Before going further, I have to say this is funny:
Picturing Hillary running around toting a 30-30 or hiding in some duck blind is pure hilarity, wouldn't you agree? Behold the genius of Barack Obama. He's like a comedian working a room on Comedy Central, spinning the crowd away from the controversy and towards the punchline. And therein lies the problem.
Hugh Hewitt has an insightful piece about Hickgate today, correcting various liberal media types who were helping Obama clarify his statement. Hewitt thinks Obama is out of touch with flyover country due having never lived there (Chicago doesn't count). There's credence in that notion, matter of fact it's part of an overall lack of seasoning that should disqualify Obama from the presidency. At least this time.
But Hewitt left open a few questions for the rest of us to ponder. One, the race factor. Clearly it appears Obama was referring to white residents of PA and the midwest with his statement otherwise he wouldn't have couched his remarks around xenophobia or not liking people who were different.
What if he were to apply his bitterness quotient to small town blacks? Would he dare describe them as "clinging to black liberation theology or that old time religion to handle their long frustration with the rich white men controlling the country"? Well, maybe. He's already got the black vote and dissing the rich white men would be a condemnation of guys like Bill Clinton, but he's already fired missiles in that direction. He's essentially running his candidacy on that very concept anyway despite the public disagreement with his mentor.
What about Hispanics, mainly illegals? They live in small towns as well, and are part of the bitterness felt by small town whites, and even some blacks, due to the notion of disparate treatment and a callous disregard for the rule of law. Would Obama ever consider describing the reason they aren't coming onboard as because they're "clinging to Aztlan or other notions of reconsquista, ritual Catholicism, and rowdy drunkenness or gang violence due to a failure of the government to stop the ICE man or remove the grandstanding politicians who might favor taking away their American dream"? Obviously not, besides, it really doesn't work anyway. Many are only bitter because others want them to obey the law and go back and Obama has no concrete answer (nor does anyone else).
So by and large the only non-radioactive target is the angry white man. Barack privately, then publicly dissed them as bitter rubes, yet few seem upset. Maybe it's just the same stuff, different day thing, or maybe they feel bitter enough to generally agree. Whatever the case Barack will likely get away with it scot-free--he's becoming a celebrity as evidenced by the video above. The news cycle is progressing fast and the reporters will continue moving the goalposts around like a shell game to keep their great black hope viable against an obvious flawed Hillary and the third edition of Bushitler, who doesn't hold enough absolute moral authority to protest too loudly anyway.
MORE 4/14/08
I suppose we can always keep hope alive.
4 comments:
Obama as a standup comedian? Priceless.
For everything else, there's MasterCard.
It is all funny -- in a duck blind with a six-shooter? What? Hillary's story may be true, but ...
Obama said what he thought, what he felt, what he believes.
Your comment about Blacks and the Black liberation movement is great. I heard today that he is avoiding Black communities in Pennsylvania. That's strange. Oh, wait, he doesn't need the Black vote, he's already got that.
Debbie Hamilton
Right Truth
Right Debbie. Everyone is just assuming he was talking about Quakers, Amish and Steeler fans.
In response to that Slate article you linked to:
Obama has not helped himself in his efforts at damage control. First, he said he was just telling the truth, but edited the truth he was telling. People are "bitter" because they've been let down by previous administrations, he said; his campaign seeks to take up their cause. This ignored the incendiary religion, guns, and xenophobia portions of his remarks.
Obama then argued that he was really complimenting small-town voters. At the CNN Compassion Forum Sunday night, he said, "you know, Scripture talks about clinging to what's good." This works only if you close your eyes to the rest of Obama's original sentence, since surely he wasn't saying it's a good thing to cling to xenophobia and racism. Which is to say it doesn't work at all. Obama also admitted that he didn't choose his words carefully when he spoke about small-town values in San Francisco. But this was more than a slip—it was an extended riff.
It wasn't just Obama that was tap dancing. Every talking head that is enamored by him spent all day yesterday tap dancing their way through the conversations, on the news shows. Most of the day was spent dodging and spinning, I saw countless subject changes in a short amount of time. And yes, even George Bush's name came up while they were trying to stop the bleeding.
As the campaign wears on, these things are all going to have an effect on Obama and his surrogates. This protracted Democratic race has done wonders for the general election; the GOP are just sitting back, listening, and taking notes. Occasionally, they may even be doing some digging of their own. And when they find something that may not be in the open yet, they put it in a separate notebook that says, DO NOT OPEN UNTIL GENERAL ELECTION CAMPAIGN. At that time they will unleash.
When Obama is tap dancing about something he screwed up, we hear less mesmerizing material like hope and change. When he is off message, he off target with his proselytized brigades of young impressionable naive supporters.
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