Obama calls small-town Americans "bitter"

Why? Good news is good news, no matter when it happens. I'm not arrogantly predicting anything here, chuckles, just pointing out the desperation.

Whether the characterization was accurate or not likely is influenced by one's point of view. Obama appeared to be suggesting that the prrincipal reason for the political & social affiliations that are associated with small town, blue collar America is the bitterness that results from their relative lack of economic success and apparent exclusion from contemporary growth trends.

In the face of this obvious fact the elitist and patronizing character of his assessment becomes fairly clear. Moreover, the remarks, given as they were before an audience of rich, liberal, San Francisco political donors, can also be seen as toadying up to the component of the political spectrum that provided him with all the personal advantages he enjoyed through affirmative action and access to elite universities.

Bit tempermental there dimples, I wasn't accusing you of anything.

Whether the characterization was accurate or not likely is influenced by one's point of view. Obama appeared to be suggesting that the prrincipal reason for the political & social affiliations that are associated with small town, blue collar America is the bitterness that results from their relative lack of economic success and apparent exclusion from contemporary growth trends.

The factual problem with this characterization is that it is demonstrably false. A fondness for gun ownweship & hunting and religious values is a characteristic of the region today - just as it was in the 1950's when the region was booming economically and the population was presumably infected with no such bitterness.

In the face of this obvious fact the elitist and patronizing character of his assessment becomes fairly clear. Moreover, the remarks, given as they were before an audience of rich, liberal, San Francisco political donors, can also be seen as toadying up to the component of the political spectrum that provided him with all the personal advantages he enjoyed through affirmative action and access to elite universities.

our most grevious sin has been our mistreatment of African-Americans

hanno wrote:

Dumbass, rabble-rousing, and an idiot - how terrible. Who might be the rabble? Perhaps if I know I'll understand why rousing them is a bad idea.

Different politics? He talked **** about the disenfranchised to their faces, thought they'd eat it up. Oddly enough he's half right about PA being wound up, when I moved there from Illinois (Ha!) there was distrust and vindictiveness, but using that as an excuse to legislate against them and expect to hear 'thanks'? We've all got our cross to bear - what might his justification be to come down on how I live?

Even if he could de-'bitter' the rust-belt, which would be a neat trick since the kind of jobs they like, and still have to some extent are harder, but much more rewarding than the ones he's selling, he'd be doling out what they've been getting jerked around over for half a century. There's a sense of entitlement, as well there should be - it worked out for everybody, and everybody bought in for a while. He's making what they think is theirs (correct or not, they believe that claim) a bargaining chip and the root of a character flaw they've got that neatly ad-hominems away the validity of their feelings en-masse.

Being high-handed/condescending with people when they're on their heels doesn't leave them a whole lot of options - if he weren't out of touch (thanks Mr. McCain), on a power trip, and from a tropical island he'd have an intuitive grasp of that concept.

I have a hard time understanding what this has to do with what he said, at all. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it has nothing to do with it.

Cycloptichorn

Oh please!!! Blacks have been subject to enormous prejudice and discrimination both de jure and de facto for years. Anyone who does not know that is not living in the USA. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. If you have not voted for those who wish to remove the stain of bigotry and discrimation from the USA each time that you voted, you are part of the problem.