Barack Obama's Gary Hart moment?

No, we're not talking about the "Monkey Business" boat picture and the accusations of having an affair with Donna Rice that drove Gary Hart from the 1988 presidential race.

Instead, we're referring to some poorly chosen words by Hart during his 1984 campaign, in which, as an insurgent candidate, he came oh-so-close to winning the Democratic nomination from the establishment favorite, Walter Mondale. With that race in mind, blogger Jon Perr offers an interesting historical precedent on Barack Obama's San Francisco comments on small-town Pennsylvanians.

In his Perrspectives blog, Perr likens Obama's remarks to something Hart said about Pennsylvania's neighboring state, New Jersey. Writes Perr:

The timing for Barack Obama could not have been worse. Just as he was closing the gap in a decisive Pennsylvania primary that could be a knockout blow against Hillary Clinton, Obama may have produced the unforgettable gaffe that derails his growing momentum in that state -- and beyond.

Just ask Gary Hart.

In late May and early June 1984, Hart was locked in a tight New Jersey primary contest he had to win to deny Mondale a first-ballot nomination at the Democratic convention the following month. At a California fundraiser eerily reminiscent of Obama's this week, Hart and his wife Lee spoke with reporters at a Los Angeles event. In one moment of carelessness, Hart, too, struck a nerve with voters in a critical state. As Time magazine recalled:

"In a classic campaign boner, he exposed his sarcastic side at a fund raiser in Los Angeles. The 'bad news,' he told a well-heeled audience standing on the lawn of a Bel Air mansion, is that he has to campaign apart from his wife Lee. 'The good news for her is that she campaigns in California while I campaign in New Jersey.' When Mrs. Hart interjected, 'I got to hold a koala bear,' Hart sniggered, 'I won't tell you what I got to hold: samples from a toxic-waste dump.'

Hart went from closing fast on Mondale in the Garden State to a decisive 15 point blowout a week later. Mondale went on to sew up the Democratic nomination thanks to the delegates he swept in New Jersey. The rest, as they say, is history."

As I can personally attest, the impact of that one cataclysmic slight against the good people of New Jersey was lasting. I not only worked for Gary Hart in 1984, but was at the photo-op at the toxic waste dump in question. While hanging out at the Jersey shore the next summer, I was harangued by a woman who saw my "Gary Hart for President" t-shirt. "I hate him," she said, "because he insulted our state."

Past isn't necessarily prologue, of course. But it is worth noting. Hart is an Obama supporter so, if nothing else, he gives the senator from Illinois a sympathetic shoulder to lean on.

-- Frank James

Frank James writes for the Swamp of the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau.

Comments

[Millie Bea]

You have got to be kidding. Don't you have something better to do than to come out with this drivel?

[toby]

There's a lot more they have in common.

[Roadkill Refugee]

You get bonus points for creativity, but your analogy breaks down in this sense: Hart actually said something stupid about New Jersey. Obama didn't say anything stupid about working class voters. He may have stumbled in his phrasing (just as he did with "punished with a baby") but it's obvious when you look at the full context, and compare it to his nearly identical comments in his 2004 interview with Charlie Rose, that he meant the opposite of what Hillary, McCain, Limbaugh and Bill Kristol are trying to twist his words into. He was speaking sympathically about how working class folks have been shafted for decades by Washington politicians.

McCain has stumbled, what, four times on the difference between Sunnis and Shiites? But he gets a pass because the media assumes he didn't mean it. Obama gets no such benefit of the doubt, even when its apparent from his full remarks that he deserves every benefit of the doubt.

This is a media driven navel-staring story with no merit. At some point, you have to be honest and recognize that.

[Tannim]

Obama's comments may have been badly stated, but they weren't "elitist" in the slightest. Main Street USA has been suffering for years now, generations even, and his comments reflect that anger at feeling abandoned by government and the lobbyist/coporatist politics in DC. What Obama was saying was that in the absence of that support, people turn to other tangible things they can relate to--their religions, their firearms, their family, etc. as a source of comfort, solace, and coping.

But he didn't go far enough with it.

What he didn't say (and should have!) is the reason this has happened is because the state legislatures and Congress lack the political will to do the right thing and fix the problems. These politicians sold out their electorate for corporatist money, and the people still vote for them! He could have turned that into a ton of political hay to toss on McCain and Hillary.

He also didn't say what could be done about it. The national production economy is a fraction of what it once was, and the need to produce to rebuild our infrastructure and to develop energy independence, and to restore our national self-sufficiency is at it is highest priority ever. We have workers skilled and motivated to build things, with bills to pay, so put them to work. We have farmers that can grow things in a self-sufficient manner without being dependent on petrochemicals or Monsanto, with bills to pay, so put them to work. We have things that need building here and not overseas. So why are we not getting it done? The answer lies in the coporatist control of the economy and how they get around some regulations and use others to block competition from coming in and getting these jobs done. Restoring America starts with buildings and roads and jobs, construction, manufacturing for that construction, better oil-free and GMO-free farming, energy independence, and preparation for the next generation economy--which is not dependent on burning hydrocarbons--of new products, new infrastructure in comminucations and transportation, and a new consciousness of our own unique role on the planet. Instead we're dragging our feet in the same old same old, run by the corporatists in pursuit of the devalued dollar at all costs. And that doesn't even touch our foreign policy debacle of insanity.

So, which candidate has the spine and uts to put out THIS vision for America? The one who does, wins the election.

[Mike]

Roadkill....you are truly a brainwashed person. If you can't see that Obama's run for Presidency is premature given his lack of experience, then you are ignoring the obvious. These 'stumblings' are becoming too frequent, and the fact that you come to his defense is utterly ridiculous. Let him stay in the Senate and accomplish something before taking another run at the Presidency.

[toby]

Roadkill Refugee, I think the problem is....

Obama has built his ENTIRE campaign on his skill with the spoken word and his judgement.

When you take those two things away...he's just a man with 2 years experience asking for the biggest, toughest, hardest job in the Nation.

It's getting painfully obvious that Obama cannot win the General. If he is the nominee, it's starting to look like a Mondale like defeat.

[Frankfurter]

Toby: while he is a very good orator, I would say he built his campaign on taking a rational, "dogma-free" approach to problems. But politics is the ultimate corruptor, so who knows where he is now.

If we're talking gaffes, I would take this over McCain's repeatedly mixing up Shia's and Sunni's, or indicate that "Al-Qaeda and Sunni's are closely tied", or Handley confusing Nepal and Tibet, or Hillary's gaffe over sniper fire.

[Sylvia]

Comments from Obama supporters read like TV re-runs. Once you heAr one, you've heard them all. Anytime an anti-Obama fact is raised, their unfailing response is: 'is that all you've got? Have you got nothing better to do? America doesnt care about that". To them nothing matters. Rev. Wright's anti-Americanism, embraced by the Obama's for 20 years? It doesnt matter, it's blown over. Mrs Obama's lack of pride in America? it doesnt matter. It has blwon over. His snob of rural people? It doesnt matter, it will blow over. These people are delusionary. Obama may still stop the more deserving Hillary, mostly because of the gang-up of envious Hillary/Bill haters in the Democratic party, and not based on any merit of Obama's. But come November, we'll see whether all these indicators of Obama's unworthiness have really blown over. This guy will not win. Even if at the last minute, America will realise that this guy is all about words and nothing else. And not necessarily his own words. Even his 'shame on Hillary' yesterday was just an infantile attempt to pay Hillary back for her 'Shame on you Barack Obama' a couple of months ago. Obama is so elitist and so haughty. Did y'all notice yesterday at the compassion forum that while Hillary referred to 'President Bush' even when she criticised W, Obama constantly talked of 'George Bush'. We may not like certain things about the President, but he's still our President. Obama just doesnt understand humility and respect. Barack Obama CANNOT win the presidency!

[joe]

I was a National delegate fro Hart from MAine- I remember the comment very well- this year I am with Senator Clinton - I still respect Gary Hart but Obama has no business being President of the United States

[april]

I've had a strong, strong hunch that no matter how much BO campaigns in PA, that he'll lose by a significant margin. It would be wonderful if Hillary wins by 20--or even 25.

I look forward to the end of the Democratic primaries and hopefully, the end of confusion.

Vote 4 Hillary