McCain, Clinton Bash Obama’s “Small Town” Comments; Obama Campaign Responds

Obama is our Adlai Stevenson — intellectual and elitest. Bush has his base, the rich and powerful, and Obama has his base, the young and well educated. If you are old, blue collar, or undereducated, then you might as well get off the Obama bus now, because his administration is not going to be championing your interests.
We need a president who will bring people back into the middle class, not one who will marginalize them further. He talks a great talk, but for those who have fallen out of the middle class his words are empty.

Obama REALLY cares about the Pennsylvanians. Check for yourself.
Here’s a transcript the audio that gives you the context of what he said in California (beware it’s not some well-written speech, it simply is the man talking, with all the flaws etc):
“in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long. They feel so betrayed by government that when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn’t buy it. And when it’s delivered by — it’s true that when it’s delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama, then that adds another layer of skepticism. But — so the questions you’re most likely to get about me, ‘Well, what is this guy going to do for me? What is the concrete thing?’ What they wanna hear is so we’ll give you talking points about what we’re proposing — to close tax loopholes, uh you know uh roll back the tax cuts for the top 1%, Obama’s gonna give tax breaks to uh middle-class folks and we’re gonna provide healthcare for every American. But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there’s not evidence of that in their daily lives. 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. Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you’ll find is, is that people of every background — there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you’ll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I’d be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you’re doing what you’re doing.”

Dogsoldier
What about Pennsylvania’s bowlers? I’d think there impressed by Obama’s ability to toss the ball in a suit.

I like how the Obama campiagn completely ignored the Clintons and went straight to attacking McCain
spoken as a true winner

“It is hardly news that Senator Obama’s ‘new’ approach to politics is based on the presumption that voters are easily fooled,” Salter continues, “but the arrogance and elitism he shows here is truly astonishing, and very revealing about how he would govern this country.”
WOW this statement by Salter perfectly describes JOHN MCCAIN not Obama.
OOhh let’s hear the truth shall we?

Lance D.
If he did, I’m sure you could produce proof. Please!

I grew up in that area. What did he say that was so incorrect? Once again politics descends into an endless debate over the absurd.

God, this guy is going to be our nominee.

S – Sorry, S. Forgot the bowling crowd Obama impressed with his splendid performance. They’re highly upset.

Gil H,
I’m glad we have you and Obama to save us poor country folks from our misguided ways. Really, there should have been a fourth character on the Wizard of Oz, who sang “If I only had a job” Dorothy, and Obama could be that special Wizard, to save the misguided soul from his lousy religion and his evil huntin’ ways.
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Obama bless us all, everyone!
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McCain’s comments for women and teens:
“At least I don’t plaster on the makeup like a trollop, you c*nt.” -to his wife, Cindy, after she playfully twirled his hair and said “You’re getting a little thin up there,”
“Do you know why Chelsea Clinton is so ugly? Because Janet Reno is her father.” –at a 1998 Republican fundraiser
McCain’s opinion of our American soldiers…
“Americans are very frustrated, and they have every right to be. We’ve wasted a lot of our most precious treasure, which is American lives.” –on the Iraq war
…and now he wants to “waste” more lives by staying the course.
Only the SAME idiots who voted for Bush would ever vote for McCain–some people never learn.
“…but the arrogance and elitism he shows here is truly astonishing, and very revealing about how he would govern this country.”
Yes, your candidate McCain has proven that alright!

READ THE FULL AND COMPLETE ARTICLE
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BUT I WILL BE BLOGGING SNIPPETS
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In the midst of this harsh pastoral, Pennsylvanians are scrappy survivors. They complain (particularly about their governor and Clinton surrogate Ed Rendell, who doesn’t seem as popular as the media make him out to be), but they endure. They refuse to be bound to the broken temples of commerce and manufacturing, the vacant Beaux Arts hotels, the rotting nineteenth-century row houses, the abandoned sidings and once-grand railway stations that inscribe Scranton and Wilkes-Barre and diminish Pittsburgh and Lancaster. Pennsylvanians are remarkably chipper. In the end, the material world that once gave them prosperity has not defined them. On the contrary, Pennsylvania unfolds in an interlocking chain of Turkeyfoots and Allentowns, held separately and together by a sense of shared community, of humor, of history, and of abiding faith.

S, read the following at Politico:
John McCain’s campaign is attacking Barack Obama for Obama’s rather indisputable comments about the rise of anti-immigrant fervor in small town America. Obama said that the rise of such fervor has a lot to do with bitterness.
But wait – didn’t John McCain say something similar in December to the New Yorker?
Anti-immigrant passion also owes much to the disproportionate influence of a few small states in the nominating process. National polls show that, as an issue, immigration is far behind the Iraq war, terrorism, the economy, and health care as a concern to most Americans; a recent Pew poll shows that, nationally, only six per cent of voters offer immigration as the most important issue facing the country. But in Iowa and South Carolina, two of the three most important early states, it is a top concern for the Republicans who are most likely to vote.
“It’s the influx of illegals into places where they’ve never seen a Hispanic influence before,” McCain told me. “You probably see more emotion in Iowa than you do in Arizona on this issue. I was in a town in Iowa, and twenty years ago there were no Hispanics in the town. Then a meatpacking facility was opened up. Now twenty per cent of their population is Hispanic. There were senior citizens there who were-’concerned’ is not the word. They see this as an assault on their culture, what they view as an impact on what have been their traditions in Iowa, in the small towns in Iowa. So you get questions like ‘Why do I have to punch 1 for English?’ ‘Why can’t they speak English?’ It’s become larger than just the fact that we need to enforce our borders.”
Sure, it’s not exactly the same, but it’s pretty darn similar. In fact, McCain seems to be saying something far more controversial. While Obama is saying economic hardship breeds anti-immigrant feelings, McCain is saying lots of rural people just hate Hispanics. That may or may not be true – but the fact that McCain’s campaign is feigning outrage over Obama’s truisms when their own candidate has made thematically similar statements strikes me as…what’s the word…oh yeah – dishonest.
Posted by Kelly M. | April 11, 2008 6:58 PM

Sherrie – Obama speak up? Yes. I enjoyed the part of Obama speaking up about the Wright problem after Twenty years of silent protest. That did it for me.

These qualities of hospitality, patriotism and endurance are exactly what Californians need to hear about Pennsylvanians. And when he spoke to a group of his wealthier Golden State backers at a San Francisco fund-raiser last Sunday, Barack Obama took a shot at explaining the yawning cultural gap that separates a Turkeyfoot from a Marin County. “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,” Obama said. “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.”

Everytime Obama says something stupid, he or his campaign always start spinning it as “that’s not what I meant” or totally change the subject. Yet they are always quick on the draw when Clinton says something. Watch him come out with another unity speech next week right before the debate now to distract from his arrogant remarks of today. I wish people could start adding up the math and see this guy is not what this country needs. How many boneheaded mistakes and statements does HE have to make before people see he is just another politician pretending to represent a movement of change. He doesn’t care anymore about small town people anymore than he cares about the people of New Orleans…he only cares about their votes, then he’s out of there.

The Obama campaign sent out spokesman Tommy Vietor to respond, saying, “Senator Obama has said many times in this campaign that Americans are understandably upset with their leaders in Washington for saying anything to win elections while failing to stand up to the special interests and fight for an economic agenda that will bring jobs and opportunity back to struggling communities”
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Looks Obama talked about himself: saying anything to win elections while failing to stand up to the special interests and fight for an economic agenda that will bring jobs and opportunity back to struggling communities “from CHICAGO”…

To give Obama his due, he spoke about working class Pennsylvanians likely because he had been thinking about them a great deal. And he spoke, as he often does away from large rallies, in a calm, even, matter-of-fact way. Every town hall meeting I’ve observed, from California to Iowa, Nevada to Texas, has showcased Senator Obama’s core decency and high measure of regard for each individual.

Obama just lost the election in NOV. Norquist is right.
This is why you don’t nominate a first term junior senator to be the democratic nominee for president.

Lance D.
Sorry, Obama got no substance! What we gonna talk about..

I grew up in a small town. Obama’s comments are absolutely true. Do you really think the Clinton’s care about small town folk? If you do, then you are a fool.

To give Obama his due, he spoke about working class Pennsylvanians likely because he had been thinking about them a great deal. And he spoke, as he often does away from large rallies, in a calm, even, matter-of-fact way. Every town hall meeting I’ve observed, from California to Iowa, Nevada to Texas, has showcased Senator Obama’s core decency and high measure of regard for each individual.
Barackhas core decency .
We hear it all the time.he will win .

Well Obama just clings to religion when it’s political expedient to get him elected in the south side of Chicago.
So I guess he doesn’t understand that people might have faith, well because they have faith.

Clinton Elite would not understand what it is like to make ends meat. they have been millionaires to long

If Hillary “misspoke” because she was tired at 11pm, what kind of trouble will she get us in with that 3am phone call?

Countallthevotes,
Again this is the Hypocrisy in American politics that I am talking about. See who is talking about Obama’s elitism? Clinton, Mcain. Do you think that W. Bush and Cheney are not elitist.
Recently, Clinton was quoting as saying she sent Chelsea to a private school because it had better education. What do you think that is?
Look at who W. Bush and Cheney do business with: Halliburton, Exxon Mobil, etc. But they want the poor people, who live from paycheck to paycheck, that they understand their problem. They’ve never starved a single day.
That’s the kind of hypocrisy that I don’t like in politics. It is not like Obama was saying that he was better than those people. Simply trying to assess their situation.

Oh but of course, its G.W. Bush’s fault, it’s Bill Clinton’s fault its Hillary Clinton’s fault.
Drink more of the omama aide fools. This arrogant, condescending, contemptuous, egomaniac really thinks that everyone in the WORLD believes what he says. Obama is a fool. He steps into it daily and it won’t be long before he steps in so deep, he’ll never be able to backtrack and his cult followers and his (by no probably regretful)supporters won’t be able to pick up the lying sob and put him back together again.
What fools obama thinks we are. It is incredible how he thinks he can play the public. And he has so many falling for it. Incredible.

This is a gift from heaven, it’s even on CNN. I wonder if Obama will be on Keith Olbermann and Anderson Cooper to make it all better.

What I find interesting is that he said this about Pennsylvanians in San Francisco. Can’t get more elitist than that.
Hillary ’08

Senator Obama has belittled the people of Pennslyvania! He is automatically assuming that people who fall on hard times *which he blames on CLINTON AND BUSH” are gun toting, racist people and he throws religion in there for good measure. He talks about Bush being out of touch and that Racism is rampant, but he has just displayed BOTH of these issues with this statement. EVERY hard working America needs to vote AGAINST Obama in PA on April 22nd!

Lauren,
You should say:
Barack Hussein Obama the next President…
There may be many people called Barack Obama, but only one person is called: Barack Hussein Obama…so please make sure it is your guy…

Lauren: Clinton Elite would not understand what it is like to make ends meat. they have been millionaires to long
Lauren honey – you eat meat you do not eat not meet.

Ron,
Sorry, it’s not the damn Yankees that are supporting Obama, it’s the wealthy liberal elites that hold the ocean front property and the estate inheritances on the two coasts. Otherwise, I don’t totally disagree with all your sentiments, just some of them.
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Obama, finally someone who can represent the wealthy liberal elites
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I don’t know. Mark Salter sounds kind of bitter to me, so Obama may be on to something. I think, though, this is nothing like the bitterness Salter’s going to feel when Obama is elected president in November.

Mr. Obama’s comment is not offensive but it does provide insight into his perception of “small town” America. It would be risky to elect a politician who harbors such sentiment. It’s hard to believe, but the Republicans may remain in control despite their past performance.

Boy I am stricking out with my grammer today
Ladies and Gentlemen
President Barack Hussien ObamA!!!!
i will give you that bone once.
I never call President william Jefferson clinton
I write it President William Clinton
THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
BARACK OBAMA

The Truth,
What substance does W. Bush have? He still spent 8 years in power. If the USA ever have two presidents like Bush 8+8 times in a row, that will be the end of their supremacy on the world.
We will spend the next twenty years recovering from the debt of the Irak mess. Why isn’t teaching us a lesson? My point is, Kerry has more substance that W. Bush but he lost because of this kind of SUPERFICIAL Politics. Disgusting!

I was so proud that America had finally grown to a place where an African-American and a woman would finally be a major party candidate that I was willing to overlook Sen. Obama’s perceived lack of experience. He seemed like a nice guy who had roots in my state…I mean he keeps bringing up that his mother was a Kansas girl. However, the longer he is in the public eye the more questions I have. Why bring up Kansas so much when your mother spent so little time here? Your grandparents moved to Washington state during WWII, then to California, and then to Hawaii. His only connection to Kansas is that’s where his grandparents and mother were born. He on the other hand was born and raised elsewhere. His father was a radical in Kenya, abandoned his wife and children in Indonesia, and wasn’t the pivotal male role model in his life. His white grandfather should be the one touted as his role model. We don’t hear much about his grandfather, just about his typical white grandmother. He spent 20 years in a church with a Marxist philosophy, a minister that truly sounds bitter about his lot in life as a black man in America, and he states he never heard that kind of talk before. He talks about how he gave up a chance at a prestigious career in law to work for $12,000 a year as a community organizer. Yet, he purchases a home worth over a million dollars with the help of his friend who is under indictment. Where in the world did all that money come from? He scares me. Say what you want about the Clintons, but I know about their skeletons. If Obama gets the nomiination, what will the Rove machine unleash? If he wins, how will our lives change?

Wow, I’m a small town Pennsylvanian! I guess Obama was talking about me. Me and all my gun-toting, bible fearing, bitter, racist mongering xenophonic friends and relatives!
And to have thunk I’d was even consider’n voten for ye.
Gosh darn!

Lauren,
Is it interesting no MSM is talking about Obama’s middle name? I don’t recall Obama himself talking about it in public. Even when one of McCain’s supporter was dennounced by calling Obama’s middle name.
Obama’s name was given by his father, which he should be proud of….There is nothing wrong with the name given by parents, but how come whenever people called his middle name, it became a race issue? Obama should be very proud to say “I, Barrack Hussien Obama, is running for president of United States”….
When he takes into office in 2009, he will be announced as full name: Barrack Hussien Obama, president of United States
There is nothing worng with it and he souldn’t be afraid…

The Obama apologist are out in force. I am sure it would be a whole other story if it had been said by Clinton.

Who is bitter? I guess it is Obama. He is supposed to be a uniter…. Backbiting about PA to CA audience.
Making PA look bad in front of rich CA folks.
Good job Obama.

LOL FIRST IM A TYPICAL WHITE GRANDMOTHER , NOW IM A LUNCH PAIL FOLK
EXCUSE MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE?????

So, there are no cynical or bitter people in the countryside? If someone doesn’t point this out nothing will be done for these people. Rural communities need more than jobs or money to survive: they need to become valued again as desirable places to live. People are bitter over low wages in small towns where per capita income is below the national average. Many of these small communities are poor. The Associated Press has reported: in small towns the percentage of people living in poverty topped the national average. Please don’t tell me people in small towns are not suffering and that no politician should mention their bitterness, in an effort to bring attention to this fact and the need to have them on the Agenda. I am surprise Hillary and Mclain are so blind to the suffering of lower class Americans. It could only take a black man to point this out?

Hal
From most of the posts here, most rural people don’t buy Obama’s assertions. Why do you? Do you have any facts to support your conclusions or, are you just a bit opinionated?

John
If you believe rural people need help, you must certainly tell us what Obama will do for them. Please, be specific. You may be impressed with the empty suit but the rest of us need some substance.

If Obama has guts, he should say this before PA audience not before CA audience.

Here is the exactly what Obama has talked about himself how he won his Senator and how he tried to win US president:
“…. saying anything to win elections while failing to stand up to the special interests and fight for an economic agenda that will bring jobs and opportunity back to struggling communities”

Obama is arrogant and elitist for sure. He repeatedly shows that he doesn’t have the capacity to feel what others are feeling. He sees people as “typical white people”, remarks we all “harbor stereotypes” and shows that he tends to generalize people’s concerns by their grouping. It is a very detached, negative way of viewing the lives and problems of Americans. You can’t solve problems unless you have genuine understanding and appreciation of why people feel the way they do. Again, also Obama has bitter words to describe those whom he sees as not embracing him – he reflexively sees it as their problem, not his own.

Adjaloo
If Obama was brave, he wouldn’t have said this on the west coast. He was obviously twisting words to appease the ultra-liberal base there.
We’ll see how he explains this in person. I’m sure it will be eloquent but it will also extend his streak of duplicity.

I want to see Hillary Clinton Supporters take their bosses out to dinner when they give a pink slip telling them their jobs are going overseas Mexico and China in the next few months. People are bitter about that and his comments are true. People don’t want to hear the truth. They want Hillary Clinton to keeping promise all this money and where exactly is she going to get it from? If these companies keep moving the job overseas how is bringing money back to us. He is right and I get very bitter when I hear of companies shipping the jobs overseas and I don’t live in PA. The truth hurts doesn’t it.

Adjaloo – Just think about this: homes are being foreclosed? You did write that line, correct?
Then why is Obama taking so much money from sub prime lenders who are kicking American homeowners out on the street?
Obama has taken $1,180,103 from the top issuers of subprime loans. [cq.com]
Obama received $266,907 from Lehman. [Cq.com]
Obama received $5395 from GMAC. [Cq.com]
Obama received $150,850 from CS First Boston . [Cq.com]
Obama received $11,250 from Countrywide. [Cq.com]
Obama received $9052 from Washington Mutual. [Cq.com]
Obama received $161,850 from Citigroup. [Cq.com]
Obama received $4600 from CBASS. [Cq.com]
Obama received $170,050 from Morgan Stanley. [Cq.com]
Obama received $1150 from Centex. [Cq.com]
Obama received $351,900 from Goldman Sachs. [Cq.com]

Clinton’s lies about Bosnia, and NAFTA as mistakes, far out way Obama’s description of people’s feelings who are struggling in small towns. Besides, he never said that these people were “bitter” people. That’s dumb. He said they “get bitter” obviously meaning that they feel that way at times, which results in certain behaviors. The Clintons and McCain are manipulating words again.

Karen – Pink slip? Do tell. Present you facts and where the jobs went and your sources.

Okay, so according to Clinton everyone — in these towns who were left behind by the Clinton1 economic revival and were further decimated by the Bush economic giveaway to the Rich and Haliburton — everyone is optimistic and happy and ready to roll up their sleeves and celestial angels will come down and… Oh, wait, we’re mixing our metaphors here. But she sounded so gleeful!!!
Everyone is going to have a great time with this for a few days, taking it out of context and bashing Senator Obama.
But the reality is that people SHOULD be bitter about where the country is right now. Bitter in particular at the Bush-Cheney administration that has so totally derailed this country. The question of what one does with that bitterness — turning it into vitriol at immigrants, for example, or (hopefully) working for real change in this country to begin to revitalize all our communities.
Many of those who criticize Senator Obama do so using out of context quotes and snippets from Newsmax, National Review and other sources. Those folks will probably have a field day with these new quotes, which will fuel their own bitterness!
The rest of us will continue to work to elect a President who will get us out of Iraq and work hard to get our economy back on track!
Obama 2008 — Yes, WE CAN!!!
Obama 2008 — Yes, WE CAN!!!

This latest statement proves 1 major point that Barrack really doesn’t have God in his life because if he did he wouldn’t refer to people who have a spiritual relationship as just people who turn towards religion. Anyone who truly believes in God didn’t do it because it was a crutch or last resort,… Barrack’s tricky, sneaky and with these lack of religious understanding comments and his continuing to listen to the ‘paster’ that spread hate not love proves that he is a phony and hides behind a speech and a smile. … America is smarter than you think Barrack.

Karen – Perhaps you can present Obama’s plan on preventing any other American from losing their jobs. How Obama’s China plan will prevent any more jobs from disappearing. Same with India. Perhaps you could even send a letter to Nike about their overseas slave labor. Maybe we can build a wall around America to prevent trade going in and out. BTW, Mexico should do well building ladders.

If according to Obama that in small towns the people are bitter so they turn to the gun, I guess there is some kind of data to show that crime in small towns is escalating, or that the number of crimes committed elsewhere are done by a lot of bitter small town folks.
I hope Obama can furnish us with this data to show us the gun carrying small town people are persons we all need to watch out for.

Sweet Lord. Another non-issue. Instead of listening to what the man has to say, dishonest people with an agenda fake outrage and cry racism and elitism. He’s saying that the government failed us. Is that not true? Have they not failed us on the economy, on jobs, healthcare, and national security? And what kills me is that he said the same thing about urban voters in the same speech. This issue is manufactured.

What Barack Obama was trying to say that the United State is facing an oligarchy rule where we are being diverted from the real issues such as the war in Iraq, the economy and so on by the few. The few control the media.

as a concerned Canadian, looking from the outside in, this is absolutely ridiculous that any american, who are true blooded and concerned about your future welfare as a nation, would choose anyone other than Hilary Clinton as your nominee.
you all have the chance to elect the wife of the president who is considered the greatest political mind of the 20th century.
We Canadians have watched as your strong nation has spiralled downward under the current presidency, and look amazed that W has not been impeached yet.
hate to tell you, but you really need 4 more years of president clinton, to finally get you country healing. God help a America under barrack Obama, thats something I will definitely find humerous!!!!!!

Barack is a good guy. But he just made a big mistake. I think the man’s biggest flaw is arrogance.

For all who think these comments are silly and inconsequential, I warn you now: this goes to the heart and soul of every man and woman who has ever been laid off, deserted by social agencies and left to scramble to pick up the pieces on their own. How smug it is to speak of people like they’re insects beneath a microscope. How absolutely arrogant and insensitive!
How dare anyone say it such disparging tones that he/she can explain the deep-seated anguish in these towns and burbs, where the latter-day middle class has floundered for years? And to a bunch of well-heeled, west coast supporters, who I’m sure tittered over their white wine and cheese. Cut me a break.
This is not an academic analysis, folks, a graduate thesis on the mindset of working class people. This cuts squarely into the place where people, real human beings live. Or at least try to live.
I’m a former, 20-year Pennsylvania resident and I can tell you in no uncertain terms–this is “not” silliness, racist, out of context or any of the other nonsensical excuses Senator Obama has used in the past.
Cover your ears. The howl is coming!

axt113: How do you know what he was trying to say when he was saying these people are bitter and turn to their guns?
Anyone can take it to mean anything, that they turn to their guns to commit crime, to shoot each other, to hunt whatever.
Obama made the statement and it is kind of odd to say someone will turn to their guns when they have lost their jobs, or because they feel the government had given them a raw deal, exactly what is he trying to say?

I am just analyzing what he’s saying

Karen
Why use multiple word posts? Just say ditto. We will understand.

SJ, he was pointing out that those who are poor in rural areas tend to have higher religious attendance and gun ownership and a fear of those who are outsiders and globalization and as a result feel strongly about those issues, as a result they tend to support the party that panders to those issues. If they had jobs and had money they would be less concerned about those issues

Karen – How sweet of you to reply. Do look up the Brittany Spears detox program between your “educated” posts.

Obama is arrogant, an elitist who used the “Getting down with my ‘sort of’ black roots” church in Chicago to make sure African Americans saw him as one of them. Yet he can’t keep his foot out of the world he grew up in with the elitist whites – his foot just keeps going into his mouth. He lies about one thing after another to play revisionist with his own personal history. He barely speaks of his white grandparents who raised him, other than to point a critiquing finger at his typical white grandmother whom he portrayed as being a bit of a racist. His white grandparents raised him and gave him all that made his life easier than most. His African father barely touched his life, leaving him when he was a toddler. But Obama wants to be known as an African American. He speaks of Kansas, which had nothing to do with his life and very little to do with his mother’s. He re-invents his background and interests depending on which town he is in and what group of people he is addressing. He is often lying to paint a picture of himself that he feels most people, being ignorant, will swallow. He is arrogant and sly. He is a smooth orator but says nothing. Those who hang on to his words are craving anything different than what is occurring now. Often these types of followers are easy prey for cult leaders. And folks, this is what he is — nothing more than a inspirational speaker, who preys on the dissatisfied. Hillary Clinton is practical and makes sound judgments and knows how to problem solve. Yes, she has baggage and so does every single political figure. We know her baggage. We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg with Obama. This guy is not the person he is portraying. He is being given more money to run his campaign than anyone has ever been given. How many of the Hollywood elite, and the Jesse Jacksons, Al Sharptons, Ted Kennedys, and crooks, like George Soros and Ayers, is this guy, Obama, going to owe if he wins our Nation’s White House? It would be a horrid turning point for our Nation. “Change, Yes We Can” – what change? He says nothing, no specifics. He chants and his groups chant back to him. If he wins the White House, those he owes will be lined up at the door, and our beloved Country will be in their corrupt, greedy hands. All because of this shallow man playing the race card whenever anyone should criticize his methods or plans or those he associates with. He has found he can put a “gag” on his critics by calling racism. That’s very dangerous for our Nation, indeed. Think about it.

i was born in a small town of 2,000 to poverty-stricken, hardworking parents who assured that i would have a better life. having taught for 35 years i still live in that same small town and am not religious; i welcome immigrants to our country; i favor free trade and do not fit mr. obama’s stereotype. neither do my townspeople.
the gentleman from illinois should avoid generalizations and stereotyping…
and his lack of judgment shocks me.

Mr. Obama has no problem sterotyping a whole group of people as being bitter,and because of this they somehow cling to religion,guns,and prejudice! This is just as bad as saying blacks are lazy, and like to eat chicken and watermellon! It show the disconnect between the the elitist in this country who think that only they know best and that they have some sort of monopoloy on what is the correct way to live and behave! They are ethnocentristic in their view of american society. They take little time or patientce with anyone or group that does not think the way they do! I do not want Mr. Obama to apologize for what he said, this is what he beleives and everyone has a right to say what they beleive! Just like working class people have a right to vote for someone who shares their values of hard work, religion, family, and patriotism! For us that canidate is Hillary Clinton!

I really don’t understand why the media and others are so offended by Obama’s comments. It sounds like he was defending and speaking up for small town america. I see no elitism here, but empathy and compassion. Any time he says anything the slightest bit controversial, the Clintons and media turn it around. If Hillary had made these comments, people would be praising her. The people of Pennsylvania and other small towns shoud see how much Obama understands their strugles. It makes me so angry that he has to live up to such a double standard with the media.

Mod1
You obviously don’t understand the issues…what he said was true. and if the other candidates don’t know that many towns will be left behind because of those things eating the town to be unlivable and avoidable when it comes to companies planning to relocate.
… you are spewing a lot in that comment you made…but none of it is backed up with facts…just lopsided anger.
Obama’s not perfect but he is the bast candidate I have seen in my lifetime.
…and if you think he is lying about so much and that he all about speeches…you aren’t really paying attention.
Especially on this issue …looking condescension when he is addressing anissue those towns were burdened with… Your right …I am an elitist …because I truly think that that is REALLLYYY dumb.

russell
I think Obama made a boneheaded mistake and will surely pay for it. But your stereotype is idiotic and frankly, racist. The truth is that rural American is bitter (and has good reasons to be). They are clearly bitter. If Obama had left it at that, this would have been a non-story. But you comparing his comments to assertions that African Americans are lazy and love watermelons, is blatantly stupid. The truth is i’ve never heard that African Americans are lazy. I don’t know what type of folks you hang out with, but just keep those stereotypes that your buddies toss out to yourself, please.

please elect Hilary, don’t be so stupid as to elect an obviously inexperienced man who felt he could untimately devide a nation by race and win a nomination which he is not entitled to, Hilary Clinton has a long and distinguished history looking after the interests of the american people. My question is why do you Americans not see that?? she is not a Cale Carnagie graduate as her oponent obviously is, but her sincerity speaks to people like me, who don’t even live in the US. i would move to the US if Hilary is elected;; not so much if you elect a second coming of GWB!!!!!!!! in democraTIC CLOTHING!!!!

An oppressed population has no reason to apologize or hide their expression of anger or the truth of what has happened to them and is still happening to them. And, Yes, it is TRUTH that gets the liars upset and stuck on stupid as in the last two elections. Come to Washington rural areas and find out how folks act when they get shafted by the government, their own inactivity, etc; they take it out on the person who is succeeding in hard times. And, they are bitter, bitter, bitter.
I hope you vote for Mcelder or Sillary and the draft is reinstated so you can go defend the lies you stand up for.
Otherwise, face the reality of the One World, we have to live in and be happy in or not. Move forward together or stagnate in the same cess pools of triviality.

NanH
The problem with Obama’s comments isn’t that what he said was totally wrong. It’s that he said it. He shouldn’t have said it because he is a politician, and politicians should know that the first rule of politics is pandering. Nobody wants to hear the truth. Secondly, it involved a type of generalization that, frankly, is beneath a man of his intelligence. What he said was unacceptable on every conceivable level. A radio talk show host could get away with it. A politician running for President? No. For him to have the audacity to say it displays an arrogance that I find flabbergasting.

Hillary: “As I travel around Pennsylvania, I meet people who are resilient, who are optimistic, who are positive, who are rolling up their sleeves. They are working hard everyday for a better future, for themselves and their children.”
Did anyone ever see the old Soviet or Mao propganda movies about life on the countryside and in the working classes?
They exactly fit Hillary’s words.

The small town Americans that Obama slammed in front of his rich friends in San Francisco are the same people who helped their neighbors get through floods, tornadoes, and horrific wind storms. They watched over each others salvable belongings, prayed and cried together. Obama in one fundraiser took their pride and respect away from them. Your Rev. said God Damn America, well how about God Damn You!

Kenny from Ct.–You are stretching the facts quite a bit here. Wow! Did we read the same article?
Are you saying you didn’t feel any compassion in the tone of the article? Please tell me; then I will go back and see if I miss something.

Obama should have been more sensitive. The comment will hurt him. Nonetheless, what he said is true. It was their bloated union
benefits and their living beyond their means that caused those folks in western Pennsylania to lose their jobs to foreign countries, not international trade treaties or illegal immigrants. As the 1950′s comic strip character, Pogo, so well put it: “We have met the enemy, and they are us.”

Kenny from Ct. – Excellent post on small town America.

Well. Looks like there is a great prosperity and happiness in PA.
That what You said?
I understand – Clintons are Phony.
But why should we fool ourselves, that we are NOT in trouble, that we are wealthy, happy, no money needed, no crises, no foreclosure.
Everything just great.
And everyone is a hero.
let’s lie to ourselves, as it is sounds more sweet.
Ask You stomach – how will it feel , getting just sweets.
We should look into the face of reality without tales and without anger, we should deal with it, not to embellish. Than we can make it – to go through.
The truth is not always profitable, but we will lose without it.

Obama is insensitive because he has led a charmed life. I read some of these notes where some people are calling others “racist” because they don’t agree with Obama or they don’t like Obama. This is what Obama has started. He is the most divisive candidate the Nation has ever had. He does not and will not represent the people of this Nation. He will represent and speak for and support the concerns mainly of 12% of this Nation, along with a handful of elitist white liberals who enjoy wearing their charity works on their sleeves in the form of colored ribbons.

As they say in rural america I hope Mr.Obama gets his comeupins on April 22!

Tell me why would you not hang onto religion if you have nothing else?????I am from a small town and I think this man is right on. He is one who understands middle and poor class people the other two have major money and you think they care.Mc Cain leaving tax breaks for the RICH …..Hillys ideas costing us BILLIONS that is one pet project.Big ideas this lady who is paying ??????US who else >>>>>They can’t spend the interest on their dirty money.

h – Perhaps you could price out “all” the Obama promises?

Everybody in the media knows this story…why don’t they tell this story?
Chicago Sun-Times”An examination of Obama”s first campaign clouds the image he has cultivated throughout his political career: Obama, who runs on a message of giving a voice to the voiceless, first entered public office not by leveling the playing field, but by clearing it. Alice Palmer, friend and mentor to Obama, served the district in the Illinois Senate for much of the 1990s. Decades earlier, she was a community organizer in the area. She risked her safe seat to run for Congress and touted Obama as a suitable successor. But when Palmer lost the congressional race, her supporters asked Obama to fold his campaign so she could easily retain her seat. Obama not only refused to step aside for the woman who was his friend and had recommended him for the seat, he filed challenges that nullified Palmer”s hastily gathered nominating petitions, forcing her to withdraw. Had Palmer survived the petition challenge, Obama would have faced the daunting task of taking on an incumbent senator. “He wondered if we should knock everybody off the ballot. How would that look?” said Ronald Davis, the paid Obama campaign consultant. Davis filed objections to all four of Obama”s Democratic rivals at the candidate”s behest. All other candidates were disposed of by Obama”s challenges. He then went on to win the election.”

Carl:
You can ask for your money back—and they HAVE to give it to you!!!!
Don’t be hurt, be MAD!!!!

Carl – Did you really give $2000 to the Obama campaign?

Ron:
Some of our BEST economic years were when the Clinton’s were in office!!!
As far as McCain goes, I am only voting for him if Hussein Obama becomes the nominee!!! I will be voting for McCain for the future of my country and my children/grandchildren—–as Hussein Obama will DESTROY this country from within!!!!

Obama’s comments make perfect sense. People are bitter about the impact of the economic policies of the Republicans. And they cling to things they love like guns and religion, because they are all that the Republicans have left them with. To distract the people from the impact of their polcies Republicans try and play upon people’s fears that Democrat’s will take away their guns or attack their religion.
As for Obama’s comments implying the existence of xenophobia, just read the post referring to “Hussein Obama” and see if the shoe at least fits some feet.

Since the male dema
ocrat canidate is ashamed of his name and I dont want to be called a racist for saying his name I will just refer to him as canidate X. Mister X has just insulted all the people in this country, who go to work ever day put there shoulder to the wheel and keep this country moveing in the right direction. We have seen that in his church his paster and the people he preaches at are bitter and blame this great country for all the ill,s in the world. [Go away mister] XXXXXXXXXXX-O

Annagain:
Don’t count on it!!! Some of the Obama supporters will make excuses for him (as they are now) and believe his coverup lies and spin!!! It is already happening.

Watch Sean Hannity on Fox tomorrow and Sunday night (8PM or 9PMEST)—-he is going to expose the lies, corruption, etc. of Obama.
He is also going to expose his connections/associations with Farrakhan, Rezko, Reverand Wright, and William Ayers!!!

Once again Obama sinks into the abyss of hate. Subliminal from Rev Wright
It is 3 p.m. the kids are in school, husband at work, a knock at the door.
McCain? Obama? or Hillary Clinton
Which one would you invite into your kitchen to have a cup of coffee,and discuss what you expect from the leader of the free world.
I know I would invite Hillary Clinton in and be overjoyed that she has the fortitude and strength to lead our Country.

Either you people making a stink over what Obama said are frauds or you simply are not too bright . Obama said nothing demeaning , he was showing understanding of the plight of so many ( including myself ) is what he was doing . Obama spent his early career after graduation from Harvard representing and working with the inner city poor and disadvantaged when he could have been a corporate lawyer in some hot shot law firm getting rich . Clinton ? A member of the young Republicans and then six years in the corporate board room of Walmart ! And for those of you who don’t know it , yes , it is the truth , look it up , google it . Obama is a very intelligent man , his is not Bush speak , seriously I think many don’t have the intelligence to grasp what he says and do not understand what he meant . With Bush’s command of the English language , that of an eight year old , no wonder he was such a hit , people could identify with him and understand him , no matter that he is a chronic BS artist and liar . Because you do not have the intelligence or the education to decipher what a man says , the man is an elitist and or must have said something demeaning ? Sheesh !God help us !

The thing everyone, including myself, is upset about isn’t him saying that people are bitter, I’m sure alot are. I’m offended at the total disregard for religion as something they’re clinging to. Could it be that people have genuine faith that has nothing to do with their economic status? Obama is totally blind. How could he believe this? Their negative opinions about America’s lax immigration policies means that they hold all immigrants in contempt. Totally ridiculous! Typical excuse for legitimate views that people hold that are contradicting to his agenda. Good point Obama. Let’s just disregard their opinions as bigotry and be done with it. What a shmuck.

I’d say that based on everything that I’ve seen from the church that he attends every Sunday the people he associates himself with are much more bitter than people from small-towns. He’s belittling the beliefs of the people who just so happen to be those that keep this country going. There’s more proof of bigotry in his own church than that of his deranged opinion of middle America.

Obama is…upsss…out of touch

I’m a concerned Canadian. It is so depressing to watch the democratic party rip itself apart at the same time as your current president is getting away with illegar war, torture, basic human rights violations, economic devastation,etc. etc. Your planes are being grounded for Pete’s sake, because of the corruption of your ‘regulatory’ systems. And the thing that gets you all worked up is that Obama dared to talk about middle and working class bitterness. From here, it is so obvious that Obama is right: you will all be manipulated again by ‘gotcha’ and dirty politics around non-issues, rather than vote in your own interests, and the interests of your children’s future. It’s a tragedy, or farce, but it really isn’t funny.

remember how the communists referred to religion as the “opiate of the masses” – looks like obama thinks the same thing.

Lets read into the Racist Obama comments a little further if you read between the lines in his small town comments he also means “The Typical White Person” make no mistake but he should realize that a majority folks of all races in big and small communities are proud of their religous beliefs,cherish the 2nd admendment, are sick and tired of their country being over ran by illegal aliens ,sick and tired of all their good paying jobs being destroyed and shipped out by free trade that favors cheap third world countries labor force

So let me get this straight.
Obama says that us working class folks can’t get anything done in Washington to help us out on our lack of work, lack of health care, and our inability to hold politicians responsible for the promises of the big “rust-belt turnaround” we get every single election. So we turn our focus and fight tooth and nail for the things that matter morally to us and that we feel we have a say in, like gun control and gay marriage and religion, etc. We stick to what we know–our values, our freedoms, and our fundamental beliefs. Meanwhile the jobs don’t come back. In fact more and more go away.
So my question is: What is wrong with what he’s saying? How is this insulting? And WHERE is all this outrage coming from? People are using these statements as the final, conclusive evidence proving that Obama is everything from out of touch with the working class to a communist to a racist to a muslim! What is wrong with you people? Is it “elitist” to tell the truth all of the sudden? This guy comes from NOTHING. If you think he doesn’t understand the working class you’re not paying attention. It takes somebody who’s been there to say the things he’s said, and it takes an idiot to keep listening to the same crap we’ve been fed for 16 years.
Once. Just once I wish my fellow “hillbillys” (yet another thing he didn’t call us) would act with their heads instead of the chips on their shoulders and realize it when somebody is trying to help give them back a little bit of class and power. But no. We’d rather listen to some 2 bit politician tell us more war stories that didn’t happen, tell us how great everything’s going to be because we’re such proud, wonderful, hard working people, and let’s just trust the nice lady (ignore that NAFTA stuff, she didn’t really mean it–and while you’re at it, ignore all that Colombia and lobbyist stuff too). God forbid we’d ever be able to take the truth–we’d rather get uppity about someone calling us “bitter”, and get bent out of shape because we think someone thinks we’re ignorant. He never said anything about “ignorant”, nor did he imply it. He called it for what it is: People with little control over their source of income and future holding on tightly to fundamental things that they feel they can control.
Tell you what. I’m BEYOND bitter. I’m mad as hell, and I’m voting for this guy because he knows it. Vote how you want, but enough of this “I’m so offended” crap. I’m sick of the political games being played with my future and my job, and I’m sick of being LIED TO! I’d rather have somebody chafe me a little bit, but tell the truth.

Listen my adopted grandparents who owned a dairy farm in Pennsylvania accepted me as if I was one of their blood children. When Franklin was on the verge of dying Doris asked me to come “home” and see him . The one thing he always wanted was to see his “grandbabies”. All their foster kids, their five children and I returned to see him.
I met them 30 years ago and continued that relationship until even Doris passed away. She passed away in 1990. She taught me so much that summer when I stayed with them. They were my Uncle Ward’s best friends. Since he lived in the men’s hotel in the town of Hallstead I stayed with Doris and Franklin.
We lived in a small town in Georgia. Our son was able to take care of himself by the time I went back to work full time. We had a family move in across the street from us. Their son however was a convicted felon from Florida. Our son at times could be impressionable. He shoplifted in the town store at the insistence of this boy. The owner told us what happened which the owner thought was strange because Justin always walking around money. Justin was made to apologize to the owner. When our daughter who lived with her dad in OK came home to visit, some of the new people in town had not met her. While her and my husband were walking through town people walked up to her and said I know who your mother is.
My husband and I were moving to Kansas with our son for a new job. We were just coming into a small town in Georgia near the border of Alabama. I needed to eat since I have diabetes.The only restaurant in town was just about to close up when they opened their doors to us.They fed the three of us.
Those are my memories of small town America. Friendly, giving, warm people. Accepting of newcomers and giving their all.
Obama insulted me and my blue collar husband and kids. He insulted us on our gun ownership. I could never vote for this elitist, condescending arrogant man. I am that typical white, blue collar woman that grew up in small town America.

I think Political Punch is just clueless and just plain mean sometimes.
*
I read the whole exerpt and I understood it in its full context. This does not appear to be condescending language. When you lose your job, are you bitter?
When you lose your home to foreclosure are you bitter? When you see skyrocketing prices at the gas station aand grocery store, are you bitter?
When you hear about another US casuaty in IRAQ, are you bitter? When you see a government bailout of Bear Stearns and you are struggling to keep your home, are you bitter?
*
This is not just small town America; this is also big city America. I am in the clinging on to religion group and I am NOT ashame of it either.
*
I am just disgusted by the media that take two sentences out of context and just run with it. You would think he claimed it was the end of the world!
*
I don’t support one candidate over the other. But this pouncing on 30 second blurbs by any of the candidates has gotten absurd and out of hand.
PS. A millionaire can not understand the bitterness I see everyday.

Of course CNN would blame Hillary first and then McCain. Somehow, these two are always at fault whenever Obama missteps. I have totally stopped watching The Obama Channel (MSNBC) and can only tolerate small increments of CNN who aren’t quite so blatent, yet still obviously pro-Obama. The media has picked the “Chosen One” and are doing everything to make him look perfect and shove him down our throats. It will backfire, like Obama and his “small town” remarks, it will be the same with the media’s tactics, no one likes to be talked down to, no one likes to be a puppet (except Obama). Has anyone figured out who really is pulling his strings?

Damn right I am BITTER! I am working my butt off and making less than last year. I got my IRA in the mail yesterday and it’s on the way downhill. Our health insurance is out the roof and I just filled my tank and bought groceries and my pocketbook is empty.
But my problems are nothing in comparison to others; one of my friends lost her cousin to Iraq and 2 of my clients have just lost their jobs and they are older folks that aren’t highly employable.
Am I bitter? Maybe frustrated and angry are better words for what I feel. And I tell you, I come from a small town with a lot of houses sitting on the market and a lot of people here are on a slow burn.
So, go hide your heads in the sand and say all is well in America. We need some help and fast and I will vote for the man who tells it like it is. Time for all of us to grow up and bite the bullet. OBAMA 08
Robin 47 yr old, middle class, small town typical white woman, who does not drink lattes or wear Birkenstocks.

It is not the bitter part in Obamas statement that is disturbing.
The clinging to guns and religion that implies that the PA people are using it as crutches.Then to go as far as stating that they don’t accept anybody that is not like them.
Don’t go placing these people in a bubble and generalize the behavior of all the residents there.
The ” Uniter” once again proves himself to be a divider.

First, the majority of Pennsylvanians—and citizens throughout the country as well—have NO problem with immigrants, it is the ILLEGALS that they have a problem with. So, Obama is INTENTIONALLY blurring the issue—in favor of illegals, over US citizens/tax payers.
Second, Obama says that their anti-trade sentiments are the result of frustration. Hmmmmmm….hasn’t Obama been campaigning on anti-trade and keeping more jobs/companies in the US??? So, he is manipulating his speeches/words to match the groups of people he will be speaking with on any particular day. The words are different, depending on who he will be talking to!!!
Then, he says that religious people are actually religious cultists—using their religion and gun toting as an excuse/crutch, instead of helping themselves!!

One of the reasons that Pennsylvania has remained a place to grow up and leave is because so many citizens continue to vote with their eyes and not vote with their brains. Many union members when told that the reason they could not get ahead was because of the people on welfare etc. ran to vote Ronald Regan which resulted in many lost jobs,homes,families and the exit of citizens from the state which still goes on today. These people were bitter and their failure to realize what the real problem was made them their own worst enemy. The state of Pennsylvania has suffered every since because of this type of misplace blame. And I cannot lie there are many Pennsylvanians who refuse to vote for people who do not look like them. This I blame on the old Democratic Party of Pa.which hasn’t done much to educate its base. So the state and its citizens have suffered with no jobs,low wages and a host of other problems that come when one would rather be in charge and poor than to be inclusive and prosper as a state.

I am not Freud or mental health expert but Obama’s behavior suggests he is a very angry and impulsive man! Please notice that every time he is up in the polls his arrogance will show up (look for the timing on his comments on Hillary look, refusal to shake her hands on Speaker’s day, refusal to dismiss Wright and similar friends, and now the dismissal of rural poor). I don’t know whether it is Napoleonic complex, alpha male behavior or what, but this gentleman’s reasoning is highly flawed and has a temperament unsuitable for the presidency of United States of America. Is there a Nixonian problem here? I suspect he and wife were either humiliated or felt extremely humiliated when attending Ivy League Colleges. As a result, his subsequent conversion to Black church, etc was also a way to deal with some of the perceived racism. Note also that Obama has an urge to demonstrate he is very smart, that he deserved to go to the colleges, not by his race. In fact, he thinks himself as a Professor at U. of Chicago! I am afraid to say that anyone can make a case Obama is a complete basket case, with potentially worse results than GW Bush.

There is a venue where the truth IN Obama’s statement would be better recognized. A stump speach is not that venue. I would think that Obama would recognize that. He absolutely doesn’t understand why there are so many people who believe in Hillary Clinton. I am not going to try to explain it to him. I had a lot more respect for Mr Obama before he used the term “They” to describe a large group of diverse people. As a president of a very large democracy, Mr. Obama would have to understand the valid concerns of “Them”. He would have to understand that “They” have the same rights to their opinions, even if he considers them un-enlightened.

So we have yet another Obama “Freudian Slip” When are we going to learn the lessons of history. Barack Obama is a VERY DANGEROUS MAN whose main talent is to sense and say exactly what people want to hear while hiding his true feelings. Well… almost hide, hence all his clearly far left leaning “Fruedian Slips”

Why was this a gaffe? What he said was a honest criticism, NOT of working class Americans, but of the major political parties. Only if you take the last part of the statement and remove from the first do you even get close to something that might turn off some voters. Actually he sounds a bit like Edwards when he says people a fed up and angry.
The truth is Obama’s statements are being spun by Clinton and McCain because they show he is more in touch with ordinary peoples lives than they are. It was Bush then Clinton then Bush that handed more and more power to big business. McCain and HRC voted for and supported those policies. Never were policies like deregulation or NAFTA written is a way that benefited Wall ST. and Main St. equally.
So of course people are pissed. And why would working people vote their economic interests? Bill Clinton exploited the feeling or poor, working class and black people and then once in power served Walmart’s interests over theirs. So yeah Obama is right people turn to other things, things close to them.
Why is that a gaffe? He didn’t make a gaffe, McCain and Clinton are doing spin!
Clinton needs to run her own campaign and stop hurting the other DEM. If she’s the best choice show us. Only reason Obama isn’t being praised as insightful for this comment is because he is fighting a two front war. And if anyone wonders if he’s politically tough enough…he’s fighting both McCain and Clinton and holding his own.

Obama has run on the “Audacity of Hope” for the primary season.
It seems he is settling on the “Audacity of Despair” for the general election.

Arrogance, elitism, superiority, and classicism itself is the driving force of our religious institutions, economy, and culture. Imagine an America where everyone was well off. Well, your not thinking of America. You are not even thinking of some place on earth. It is foolish to believe that the president of the United States can make us all well off. The best they can do is make us all better off. Obama is right. He slipped up but spoke the truth. Many Americans transfer the reality of their problems and life in general into a small mindful of views, issues, beliefs, and actions. It is mental laziness and generational selfishness on their behave. So their lives are suffocated with fake problems, pathetic solutions, weak logic, poor facts, and great illusions. The only way he can appeal to the them is through grand rhetoric. They call actual problems conspiracy theories or matters of opinion, real solutions time consuming and confusing fancy language, and reality a negative and condescending outlook on life. Have it every occur to them that maybe a good education and/or ready open mind is necessary to face what they don’t understand? McCain is from the old school of exercising good common sense and calling it clever and insightful. Hillary fully understands this as well but is rightfully so running a campaign and should capitalize on the stupid American public. The key in all of this is that America doesn’t want to be stupid anymore so they are making a statement with Clinton and Obama. Although the America public has made some strides they will not entirely come out of being stupid anytime soon, nevertheless small town America has to at least start living in the new millennium. Just as a chain is only has strong as its weakest link so are we. We are entirely engaged in a world economic, cultural, and political scene that is rapidly consuming us.

Those who lose everything seek comfort in the familiar. If you are not angry and bitter regarding the following information then your lying to yourself.
Hershey Foods Corp. (NYSE: HSY) will shut down its Reading plant, which
makes York Peppermint Patties and 5th Avenue bars. Production will be moved
to Monterrey, Mexico, by year end. The company has already shut down five
plants and plans to cut 1,500 more U.S. jobs in the next three years.
“These so-called trade deals are killing American jobs,” Hoffa said.
“They aren’t about trade, they’re about helping companies move their
factories to countries with cheaper labor.
“The last thing American workers need is a trade deal with Colombia,
one of the most anti-union countries in the world,” Hoffa said.
Pennsylvania has been especially hard hit by foreign trade. More than
44,000 jobs were lost due to NAFTA since it took effect in 1994. Another
78,000 Pennsylvania jobs were lost to China since 2001.
“Sen. Barack Obama’s proposal to give tax breaks to companies that stay
in America and treat their workers well is one reason he’s the most
qualified person to be president of the United States,” Hoffa said.

“All of you are quite aware that whate he said was factually true and you all know it. He was not confining anyone to their bitterness, he was just bringing it into the conversation becaus ehe means to address ti in a positive way.”
—————————————-
Anyone who thinks this is as ignorant as Obama is. No, small-town people do not “cling” to religion and guns because of economic worries. Religion and guns are PART OF THEIR LIVES.
In this speech, Obama was revealing his Marxist roots, reducing everything to economics and treating religion as the “opiate of the masses.”

Lets get real here for a minute!! Do you people deep down inside really believe that Hillary or John McCain will really make this country better? I served in the U.S. Army. McCain served his country and I applaud him for that. But this does not make me ready to be President of the United States. This war has been a “strategic blunder” from the beginning and John McCain is going to continue to make it blunder. The REAL reason that you people in Ohio and Pennsylvania lost your jobs is because of NAFTA. Hillary’s husband helped to bring this into existence.
The news media is keeping Americans who have been affected by this and other IMPORTANT issues on an emotional roller coaster with the Rev. Wright crap, Obama’s wife Michelle, and now these comments. You people had better wake up and realize you are being FOOLISH if you keep paying attention to this crap that has nothing to do with your current situation. Keep running off of your emotions and making emotional decisions instead of intelligent ones, and you are going to be in the same position you are in now, which is regret.
People regret now voting for Bush and they are paying for it in SO MANY WAYS!!! If you vote for McCain because you won’t vote for Obama in the general election that is an emotional, dumb, stupid, idiotic decision. You better pay attention to the issues and what will be best for your family long term. McCain is certainly not your answer. But vote for him because you don’t like Obama and you deserve whatever you get. You better REALLY think about your decision. Make and intelligent vote and not an emotional vote. Emotions come and go but these issues you will have to live with.

While I feel that the economy is a issue that should be at the forefront of any politician’s remarks concerning their platform. It becomes apparent to me as an individual that the “elitism” is not in the fact that indiviuals are upset or seeking answers from their govenrmet. However it is in the fact that he can apply a broad spectrum to various issues that are complex in their own right;such as gun legislation, illegal imigration, and health care. And imply that these issues are secondary to economical policy. People vote for many issues on the basis of their belief system regardless of the economic situation of the nation. To clarify this statement, a liberal or a conservative will vote for their platforms/policies irrespective of economic downturn or upswing in our country’s economy. I therefore do believe the comment was ellitist, not toward “Small Town Americans”, but rather toward all Americans. Because it doesn’t ridicule just one issue but categorizes the level of complexity that exists for many issues.

Obama is right when he states the frustration and bitterness that middle class experience. Why, there is no middle anymore. Either you are like the Clintons or McCain, who find ways of using people to make money-We have more crime not only from lower class people-we are trying to survive a breakdown of middle class-Our Interfaith organization in our local community is hurting. We have more and more people in need of food and they can not keep up with the demand. How can I value Clinton’s 109 million dollar statement or McCains’s Marrying into money statement. I bet Hillary and McCain have never experienced putting their heat off to safe money, splitting up a pound of hamburger and strechting it out for a week. Not going to the doctor because it cuts into the budget of feeding the kids or putting gas in the car. They have no room to speak about Obama being elitist-At least Obama was in the throes of working with humanity WAY before his political career. I see a man of Grace, whereas I see McCain and Hillary as great actors. Maybe they should go to Hollywood and pursue their acting careers!

Obama should have chosen Clinton if it’s really for the good of America, both of them would have given up their differences and tried to work out all the issues by employing Obama’s vision and Clinton’s experience. The fact that Obama chose Biden simply because this guys has the cleanest history and less problems for Republican’s attack shows how egoistic Obama is and what he’s really in for – to win the race, not for the good of America. Clinton is so much more brilliant and capable than Biden. What a poor choice on Obama’s part to choose Biden as a running mate. He just lost my vote for this election