view of Politicians...and Washington...he is RIGHT!

[Keith]

HA HA HA HA! Clinton supporters just keep grabbing at anything, saying "this is it, this is it" and Obama just keeps on steamrolling Clinton. Obama's telling the truth about the situation while Clinton's just saying whatever it is she thinks will get her nominated. Barack's the teflon candidate, this won't stick past lunch.

[Joaquin]

I think Obama is being extraordinarily generous in his assessment, saying in effect- No. These small town folks are bigots and narrow-minded ideologues they're just bitter and frustrated and we should feel compassion for them.

[Is Charles Manson his next endorser ?]

I guess Hanoi Jane and gov. Judas and the hate speech pastors all applauded as their elitist hero again let out his true nature.The company this guy keeps,
his promise to raise taxes on familys earning $75,000. , his less than stellar patriotism and now downright disdain for average American's values will
hopefully trigger angry and frustrated sentiment towards this obviously tainted and undesirable junior Illinois senator. Anyone want a fox in charge of
our chicken coop ?

[Jay McDonough]

from swimming freestyle:

"This video is exactly how Obama should have raised the issue: In the environment these voters live and with an appropriate anger. Rural working class voters have gotten the shaft. They have every right to be frustrated and even bitter about what's happened to them.

Obama now finds himself having to address the issue defensively, Unfortunately, the issue will now likely be obscured by the hysterical anti-Obama rants by the Clintons and McCains. Obama gave them that gift when he spoke in San Francisco last weekend."

http://swimmingfreestyle.typepad.com

[MotherGinSling]

Obama is sympathetic and understanding. Unlike nearly every TV pundit, he was not being patronizing. He was responding to the condescending picture that the media is constantly painting of Pennsylvania, a picture initially created and fueled by Clinton goon James Carville's wisecracks. His point is that he understands why a variety of people are frustrated, distrustful and resentful. They should be! They've been ignored and ripped off and haven't been able to count on outside help (past administrations), so they're very protective of what remains of their own resources and their families and communities. Obama understands this. He's defending them!
"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." - George Orwell

[Tom J]

Clinton and McCain will say and do ANYTHING to keep voters from asking them the tough questions. Such as: "What exactly have you jokers been doing in Washington when you were elected to work for ALL of us, not just your big campaign contributors?"

Yes, we're BITTER about politics and government, and we look forward to Obama changing the game.