Obama creates his own drama
Ed Pratt
Posted: 04.14.2008 / 11:27 PM PDT
Judging by how many people were spitting nails on the popular Baton Rouge conservative rant-and-holler radio show Monday afternoon, Barack Obama is in a heap of cow patties in my neck of the woods.
“I’m not bitter,” the caller said, professing his undying love for his rifle, shotgun and growing up in a small town. The show’s host was giddy with excitement because his cup runneth over with callers. Nine out of 10 of them seemed ready to kick Obama in the back pockets and the others sided with Hillary Clinton’s claim that the Illinois senator is a full-blown e-lee-tist.
Here’s Obama’s words as has been reported. “You go into 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 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.”
To that, a radio show caller said, “You know Obama is a well-educated, articulate person (white people are rarely referred to as articulate), but I don’t know what he was thinking when he said people in small towns are bitter. I might be mad at the government or something…but I try to look at the positive…I’m definitely not bitter,” the caller said, almost growling.
The reality is that caller, and probably virtually all of the callers to the show, never intended to vote for Obama. But, now Obama has stirred up the conservative hornets nest that has been quiet down here, except for the occasional bomb lobbed at Hillary and “them liberals.”
But, now they have Obama drama. The once relatively quiet conservatives, grumpy because they really can’t get fired up for John McCain, have a target to whoop and howl about.
Obama never really gave them a chance to attack him before. The preacher flap wasn’t much because none of the reverend’s bizarre comments could be attached to Obama. Besides it was pretty transparent that the media were the driving force behind that dust up.
But this one is different. This one begins and ends with Obama. What was he thinking? He is getting beaten up for it and he deserves it.
His “shame” on Hillary for seizing on his blunder sounds like whining. This gaffe will test his politically mettle for awhile. It will be interesting to see how the young, gifted and chatty Obama responds.
April 15th, 2008 at 7:11 am
The big problem with his “bitter” remarks was the way he dismissed religion as just a sop to occupy yokels while they waited for the government to rescue them. This runs completely counter to his professed faith. It seems like he put in his time on Sunday at the church as just another part of his job as a politician. When you’re rich and successful, he seemed to say in SF, you don’t need to “cling” to religion.
And that “She knows better. Shame on her.” He really seemed to enjoy saying it, and his audience ate it up, but it was just nasty. He seemed to put himself so far above her, as if he were a wise judge or father figure and she were just a bad little girl. Not good. He was in the wrong, and he should have acted like a man about it.
I guess what makes his missteps so bad is that he started out so well. Someone needs to take him in hand and really explain human nature to him, because he doesn’t get it. He’s going to be president, and he doesn’t understand how insulting he is. He needs some kind of a course in sensitivity.
April 15th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I am from a small town in Mid-west America, and really didn’t see much wrong with what he said. It is true. All he was saying is that in times of distress and economic downturn, some people naturally become embittered with their situation and will try to blame it on an outside source. Others may ‘cling’ to things that give them comfort like a gun for protection or church to sooth the soul. Perhaps the words were poorly chosen, but I don’t see how anyone could be truly offended by them.
April 15th, 2008 at 6:26 pm
It’s not a question of being offended. That word gets thrown around so much, you have to picture a population going around with tears in their eyes.
The thing is that Senator Obama is something of a new guy. We’re trying to get to know him beyond his high-flown speeches. The only way to get to know somebody is to pay attention to what he says and does. So far, he hasn’t done anything, so the only clues we have are the things he says. His speeches are all warm and angelic, but his off-hand remarks don’t seem to indicate much respect for the average guy.
April 17th, 2008 at 6:55 am
Mr. Obama maybe a first generation African-American in his family but he has not experienced the plight of being a child of under priviledged African-American parents who experienced racism in the 50’s or 60’s. His mother is white and he had an African father possibly who married his mother primarily to get his greencard. Mr. Obama capaitalizes on the fact that he is of african descend and it’s mesmerized black voters because for once they see someone who looks like them and is educated, charismatic with substantial vision for change. However; Mr. Obama was raised by a white mother and grandmother. I am an African full bloodied no mixtures and Mr. Obama’s comments are that of an elitist. He sounds just like my Liberian relatives who were educated at the finest universities in the U.S or Europe and moved back home and held commanding govermental positions but have had to move to the states because of our 23 plus years of civil uprising. Upon listening to that comment all I could say was “the rooster has come home to roost” his mighty white genes took over and his innate thoughts spewed out like a spicket on high.
April 18th, 2008 at 3:31 pm
Joie–
Everybody wants to say why Senator Obama sounds elitist. Well, except the ones who deny it. Your take is certainly original. I am sorry for the unrest in Liberia, and all the other places where “man’s inhumanity to man” is gaining such expression. Since you are following the elections, are you living in the US? Then again, you speak of “our” civil uprising.
Senator Obama strikes me as something of a spoiled child, one who hasn’t had to roll with the punches. He was reared by his white grandparents, but I submit that wouldn’t make him “elitist” even though his grandmother was a bank official and he attended the finest schools. And, your use of the word “mesmerized” seems correct to me, but it isn’t just African-Americans. To a large degree, his popularity is part of the backlash against the current administration, which has widened out to a generalized hatred of all the presidents of the recent past, including Mr. Clinton, who used to be the darling of the liberals. The psychology in my country (USA) is dizzy-making right now. The media is the tail that is wagging the dog, completely.
If you’re an America-watcher, we are currently having our version of a revolution, and the pain is about to get very, very bad.