Obama, Bitterness, Meet the Press, and the Old Politics
I was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, 61 years ago. My father sold $1.98 cotton blouses to blue-collar women and women whose husbands worked in factories. Years later, I was secretary of labor of the United States, and I tried the best I could — which wasn’t nearly good enough — to help reverse one of the most troublesome trends America has faced: The stagnation of middle-class wages and the expansion of poverty. Male hourly wages began to drop in the early 1970s, adjusted for inflation. The average man in his 30s is earning less than his father did thirty years ago. Yet America is far richer. Where did the money go? To the top.
Are Americans who have been left behind frustrated? Of course. And their frustrations, their anger and, yes, sometimes their bitterness, have been used since then — by demagogues, by nationalists and xenophobes, by radical conservatives, by political nuts and fanatical fruitcakes — to blame immigrants and foreign traders, to blame blacks and the poor, to blame “liberal elites,” to blame anyone and anything.
Rather than counter all this, the American media have wallowed in it. Some, like Fox News and talk radio, have given the haters and blamers their very own megaphones. The rest have merely “reported on” it. Instead of focusing on how to get Americans good jobs again; instead of admitting too many of our schools are failing and our kids are falling behind their contemporaries in Europe, Japan, and even China; instead of showing why we need a more progressive tax system to finance better schools and access to health care, and green technologies that might create new manufacturing jobs, our national discussion has been mired in the old politics.
Listen to this morning’s “Meet the Press” if you want an example. Tim Russert, one of the smartest guys on television, interviewed four political consultants — Carville and Matalin, Bob Schrum, and Michael Murphy. Political consultants are paid huge sums to help politicians spin words and avoid real talk. They’re part of the problem. And what do Russert and these four consultants talk about? The potential damage to Barack Obama from saying that lots of people in Pennsylvania are bitter that the economy has left them behind; about HRC’s spin on Obama’s words (he’s an “elitist,” she said); and John McCain’s similarly puerile attack.
Does Russert really believe he’s doing the nation a service for this parade of spin doctors talking about potential spins and the spin-offs from the words Obama used to state what everyone knows is true? Or is Russert merely in the business of selling TV airtime for a network that doesn’t give a hoot about its supposed commitment to the public interest but wants to up its ratings by pandering to the nation’s ongoing desire for gladiator entertainment instead of real talk about real problems?
We’re heading into the worst economic crisis in a half century or more. Many of the Americans who have been getting nowhere for decades are in even deeper trouble. Large numbers of people in Pennsylvania and across the nation are losing their homes and losing their jobs, and the situation is likely to grow worse. Consumers are at the end of their ropes, fuel and food costs are skyrocketing, they can’t go deeper into debt, they can’t pay their bills. They aren’t buying, which means every business from the auto industry to housing to even giant GE is hurting. Which means they’ll begin laying off more people, and as they do, we will experience an even more dangerous downward spiral.
Bitter? You ain’t seen nothing yet. And as much as people like Russert, Carville, Matalin, Schrum, and Murphy want to divert our attention from what’s really happening; as much as HRC and McCain seek to make political hay out of choices of words that can be spun cynically by the mindless spinners of the old politics; as much as demagogues on the right and left continue to try to channel the cumulative frustrations of Americans into a politics of resentment — all these attempts will, I hope, prove futile. Eighty percent of Americans know the nation is on the wrong track. The old politics, and the old media that feeds it, are irrelevant now.
Robert Reich is Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Bill Clinton. He has written eleven books, including The Work of Nations, which has been translated into 22 languages; the best-sellers The Future of Success and Locked in the Cabinet, and his most recent book, Supercapitalism. His articles have appeared in the New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. Mr. Reich is co-founding editor of The American Prospect magazine.
Send an email to Tim Russert, google Tim Russert email address.
The truth as Obama has stated it needs to be repeated over and over and over and over…
I tried sending an email to Russert and it got rejected. I was so disgusted by his ‘coverage’ of this ‘issue’! Let’s talk about what really needs to be talked about!
“Eighty percent of Americans know the nation is on the wrong track. The old politics, and the old media that feeds it, are irrelevant now.”
This may be overly optimistic. As stomachs empty, minds narrow. The blue collar people of Pennsylvania have been deprived of more than jobs. Like many of the rest of us they have been deprived of education and therefore of the means to think clearly and critically even about the causes of their misery. Of course they jump on the nearest scapegoat and cling to the nearest talisman. Thinking is difficult and the discipline of logic does not mix well with the satisfaction of anger. Their situation is worse than they think. Like the food on their tables, the use of their minds has been taken from them.
Forget the media. It will never address the real issues. CNN and the rest of the gang have lined up behind McCain already anyway, and are not giving any of the Democrats fair coverage, much less Obama (who is right). People are bitter, all right, and angry. I hope they’re wise enough to see through the garbage and in November force the changes we desperately need now and are not getting.
Thank Sir
You are right on point. Espeically for pointing out the media’s destructive role in this and previous elections. I strongly believe, until we demand a higher standard from corporate television media, absolutely nothing will change. That’s where we all should focus our disapproval. And can anyone please explain to me, when does Spin cross the line, to flat out lying?
I can’t predict whether the “bitter” comment by Barack will hurt him in the PA primary. I can only hope not. Some say that mostly those who weren’t going to vote for him anyway are going to be the ones most “offended”. We’ll see.
The problem is, what he actually said is precisely true. There are MANY ordinary folks who are feeling prosperity slip away from them as American wealth percolates upward through corporations to concentration among a smaller number of people. And those left behind and left frustrated DO seek to compensate by campaigning and voting for gun rights, for religious talkers, for ending abortion, for border fences, for invading Muslim countries—as though those things will restore their confidence in a personal economic future.
Barack (as usual) is smart enough to see this, can explain it, can help us see past it, and could help us focus on better goals that would actually help–like controlling corporations and their influence on our lives, for instance. BUT (like single-payer health care) THESE WORDS ARE BETTER SPOKEN AFTER YOU ALREADY HAVE WON THE ELECTION, AS OPPOSED TO BEFORE, where backlash is dangerous to the whole agenda.
(Everyone’s ganging up on Obama because he said people were bitter because of the bad economy and were turning to guns and God. Memo to Obama: you should have said people are bitter because the damn Democratic Party, just like the Republican Party, is a friend to the rich and hostile to the poor and middle class.)
Sure I’m bitter…bitter about Clinton’s millions, McCain’s beer heiress trophy wife, Obama’s boyish good looks and gift of gab.
Then there’s the bitterness I have about the billions CEO’s have accumulated and spend on crazy luxuries life Lear jets, and 400 million dollar yachts, and Bush’s insane war which will cost 3-5 trillion and, yes, I’m bitter because I can just about afford my cat food diet and now I worry that Purina might be bought out by some hedge fund. But, please,don’t mourn for me, organize.
Heck, I’m bitterness incarnate. But, I decided to move on. I started a group supporting Obama for president. It’s called “Bitter People for Obama.” Bitter as I am, I think he would be the best president ever.
Obama stated the obvious…the truth hurts…and gets distorted by the media.
Cafferty on CNN did state that they got 3000 emails right away on this…and that none thought Obama had mistated anything and they totally understood it.
The sad truth of it as I now see it, at the age of 66 and having lived a pretty good life lately: we have reached that point where the history of this country will be recorded by those who “win” and it won’t be the U.S. Unlike in WW2 when we were the last man standing and by default the world’s wealthiest power, now we are the world’s greatest creditor nation. I may not live to see it and probably that’s a good thing but I don’t see any way out of the mess we’re now in. The powers that be will be those with the big money, like Dubai, China, Russia (think OIL), etcetera. Cry the beloved country, it’s been good to know you.
Karl Rove has a knack for pinning blame on the Democrats for problems caused by the neocons. Uneducated people are very vulnerable to such manipulation and Obama’s biggest challenge between now and November will be to keep the black hat on the neocons and the white hat on his own head.
HEY FOLKS…WAKE THE F**K UP. Al Qaida has beaten us. We have lost the war on terrorism! It was an ECONOMIC WAR. We are now in the toilet and will take the whole world with us when the flush handle is pulled. Mission accomplished!
Mr.Robert Reich, I love the way you describe paid consultants and commentators like Carville, Matalin ,Bob Schrum, Michael Murphy and Tim Russert as they are.” they help politicians spin words and avoid real talk”.
” Does Russert really believe he is doing the nation a service?” . ” he really doesn’t give a hoot about ….. public interests” and is filling up his own pocket. Yet days in and days out we keep watching this nonsense.Thanks for your service.
It was never a war with al Qaida, they were just the excuse.
War is profit…to a select a few. If it hadn’t been them, it would have someone else….
I am sure there is always a plan B and C to keep the profits up…at everyone else’s expensive.
To the guy who tried to contact Russert…and got rejected…I got through…and read him the riot act…
ie….don’t piss down my back and tell me it’s raining…
Obama should never have apologized for speaking the truth. It sets a bad precedent. After Hillary called Obama elitist, he should have counter-attacked, not apologized. By pointing out how someone who is worth $100 million, served on the corporate board of Wal Mart (a company that destroyed small town middle class America), is not entitled to call anyone elite.
An apology, is an admittance to the charge, sometimes you shouldn’t say sorry.
Ramsay
Mr. Reich, in the interest of disclosure we’ve met many times… I consider you a friend. My question for you is: your article is incomplete - what can we do to stem this tide of economic disaster NOW?? Will any of these candidates listen? How do we get a better economic policy in place and quickly?? I’m drowning here where I live: food prices are killing me! (I live on disability and it’s not enough money to live on to begin with and then food is biting into the little I get way too much. I don’t drive a car so I can only imagine how much WORSE it is for others!)
This is yet another example of the scam perpetrated by the right that Thomas Frank described in his book “What’s The Matter With Kansas?” They’ve enlisted the very folks - middle class blue collar types- they abuse economically to their service by repeatedly harping on abortion, gay marriage, immigration, etc., etc., etc. Now it’s “liberal elitism.” Apparently the media haven’t figured out that they’re being manipulated in this scam. Or have they, and they just don’t care? I smell Karl Rove!
Obama told a fraction of the truth and got crucified in the MSM.
Hillary lied her ass off, and is regarded as the second coming.
Mccain promises a flat tax for the wealthy, proposes a 100 year war in Iraq, and is hailed a a ‘war hero’ for getting himself shot down, and revealing sensitive information about flight paths t his captors, but all of that is glossed over.
The US deserves the economic and environmental shit-kicking it is about to receive.
Mr.Robert Reich,
Lets hope you still feel the call to public service and will be part of Barack’s cabinet 12 months from now.
We need you!
I do believe___ Obama ___should NOT repeat it in the context and with the wording he used when he spoke. It is a FACT, he dropped 20 points in the polls in less than two days. That’s HIS blunder and he cannot take the words back, he can only attempt to clarify what he meant and so far he has not been doing well at all in that regard.
If he’s the Demo nominee, the Republicans will use that until Obama is a sure loser. What a shame, just an off-hand remark and a poor choice of words and Ka-Boom!
Funny how some little thing can alter a candidate’s momentum in a political campaign. Dukaukas was leading until he ran nation wide TV ads riding around in a tank. By the time the silly ad was pulled, he was a loser. A few years later when someone asked him what another presidential candidate should do to help him in the polls, Dukaukus replied,___ “Tell him to stay out of tanks”. Some day Obama may offer the advice, ___ “Don’t talk too much and be careful of your choice of words.”
Actually, if you’ll forgive me, I think Obama got it wrong … people are angry rather than bitter … they “cling” to their religion because their church is the local relief agency, the provider not just of god and companionship but often HELP … they cling to their guns, because for many people, after their automobile, their guns are the most valuable thing they own… something that can be hocked or sold or traded … and in many cases, they got their guns via inheritance or in trade from family and friends … oh, and about those foreigners … most places I’ve lived in this country have people sporting various “native” bumperstickers which ARE particularly aimed at all those OTHER folks who moved HERE and jacked up real estate prices and took the better jobs … though, doubtless basic xenophobia and racism has a special antipathy for the very idea “illegal aliens” …
So, I think Obama got it wrong on this … these people aren’t “clinging” to their church, their guns and their community irrationally or obstinately or reflexively … their guns, church and community are what provides them some security …
I didn’t know any of this before moving to Colorado from Southern California 10 years ago. I hardly knew anyone who went to church (and was amazed when so many of my new coworkers mentioned not only going to church on Sunday but bible study and fund raising and helping and being helped).
Similarly I didn’t know anyone who had guns (but after being advised that living alone in a rural area, I should have at least a rifle, I learned from talking to people about their guns ((I still don’t own a gun)). Finally, I relocated because I could no longer afford to stay in the town where I grew up which was becoming more and more crowded and “upscale” until I felt like a stranger in my home town. There are no jobs where I live beyond an occasional $7/hour counterhelp job. I work on line in a field that has largely already been outsourced to India.
Just my 2 cents.
Tim Russert isn’t “the real media” to me. He’s overstayed his welcome into our living room. And as for Carville and his wife? Why they can’t look at the American people in the eye by saying the things they do, ( look straight into the camera) with a straight face. These two are bright, but bought!
First it’s necessary to acknowledge and face the indisputable fact that the American way of life is the problem and not the solution. Nothing can be done to salvage a system that was corrupt and deeply flawed from the start. No nation that is based on the libertarian concept of complete private ownership and the “every man for himself” paradigm can ever be expected to produce anything beyond the fundamental two class system of masters and slaves. It’s a system with an irreversible, self contained autodestruct.
None of the “candidates” who stand any chance of being placed in the White House by the corporate “persons” in control of the pseudo election will do anything to significantly change the status quo. The continued descent into oblivion is assured.
The so called election system in America has been manipulated and controlled by moneyed interests from day one. Our “government” has grown ever more vile and corrupt with each election cycle. It has finally reached the only conclusion possible; complete self destruction. This cycle has been repeated over and over throughout human history. Archeological evidence shows this wheel has been turning since time immemorial. Apparently, as a race, we humans are incapable of learning from our mistakes. We keep doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Isn’t that a definition of insanity?
Sadly, at this point in the story, the implosion of this particular empire could well bring about our extinction.
Here’s the little bit of optimism that I can muster under these circumstances. A few small pockets of humanity will survive the extinction event that is currently underway. Through the process of natural selection, which so far has worked well for every species except Homosapiens, the genetic aberration that produces the evil need to enslave and oppress others will finally be weeded out. The resulting new and improved human species will gradually repopulate the Earth with something we have often talked about and always longed for but never achieved; civilization.
Respectfully,
R.W. Posner
coldwarbaby@hotmail.com
Tim Russert is a right wing democrat and now a bigwig in the moronic media that bestows on John Mccain the title of war hero and moderate when in fact he is a dangerous lunatic on foreign policy. Hillary Clinton has forged a coalition of right wing closet neocon democrats together with the elderly and uneducated and this will win Pennsylvania for her but she has almost zero support among progressive democrats who are thourougly disgusted by her lies, smears and pathetic pandering.
I just hope the electorate is savvy enough to see their way thru this bullshit that is being hyped by HRC, McCain and the media. We gotta know that that the Corporate America war machine is working hard for either HRC or McCain.
Actually, the encouraging thing about this incident is that voters aren’t buying the claims of McCain, Clinton or the MSM. Maybe I’m being foolishly optimistic here, but I think desperate voters are begining to see this “issue” as irrelevant to their real concerns, which of course is what Obama was speaking to. Check out the newest gallup poll, conducted entirely after the “bitter” comment:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/106537/Gallup-Daily-Obama-51-Clinton-40.aspx
I once visited an economically depressed valley in Central America. A highway that bypassed the valley, and Brazilian coffee competition, destroyed the economic viability of the community.
There were only two businesses that survived in that beautiful valley, evangelical churches, and bars. You had your choice, either listen to messages of hate and ignorance, or drown your bitterness in beer.
Obama let slip the truth, and now he is being battered, even by some progressives on this site. Shame. The country needs more truth.
Ramsay
This issue of Obama’s “bitter” has been the biggest non-issue I have seen the media focus on in this campaign. It is a complete reaffirmation of the media’s lack of deapth and relevence on some of the most important issues of today.
Reminds me of the Congressional focus on Terri Schivo (sp?) years ago. Completely irrelevant and completely revealing of how the corporate media is useless to productive debate.
Prof. Reich,
Tim Russert is not “one of smartest guys on television.” In my estimation, he does not even constitute a real journalist. He is a corporate talking mouthpiece for NBC and GE. Truthfully, I have never been impressed with Russert. He epitomizes the mediocrity into which most journalists have pooled. Few journalists anymore represent what true journalism is. You might start with Bill Moyers and Amy Goodman. Russert also is a guard dog for the corporate media who will distort the truth in a Pavlovian way when the corporate higher-ups give him the command. And the talking heads he regularly invites to his show simply are “rolodex” people, like those who appear on Chris Matthews’ shows, or Wolf Blitzer’s. Either way, none of those shows are worth watching. I knew there was a reason why I put my television back in the closet.
Mr Reich, whom I respect a lot except for your anti-impeachment stance,
Billary has become a Neo-con Republican in sheep’s clothing whose purpose is to destroy the Democratic party and all opposition to corporato-fascism in this country.
Why don’t you come out even stronger against the perversity and corruption they’ve come to represent?
Adriana Huffington said it just right: McCain can take a vacation, raise money, Hillary is doing his job for him.
Write all the media jerkos and tell ‘em to “get stuffed”. I have, and added I’m not watching you anymore, nor buying any of the products advertised.
Moreover, tell your cable or satellite dish service you’re not going to continue to pay for programming that excludes the truth on news forums. As far as I’m concerned the media at large is a threat to our security and democracy!
Very good post escept:
“Tim Russert, one of the smartest guys on television …”
Or was that sarcasm?
Unfortunantly it is not a “non-issue”. Currently for Obama it is THE ISSUE and it will be “the issue” when he’s the Demo nominee. He delviered a fantastic speech when his minister issue arose, he did good. He’s going to have to do a repeat performance on this issue if he wants to sit in the Oval Office.
The VAST majority of Americans do listen to Tim Russert and the other TV political pundants and millions of voters listen with stars in their eyes to Rush Lim-bow. Teh Vast majorit don’t even kow about Common Dreams. Which is a damn shame.
clintons labor secretary reich said that hillary was NOT against the policy of NAFTA but the timing.. she wanted HER fame of getting the health insurance issue first.. she had already put her daughter away in a private school and instead of keeping her daughter with her in the white house like carter did amy which shocked carter and he said so… she could have hired the administration to do that JOB of the health ins .. but NO she weould rather hurt her child just so she could get more personal FAME….
so that issue is a LIE that bob k is spreading.. gergen their other hired gun said only that hillary had reservations BUT their labor secretary Reich EXPLAINED what those reservations was NOT about policy but the timing.. she wanter HER stuff done FIRST!!
bob k should be tarred and feathered in what he is trying to do in forums… why didn’t he mention what their labor sec reich said.. not doing so proves bob k is INTENTIONALLY trying to decieve.
Obama got in trouble for intimating that America’s fascination with God and Guns (equal status implied) at times dips down into the realm of the pathological when societal pressures become too much. You can’t illuminate the people using as example the Republican’s pitbull tactic of easy capitalization on the notion of God and Guns. The Republicans win elections year after year because they vehemently stand up for these things hand over heart. In fact, their policies, by taking everything else away from the American people, things like affordable living, food and health care, make them seem extra patriotic by virtue of this G&G duo which is then the only game in town. Everything else has been stolen.
“We’ll never begrudge you these two things, by Gab” they say. And they won’t. It is the finest natural bulwark against people waking up and realizing what is being done to them and their country. Republicans have it easy. All they have to do is wave the flag, display the cross and bandy about a weapon. It is a technique geared toward the lowest common denomominator that works quite well. Just watch the votes pour in as the food lines grow. Amazing.
look at james carville.. screaming about bill richardson as a judas a traitor most likely to try to scare others who try to go for obama..
but carville himself is the worst democrat traitor and judas.. he was clintons main campaign manager and he married clintons competitor’s main campagin manager.. mary matalin… the media being silent on what THAT MEANS.. proves the media does not want people to know the corruption..
I don’t like a lot of things about Obama - in this case, it was his lumping of being “anti-trade” (translated: anti-corporate global domination), with xenophobia, and fundamentalist religion.
So yes, Obama is a member of the contemptuous, condescending, rich elites. But so are, with few exceptions, all the rest of the candidates, and politicians in general, and their sycophantic kiss-up/kick down journalist friends. Every single one of them frightened to death of genuine democracy.
But now, out of sheer sympathy for the utter verbal garbage he is facing on this issue, I might now vote for Obama this next Tuesday.
Thank you for writing this. This piece, which could have been written by many of us, needed to be published. This is the genius of someone like Mr. Reich, that HE is the one who took the time to write it. I, for one, most of the time just think these things and do little to get it out there. Good on him.
Finally, I think it is an unfortunate truth that Meet the Press has become nothing more than Sunday morning infotainment for most of us, especially those of us who know the real story in the first place. There are many other places to get much more meaningful and credible information, but in the end if we don’t keep bothering people like Russert to do his job at a higher level - in the face of major corporate pressure - he NEVER will, nor will his colleagues.
I hope that Obama has put this latest dust-up behind him and really starts hammering Hillary on NAFTA-He can make a lot of hay there.
We non-cultists tend to forget that total internet penetration in this country isn’t 100% - it’s more like 72%.
Of that 72%, only a little more than half have regular internet access from their homes. And half of them still use a slow dial up connection.
IOW, we non-cultists tend to forget that not everyone who needs to hear the truth is able to hear the truth. And by “not everyone,” we’re talking tens of millions who really, really need to hear the truth. Repeatedly.
So the question to RR and others who pretend the answer is “new” media, which it clearly is not, is this: how does one get the truth to those whose only access to “news” is Big Corp Media?
Put another way: how does one get the antidote to the sick if the “terrorists” control the roads, skies and seas?
Robert Reich was my boss for an all-too-brief period when I was most proud of what we at the Dept of Labor could and did accomplish for the American worker; he was the brightest and most insightful Sec’y of Labor I served under in 26½ years. My old friends still there tell me enforcement of worker pay and protection laws has all but come to a halt under Bush.
Obama’s comment has been big news, but I saw a poll which had downtrodden Pennsylvanians agreeing in large numbers that they ARE bitter. Maybe we should see more coverage of that. Whether the bitter will continue to fall for Republican propaganda (lower taxes, more God and guns) remains to be seen, but the MSM is not helping. I remember when I moved to PA one of my friends, a sweet, gentle guy, said how much I’d like it there - “You don’t have to lock your doors and you can buy your ammo at the deli!” This is the American dream to them - steeped in security, family, and constancy. Anything that can be labelled as a upset threat to their apple cart, from minorities to immigrants to gays to “liberals” to evolution, riles them and causes them to close ranks.
I keep listening to my old protest music, and wonder why it should still be relevant after over 40 years. Bob Dylan described Obama’s bitter dupes in “Only a Pawn in Their Game”. They are still around, still being fed the same lies, and still buying the cons offered by the flag-waving liars running their country.
Kem Patrick -
“An off-hand remark, and a poor choice of words and Ka-Boom!”, the American electorate will write Obama off like Mike Dukakis in his tank costume?
If your dire scenario of massive voter backlash for this single remark has the legs you think it has, then why shouldn’t voters similarly write of John McCain’s entire candidacy for his tasteless Beach Boys’ parody “Bomb-bomb-bomb-bombbomb-Iran”?
Robert Reich nails what’s most at stake here when he decries the mainstream media’s addiction to “gladiator entertainment rather than real talk.”
Barack Obama (rather inartfully and tactlessly) spoke some fundamental truths about what is amiss in our political culture. In contrast, McCain cracked sick jokes about incinerating human beings with hi tech weaponry in order to get some tasteless yuks during one of his campaign rallies.
Whose remarks actually merit close media scrutiny as indicative of the content of the candidate’s character?
Sure, this can be demagogued awhile by Clinton and McCain’s spinmeisters out there in Archie Bunkerville. But if these remarks are the kiss of death for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and John McCain gets a pass, then the whole superficial beauty contest by which we elect our office holders has deteriorated far beyond all hope of repair.
Bill from Saginaw
I agree that 80% know that something is wrong. The problem is that same 80% don’t know where to direct their anger and frustration due to the fact that they still depend on media like Fox to get their information. The key is redirecting the populace away from these destructive tools of corporate propaganda.
I am more upset Obama is being made to apologize for his remarks.
He told ‘it like it is’.
The people know, I think in spite of this - we’ll see, though.
The local presses are noting that at many appearances, Obama received applause and standing ovations when he raised the issue, while Clinton was greeted with ’stony’ silences and even some jeers when she raised the issue, sometimes including the ‘elitist’ remark.
Thank You Robert Reich,
I guess it’s a Dumb Question to ask why the reality of a report like this won’t be presented by todays Media Services. I travel numerous times to the Tug Hill Region of New York State During the winter to Cross country ski and I have gotten very familiar with local folks up there. The average age in those towns are 60 and above and the younger ones that are there are just barely making it and have been for years. One town I go to is Boonville and Ethan Allen just Closed it’s doors about 2 years ago, the last decent employer of that town. Traveling Thru Pa. past such towns as Clarks Summit, Scranton, White Haven, Jim Thorpe, you see it. Barack Obama is 100 per cent correct. I wish folks would wake up and see that.
Russert and his lesser ilk, aka “The Primal Screamers” to be found on FAUX News et al are completely irrevelent to anyone with a functioning brain. Unfortunately the US of A, currently is populated by a sub-human (in the truest sense of the word)shuffling, medicated, zombie-like species which deserves exactly the type of gov’t it currently has. As others have noted, there seems NO way out of this dilemma other than letting it take its’ natural course… to oblivion. The simple fact that even a vetted corporate type like Obama can speak an inconvenient truth and get relentlessly hammered by the media goons pretty much speaks for itself - the Orwellian World has arrived in full glory. Unfortunately, if you think you can fight this by organizing locally, you are sadly mistaken. Just try it if you are still optimistic and see where it leads. If you have the means and the fortitude, NOW would be a good time to exit Planet America and put up stakes elsewhere. If you think that the 3000 odd detention centers currently being erected/refurbed throughout the USA are for foreigners and terrorista you are sadly mistaken - no reservations necessary!
“Bitter? You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Thank You, Robert Reich (it’s also great to see an academic and former secretary of labor make a typo: “povety.” :-]
tj, I think the typo is CD’s specialty. Give them some credit.
yes susanparker, that is why many say Obama is elitist and out of touch. Americans are ‘bitter,’ and [falsely] blame outsourcing and immigration (the implication is that those opposed to illegal immigration are xenophobic and/or racist) for their problems, without admitting that job loss together with a paucity of good-paying jobs to replace them, along with a huge influx of cheap labor adding to that downward wage pressure has anything to do with it. To this the working class says, “Hey Mister, I am not as dumb as you think I are.”
Now as far as clinging goes, I can concede that we are ALL Klingons in our own right. What people actually cling to in order to escape whatever it is they’re trying to escape varies from person to person, even if if certain groups do share similarities. And, yes, much of what we cling to has a lot to do with class, and the Klingons that are available to us for clinging.
So, I don’t really see what the big deal is about that. Maybe people are overly sensitive about their religion? As for me, I think all religions are equally nonsensical and have nothing to do with authentic spirituality. Until or unless we get such nonsense out of the way, we’ll never be able to discuss the real issues, but that’s another matter.
I wonder how much money those talking heads are making, and if they will be feeling the pain of what is coming.
Interesting posts, and I too am curious to see how this PA primary turns out. I suspect the Hillary supporters are jumping on it but what about the undecided voters? Serves her right if she’s punished for pushing it too far.
kathyodat
REICH: Does Russert really believe he’s doing the nation a service for this parade of spin doctors talking about potential spins and the spin-offs from the words Obama used to state what everyone knows is true?
Answer: Russert is too busy polishing his invisible Pulitizer to bother challenging such assertions. Had he been a real journalist instead of a talking head then real issues would be discussed instead of these faux issues.
A Billary-McClain ticket? Now there’s a thought.
Well ~BILL FROM SAGINAW~, that was MY opinion, I see you have YOURS also, which is your perogative. I don’t happen to agree with you on this subject matter either.
Yes indeed, the TANK AD hurt Dukakus BIG time, he lost the Presidential election and he himself is the one who blamed the “tank” AD for it. The words Obama uttered will hurt him, not everyone of course was bothered by it, ___ it sure didn’t bother me. How much it hurts him is a guess, but he did drop 20 points in the polls in Pennsylvania in just two days, and he had finally tied Hillary there in the polls.
So MY opinion was based upon that fact and the FACT, that in the corrupt media, which most American watch and listen to, it’s a MAJOR issue. It will continue to be if he’s the demo nominee.
As far as McCain goes? His childish and stupid attempt at humor with the Bomb Iran song will hurt him also. I’d rather see him hurt than any demo nominee. We sure can’t afford McCain in the White House. Lord help us if he wins.
Robert Reich speaks with integrity, except for mentioning it!
The man resigned from office, not of scandal, well it was, but not his; it was his old-college-buddy, Bill Clinton, who pushed for and got, a draconian welfare “reform” bill, that threw two-million poor, mostly women and children into the street! Mr. Reich is very principled statesman and decent human being. And that is why I read this copy, he has earned our respect and attention.
What has happened is a reactionary, not radical, re-concentration of the wealth into the hands of the few and un-needy and certainly greedy. Who in turn give kickbacks in the form of campaign contributions, and as with Bill Clinton, his $10,000,000.00 in “speaking fees” last year. I would love to see the list of those who wrote those checks and know if he has a foundation that allows a tax deduction for paying his commission fees for his crooked deeds as president. \
‘……Bitter? You ain’t seen nothing yet. … Eighty percent of Americans know the nation is on the wrong track. The old politics, and the old media that feeds it, are irrelevant now.’
Again, he is absolutely correct in his concluding statement. We are too young to have seen it before, nationally anyway, it was ‘The Great Depression’ and war was the only answer, in fact the game-plan! A re-consolidation of the wealth, and retooling of industry for World War Two. Now think about it, they started that in 1929, and it had to take a few years of abuse to get there, so a guess of 5 years, back to 1924, and 17 years later we are off to war. Which was a stalemate from the instigators perspective, the Soviet Union was victorious and the forced the US to enter Europe to contain it. They were financing a war of attrition of mutual genocidal proportions.
That is still the game-plan, the truth of Obama’s presence in the presidential sideshow. He is the product of the intrigues of one Zibniew Brzezinski, David Rockefeller’s hitman working off Sir Alfred MacKinder’s geopolitical strategy written in 1905. without hardly a mention in his book - ‘The Grand Chessboard’ which put the US into Afghanistan when Zbig was Carter’s master and National Security Advisor. He will play the same role in an Obama administration, along with his kids who are running Obama’s campaign.
But, take pride in knowing that 80% of the people are not naive about economics or the imperial wars of aggression, past, present, and future.
Common Dreams is to be thanked for running Reich’s article. My post here will not last long judging from the others purged.
If Americans are frustrated and angry at the pirates who keep stealing their money, then why do they keep voting for them? Are they so stupid they cannot recognize their own economic self-interest? Or is it simply the incurable irrationality of human beings?
see, the problem with what Obama said is that he implied that clinging to one’s god, guns and “community” was a bad or reactionary thing … when, yeah, it’s what we all do to one extent or another… and yes, I do think it was rather insulting … suggesting somehow that there’s some else that they should be doing … and that hating “foreigners” is more reactionary than it is (most of us have some territorial instinct and are dismayed when, for instance, a favorite beach or restaurant becomes “too popular”)…
There are plenty of I-got-mine “preservation” committees out there … intent of keeping their little garden spot undeveloped, special …it’s very hard to balance the rights of the long term locals who need affordable housing (for instance) and provide the local counterhelp with the rights of the newcomers who purchased or built mcmansions and now fret about crowded supermarkets and loss of regional charms. I don’t have an answer … I just know that these problems exist throughout the country and that young people are angry they are forced either to live marginally on crappy jobs, living with their family or relocate to the “big city” leaving their aging extended family to fend for themselves in what was their childhood paradise.
I have no idea if Obama’s statement will “hurt” him … but imho it was careless and a bit “entre nous,” talking about those rednecks or hillbillies or country bumpkins … iow, about THEM … not us …
I’ve been saying all along that the big hurdle for Obama is not so much getting elected but will be getting re-elected (assuming the MSM doesn’t succeed in a three-fer) … being able to communicate with that ONE AMERICA is critical … he has to lose the professorial smartest-guy-in-the-room, smarter-than-you-are air.
~KATHY~. If she’s as smart as she says she is, she’ll shut up about it. And Obama should get off the shot and beer ad. It’s hypocritical, he don’t need it. He should let Hillary screw herself up if she’s going to do so, with comments like hiding from rocket attacks in Kosovo.
I also heard Charles Gibson interviewed by a San Francisco station, KGO’s Ed Baxter. Gibson referred to the “back and forth bickering” as though Obama was waist deep in the same mud Hillary wallows in. No matter how “high road” Obama stays, he is equated with his slimy opponent.
Gibson did make the good point that it is odd for a person whose declared income is 109 million to call someone else elitist.
Once again, comments mean more then actions.
Why do so many have the opinion that most Americans get their news from FOX? Actually most Americans watch other news channels also and none of them are any damn good. We have Keith Olbermann, but he’s outnumbered twenty to one.
Time to focus on economic disparities. Way past time. Hillary is obfuscating the problem. And Obama is beginning to discuss the problem. So, he is doing better than she. Now, if he will only hire John Edwards to help him in his Administration, maybe we can start succeeding at solving the problem.
Karita Hummer
Edwards Democrat
~SUSAN PARKER~. You nailed it. He has that attitude and it shows. Whenever questioned about any error he’s made, he gets overly defensive and angry. That is rather troublesome. I do wonder if he’s elected, if his over inflated ego will cause him to have to wear a ten gallon cowboy hat also? Hope not.
“Charles Gibson interviewed by a San Francisco station, KGO’s Ed Baxter.”
I love it when the press interviews the press. A sure sign that its all propaganda and spin. The press should not be a part of the story. When the press starts interviewing the press and acting like they are a news source instead of a news reporter, you know the BS is getting very deep. That’s almost always a good time to change the station or just turn it off.
“If Americans are frustrated and angry at the pirates who keep stealing their money, then why do they keep voting for them? Are they so stupid they cannot recognize their own economic self-interest? Or is it simply the incurable irrationality of human beings?”
Ah, a very important question.
Here’s two factors. Like the old Soviet Union was a ‘one-party’ system, we have a ‘two-party’ system. Nowadays, both parties represent the same pirates who keep stealing everything that isn’t nailed down. And the nature of the system and the way the corporate media reports on it means these are the only two voices that are heard unless one deliberately goes and looks for others.
Also, both parties put a great deal of effort into lying to the American people and trying to con them into thinking that each party really represents their interests. Both parties are based on very big lies. Both pretend to represent ordinary citizens, although neither does.
I do hope Edwards is in the Prezes inner circle also ~Karita~.
It looks as if ~RIVERMAN~ and his sidekick ~DOUGWAGNER~ are still locked up in a padded cell.
Thank-you Mr. Reich and thank-you Senator Obama for speaking truth. I’m so completely disgusted with the MSM news, who have now officially gone from infotainment (which wasn’t anything to brag about) to just pure idiocy. They’re not even entertaining, but just plain stupid. The really sad thing is they’re so destructive to democracy, and many Americans do take them at their word. All this flap over Obama’s choice of words, as opposed to discussing the real essence of the serious issue he was actually addressing, which is the anger about economic injustice.
Mr. Reich:
Kudos, you’ve hit the nail on the head! I am forwarding your article to all the people I know who are bitter about Obama’s bitter comment. I’ve tried explaining how the Right and HRC have been using it as misdirection from the real issues, but you did a much more masterful job. Thank you.
Mr. Reich:
Kudos, you’ve hit the nail on the head! I am forwarding your article to all the people I know who are bitter about Obama’s bitter comment. I’ve tried explaining how the Right and HRC have been using it as misdirection from the real issues, but you did a much more masterful job. Thank you.
Obama has a chance in tomorrow night’s debate to turn this around. I’m expecting him to deliver a knockout punch. He can talk about the feedback he’s gotten from the people - “damn right we’re bitter!” - and point out how cynical and hypocritical it is for Hillary to term him an elitist. She will wind up looking as grasping and desperate as she is, and he will virtually sew up the nomination.
I also think that in the fall debates, McCain will come across as the senile old man he is, and Obama will win hands down. The question is whether the Republican spin machine can continue to play three-card monte with the issues. I’m beginning to hope that they can’t fool all the people all the time.
Lesson learned form all this. How the U.S grows so called TERRORISM!!! Hungry people that see no future do things against perceived causes. Elderly with bomb belts at Capital.Story at 11:00
You are lying to yourselves if you believe this is over a choice of words, its not.
Unfortunately for Mr. Reich and oiher apologists, they are the ones spinning it. If you listened to the tone, the inflection, the cadence of what he said, there would be no doubt in your mind he meant what he said. Its his real opinion of them.
I am disappointed that he would expose his feelings like this, even privately. Who says being an eletist (and we’ve always known he was) is bad? Its a prevailing view of a minority of the Democratic party, wrong of course in every way.
The problem is you can’t get elected insulting the majority of votes you need. Nor treating them like thay are stupid. They aren’t. And instead of sliding your explanation to explain something you didn’t say instead of explaining what you did say, he should have just said, sorry about that and it more than likely would have gone away.
Its time to quit blaming all the problems on everyone else. Senartor Obama has probably lost this election for us unless the SD’s get smart and go with Hillary. She can win.
Considering his problem with Wright,”bittergate”, Chicago problems, his association with old terroists and others…..I believe the Repubs would slaughter him in November.
The Good’Ole US of A is nothing more than a third-world country that has a large and wealthy WHITE population. This is how the Corporations have designed this nation after purchasing it from congress.
I ask myself, Clinton is still in the race because why? a. She feels she can be a better president than Obama. or b. Clinton feels there is something fundamentally wrong with having Obama for President.
Why doesn’t anybody remember the Vince Foster link with Clinton? Was it suicide or murder as some have speculated?
It was rumored then that Vince Foster was murdered to basically silence his relationship with Clinton. It worked, for the most part, except for those of us with a fascination of death.
Personally I think that this is going to provide main-stream media back-lash. What I’ve been hearing it “hell yes, we are bitter; even angry.”
And I believe people are so bitter and angry that no amount of propaganda will still it. The more they try the more people are going to start to see the man behind the curtain. I say Obama will win in PA, and FOX will have to start to rethink their ways.
It’s damn good to see Obama stick to his guns. Even the apology was well-planned. It said “OK, I threw some stuff out there that maybe not everybody agrees with the tone of, I can dig that, but am I right?”
I might not agree with everything Obama does or says, but I think he might just end up doing this country some good.
Had he said it to the people of Indiana or Pennsylvania I could trivialize the event. He said it at a closed door fund raiser. He said that “these People” are frustrated and turn to their guns and religion. You do not see that as opportunistic? Problem is it got repeated ..then he stalled…they he did the aw shucks routine. Same thing as his “okey doke you” comment. I think Obama needs to spend less time on being offended and more time on providing an agenda for his presidency. I suspect he will be the next president based on the press adoration he has received. I also suspect a good many people will have buyers regret.
Obama often says what no one wants to hear. Bitter? Yes I’m bitter that I’ve worked 38 years and cannot afford to retire nor send my daughter to college.My father worked as a porter on the railroad to become a doctor and then send my sisters and me to college. One generation later and we are educated but worse off financially than our parents.
Americans must wake up to what corporate greed and dirty politics are doing to this country, especially to the “regular people”.We need to get mad as hell and stand up for change.
America is not always right, let’s face that and not villify those with the courage to say it.
The US today lacks the intellect to acknowledge a genuine leader primarily because of people like Russert and his ilk. As a nation and before the corporate interest totally usurped our airwaves and newsprint, we not only produced great leaders, but were able to perceive with our own eyes the qualities necessary to become one. Twenty four-seven cable news has obliterated that distinction for us, thank you. I hate to pay for such a brainwash and unsubscribed after the US Supreme Court did Florida’s Supreme Court job for them and elected George Bush our president. For me, that was over the top. For others, their top has never arrived, and you often here them say there are really no choices when it comes to the leadership of their country. Many refuse to even vote. And as long as they continue to let others make their opinions for them, they will remain without resolve and nothing ever will evolve to fruition. I contend that there are plenty of good leaders out there, but far too many paid analyst returning to your parlor nightly to overly influence or confuse a logical outcome. Luckily, you can change this.
RE: their guns are the most valuable thing they own… something that can be hocked or sold or traded
Or stolen during a B&E and smuggled into Canada and used by gangs to shoot at each other on crowded streets.
I think that in one of the Planet of the Ape movies that the remaining humans were praying to an unexploded atomic bomb.
I think that it was insulting of Obama, though, to imply that the working class was a bunch of low lives by insinuating that they were all handgun owners.
Rifles are for shooting game, which supplements the food budget, but the only purpose of handguns is to shoot a people.
Ok, I know that otherwise good and decent people in the US own handguns, but, in Canada, you are either a cop or a low life or an idiot.
I was disappointed, no, disgusted when I saw the lineup. The only thing missing was Pat Buchanan. I don’t doubt that Russert is a smart guy. But he and his kind need to be taken to task for hosting the kind of useless partisan discussions that have become common. At the very least, the Russert’s of the world need to play a much stronger role in facilitating these discussions, calling these highly questionable people on their B.S. I’d like to say that the American public deserves better, but . . . we’ve been putting up with this stuff for far too long.
I was disappointed, no, disgusted when I saw the lineup. The only thing missing was Pat Buchanan. I don’t doubt that Russert is a smart guy. But he and his kind need to be taken to task for hosting the kind of useless partisan discussions that have become common. At the very least, the Russerts of the world need to play a much stronger role in facilitating these discussions, calling these highly questionable people on their B.S. I’d like to say that the American people deserve better, but . . . we’ve been putting up with this stuff for far too long.
People might ask themselves if they would be so foregiving if these remarks were made by either of the other two candidates?
What concerns me is Obama’s use of stereotypes to make his points. He uses a broad brush to describe small town rural people that is simply not true. I know alot of people who live in small rural towns and they wouldn’t want to live anywhere else, they are hard working, caring with a great sense of humor. Where in the world did he get that idea.
Also his phrase of “typical white person” is off the mark. There is no such thing as typical white person. Just look at your own family and neighbors and and tell me what’s typical.
I half agree/ and half disagree! Russert intelligent? No, just well connected, to the Neo-Cons running this country! Why else, Schrum and Carville, two of the Biggest Democratic Losers there are!
What Obama ‘claims’ he meant to say, is correct! Real ‘working class, blue-collar’ voters, don’t have time or the money to own a computer, and search the Internet for the Real News! All they hear, is MSM!
In reality, Obama wouldn;t know anything about THAT! He’s hardly now, nor has he ever been part of a ‘working,blue-collar’ family! His single ‘Mom’, was college educated anthropologist, his father went to Harvard! He attended Two Ivy League colleges! You don’t do that on Sudent Loans! He also worked on Wall Street, and lives in a 1.5 Million dollar house, on a first term junior Senators pay??
Tired of Both Corporate Controlled Parties? Both bought and paid for? For the Lobbists, by the Lobbists?
Try going to the Green Party website! 85 members in elected offices, meeting in every state, No Corporate Money, and a Real Written Party Platform!
**Country Before Party**Go Green Party**votesmart.org**
Thomas More April 15th, 2008 4:15 pm
…Considering his problem with Wright,”bittergate”, Chicago problems, his association with old terroists and others…..I believe the Repubs would slaughter him in November…
——
I plead ignorance here…please tell me, hillary propagandist, what exactly are obama’s ties with ‘old terrorists?’ And his ‘Chicago problems’…I’m eager to learn about those…prey tell?
And republicans ’slaughter’ a man who negatives are far, far less than your gal’s? I’m plumb stupid about that as well. Please accept my apology in advance of your response.
My view is that what Obama was speaking to: the working class’s turn inward, the return to fundamentalist values, including religion, a nationalist zenophobia, etc are no doubt correct analyses. Given before an academic audience of social scientists, most would nod their heads in agreement. Why? Because they reflect much of the cultural and social science research of many years concerning the “new frontier”, the Horatio Alger myth and “American exceptionalism” that makes the American working class look at themselves as the culprits of sorts rather than at the corporate social structure. In most ways they are not bitter enough compared with European workers facing the same set of circumstances. However, their bitterness does often turn inward and make them prey to the right wing social issues.
However, Obama’s error, misjudgement, glibness, paternalism came out clearly in speaking before an elite, monied San Francisco audience and explaining the Midwest workers’ fears rather than asserting what they must do. That is Obama’s weakness: explanations, soft-reflections, bombast, without meaningful confrontation with the problems of corporate greed and terrible income distribution in America.
The latest Gallup Poll, taken since the ‘bitter’ remarks, says Obama has increased his lead over Clinton, so this is probably another non-issue used to distract the peons from the rising prices and falling dollar.
Also, it has been so long since I watched television that I have no idea who Tim Russert is. I think I am probably lucky. I do remember Carville from Bill’s campaign, and lost all interest in him when he married Maitlin. Sleeping with the enemy only makes it easier to be co-opted, which has happened. What spin doctor uses an accusation like Judas! against a political rival? Reminds me of my ex-husband who quoted Hitler in court during a custody battle.
He lost!
We should all be bitter about what has happened to our country.
Our country was in good shape eight years ago, and the Bush brigade has demolished it for their own greed and lust for power. It might be a good idea to remember who wrecked it instead of the tirades about Hillary who may be a better choice than Obama to clean up this mess. It seems sort of dumb to slime her when she is actually more liberal than Obama. If anyone wants more of the present rot we have, just keep up the mud-slinging and we will maybe get it and deserve it.
One has to admit that Obama made some valid points, if one truly has the smarts to view his statements objectively. I believe there are some Americans who are frustrated and bitter that the USA Government does not work in the interests of the majority. “Of corporations for corporations, by corporations” is the REAL USA. However, stating that people who live in Pennsylvania and throughout the midwest cling to their guns and fundamentalist Christianity as a way to cushion the blows of a possible repression/Great Depression II may not have been the ideal choice of words - as these could be considered disingenous to some. To call Obama statements “elitist” demonstrates a misunderstanding of what the words mean. Of course, many Americans blame undocumented foreigners for job losses but a deregulated privatized economic plan, I believe, is the REAL reason why these “bitter” Americans are losing their jobs.
It’s interesting how many Americans want to hear the truth by candidates. Some however may not be able to handle looking reality in the eye and brainstorming on possible solutions for it. Otherwise, why the criticism of Obama’s statements that at least has some degree of validity? It is important to realize that the truth is not pretty sometimes.
I hope that Obama will give a speech on some clarification of his statements on class. Lou Dobbs, who should know better, actually stated that the USA has an egalitarian society that demonstrates equality in all aspects of USA society. This opinion is simply inaccurate. In the 230 year History of the USA, the USA has NEVER represented an egalitarian society by any means. Hell a Communist nation has more egalitarian tendencies than the USA does.
I will close with stating that any belief or value in a society that neither corresponds to reality, nor is lived out in action but merely words and thoughts, is worthless. Some examples of American values that are held as virtues that are not practiced in the USA are equality, freedom, bravery, and living out the teachings of Christ.
Dear Obama:
I would not consider myself a bitter person even though I have watched my earning situation decline. I have grown up with people who are now making at least 1/2 of what they made in the 80s.
A lot of us do not have health care, lots are watching their homes slide in value.
Many of us have paid large amounts into the social security system and other health care systems only to realize now we are of no value.
We have heard “it was our fault because we did not educate oursleves. Yet we see people educated people working for less than $30,000 a year.
We have had numerous layoffs, buy outs and whatever. Now a lot of us want a little peace and not to be working extra hard for less.
If owning a gun or having and going to church would change all of this-I wish it were that simple- I would jump on the bandwagon too.
The biggest sin is the banks, credit card companies and other preditors we have to look over our shoulder for at all times.
I do not have hope that any of you politicans will make it better for any of us.
i hope obama KEEPS ON,KEEPING IT ON …telling it like it IS……people are angry,fustrated and bitter…..not only in pennslyvania, but in north carolina,indiana,west virginia and ALL THE OTHER STATES! AND THAT INCLUDES ALOT OF CONSERVATIVES TOO
Ralph spoke in a similar vein yesterday in Illinois. Obama is trapped in the media publicity system that created him. If he tries to break out of the celebrity culture he loses his appeal, which is essentially based on celebrity. Thus, he has to play the game. To the extent that he does he no longer contributes meaningfully to any discussion about how to change the system he is actually part of.
Barack ain’t change; he’s a celebrity. The sooner Reich gets that, the sooner he himself could start contributing to actually progressive change, which right now is either McKinney or Nader and no one else.
This whole thing is such a pile of BS!!!!.. I am sorry… but Hillary and John are LYING and PANDERING to the American Public by saying that Obama’s words were somehow condescending. He was NOT BEING CONDESCENDING.
If folks are “offended” by his words.. then they are being manipulated. ANd the right is pushing this.
I myself AM Angry and Bitter. Should I be? Perhaps BITTERNESS is not a “positive” feeling.. Should we all be Pollyanna and smile as we watch our Country go down the drain? When we feel that we are NOT being heard. I certainly don’t feel heard!.
I was a Kucinich supporter (still am) but I am going to get an Obama yard sign. We the people can make our will known.
QUit listening to the drivel of Hillary and McCain and the Right wing pundits who are manipulating the publics feelings.
I think that Obama hit the nail on the head. While I am not clinging to guns.. I am bitter. I DON”t feel heard.. I feel tread upon by this govt.
Well, it is refreshing to hear someone who can understand what Obama said or was thinking–it’s true. I AM BITTER and I am 75 years old. Our country is in a mess, I have three sons, jobs for two of them went out of the country. One son’s jobs went to China TWICE. I was employed by one of those companies also. The other son’s job went to China, they had the audasity to ask him to go over and train the Chinese people to run the lines. Our son’s do have jobs again but, they are bitter about it. When people are down and sad they turn to prayer for strength in addition to their regular worship. When they vote, they vote sometimes for people who convince them of what is important as a diverson to the real things our country needs. I am so ashamed of Hillary’s conduct. I am for Obama, we don’t need Bill’s third term. I am ashamed of our President who thinks we are sheep and don’t know what is going on. Thanks for letting vent my frustration.
What are you people talking about? Robert Reich’s comment was about Tim Russert and the likes as part of the problem, may be the main part of the problem. And you guys are wandering around with discussions that have nothing to do with the subject.
I have not watched Broad TV for years thanks to Cable TV which is just a little bit better and worth the expense. Please stay on the subject and spread the word.
Hey guys and girls, the TWO EMPERORS have met so look on the bright side. One Emperor runs the American empire, the other runs the Catholic Empire.
Rejoice! Be happy! The Gods are!
Dangerous Creation offers some humorous thoughts on this meeting. It’ll cheer you up!
Talk about spin, 60% of the article on the so called progressive wire aptly fit that characterization including Obama’s ever shifting sensibilities on this and other issues.
I am not simply bitter: I am damn bitter not only against Washington but also against such biased journalists as: Kitty Pilgrim, Lou Dobs and Tim Russert, whose programmes “Meet the Press” and whatever the other one is called, have, for quite some time now, ceased having relevance to the average American.
If he hadn’t apologized for HIS usage of words, he could make Hillary look bad with some credence at the debate. However, now that he himslf admitted his choice of words were not good, he has a problem.
It was not the word BITTER, it was the entire paragraph he spoke and he was wrong to say it. Sorry, that’s the bottom line. He told the truth, but sometimes it’s much better to not say it poorly. ___ He did say it poorly and he’s being hammered for it. Don’t ride in tanks and careful what you say when running for the presidency. A lot of voters didn’t like it, he dropped 20 points. That’s a shame. Not for Hillary, for Obama.
the above poster is just trying to decieve.. a 20 point drop is nothing but lies…..
here is gallups poll…
The current 11 percentage point lead is the largest for Obama this year, and marks the ninth consecutive day in which Obama has led Clinton by a statistically significant margin. The current Gallup Poll Daily tracking average is based on interviewing conducted Saturday, Sunday and Monday — after the initial reports of Obama’s controversial remarks about “bitter” small-town residents began to be reported in the news media.
…. people like the above poster should not be allowed in forums… nothing but intentionally trying to decieve.
obama will get helped NOT hurt by this.. as the new polls are showing and will increase his popularity.. people are fed up with the liars and spin doctors…with how the economy is going people will more and more side with obama about his remarks that people are upset and bitter….
this will help obama!!
SPICE GAL said, “All this flap over Obama’s choice of words, as opposed to discussing the real essence of the serious issue he was actually addressing, which is the anger about economic injustice.” That is precisely the STRATEGY. If they can slay the messenger, they can marginalize the message. Suddenly everything that represents truth or the power of change is swept up by the fake storm surrounding a small insult.
MELMAC: Right on about the war machine! Those bloody profits can’t hardly stop flowing.
FARGOKANTROWITZ: What would Jesus shoot? (LOL)
What does Reich mean by demagogues of the left? Do we have any?
On the “guns and god” reference, anyone out there remember “Groove Tube?” It was a series of funny plays on media & advertising. In one such venue, a priest lights a cigarette, then looks up at the heavens. Promoting what he’s smoking, he says with great Cary Grant finesse, “New Testament. I smoke ‘em.” (Then pointing upwards) “He smokes ‘em.” Ah, advertising, what the pithy film BEDAZZLED wisely related as being the 8th sin!
In the 3 days that Obama made his “bitter” remarks he collected $2.7 mil from the elites in Atherton, SF and Marin.
So much for Michelle’s recent comment that Obama’s campaign is primarily funded by everyday people.
Speak the TRUTH!
Old Terrorists? really? I’d like that one explained as well.
I agree with Bill from Saginaw.People are waking up to what really goes on in this country and how little the people count.
It is fascinating that that the MSM portrays Obama’s comments as so heinous yet McCain’s truly frigthtening rhetoric is overlooked for the most part.
Obama dared to tell the truth about race and economic injustice…we are not all happy out here in reality-land.
Well put evelyna and rose. We see the economic injustice, and that’s what I’m waiting to hear Obama address, not the fact that people are bitter about it and going to church to escape the pain of their struggles. Many of us realize we have been sold down the river, and know the problem is not only in our heads, especially when we’re making a fraction of what we used to, and no longer have any health care.
It is a marvelous opportunity for Obama to start discussing real solutions, but I think that he cannot because he’s more beholden to corporate money and interests than we’d like to believe.
I think that, in many respects, Obama is a cynical triangulator. And this is a considerable shame because he is bright and worldly enough to know better— having lived abroad and worked as a community organizer, he probably has access to perspectives that McCain and Clinto do not. The bitterness comment was probably and unscripted moment of candor in an otherwise carefully orchestrated campaign. Nonetheless, I happen to believe that in this matter, he is quite correct. Clinton and McCain have taken his fairly straightforward observation — that individuals regress from social to personal concerns when they feel that they as individuals cannot impact the social realm — and have reframed it to appear as if Obama had attacked the working class. I do not for one moment believe that he is a savior for either blue collar or middle class America. But, he is correct, that many people are bitter. And increasingly, these are educated individuals, who have pursued graduate degrees or professional degrees and who cannot attain even a modicum of prosperity. At the other end of the scale, the NY Times ran a truly revolting story on the conspicuous consumerism of our privileged elite. And, these are by no means the best and the brightest. These are simply individual who, almost as a matter of pure happenstance, have been favored by a deeply corrupted and benighted system. I believe that, in undoing any semblance of a social compact, America is devolving into a Third World country, and it can expect the social unrest that comes with such a development. Moreover, I predict that in the next few years, we will see increasing numbers of Americans emigrating, both young and middle aged people looking for work, and the elderly looking to survive in a society that lacks socialized medicine and anything resembling a safety net. This will create a brain drain, and exarcerbate our descent into the status of a banana republic.
Remember, all the media feeding on this beat-up are the same people who got behind GWB on the invasion of Iraq and we know how right they were about that.
It’s “Prime Time” on a Tuesday evening and I’m sitting in the heartland reading Commondreams blog posts. Couldn’t be happier. I have no interest in MSM.
In a few minutes I’ll get up and go read some more from Obama’s “The Audacity of Hope” and “Dreams from My Father.” Such excellent prose in both volumes!
Intelligent, eloquent, principled, a leader, Obama impresses me.
Peace and love from Iowa.
“Moreover, I predict that in the next few years, we will see increasing numbers of Americans emigrating, both young and middle aged people looking for work, and the elderly looking to survive in a society that lacks socialized medicine and anything resembling a safety net. This will create a brain drain, and exacerbate our descent into the status of a banana republic.”
–Well said, and this might be in our not so distant future. I hate to say it, but our descent may ultimately be good for the world at large, especially if it means the shrinkage of our military and its involvement on other shores, as well as the economic exploitation that has occurred for decades.
On the other hand, depending upon who’s in office, it could well lead to nuclear war. America is definitely facing a period of dramatic transition. Will we choose to build from the ashes or go out with a bang?
That gaggle of misleading spin artists wasn’t complete, of course. Russert should have procured Lou Dobbs from CNN: he is one of the most twisted of them all, given prime time every evening by CNN to do damage to people and issues. His work on immigration is a classic which even Fox news couldn’t equal. He whipped up an anti-immigrant frenzy of tsunami proportions before the issue finally moved to a back burner. And he loves to dwell on how much trouble Obama is in.
Here is Obamas statement that caused an uproar. Sure he told a truth in that people are bitter their good paying jobs were gone, but people forget the last part of what he said.
“”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.” ”
The most important part is in what he said they cling to, he seems to think these are negatives.
guns (I was too until the fascists took over, and the UN wants to ban them)
religion (communists want to eliminate faith based religion)
anti-immigrant sentiment (duh, why do we need immigrants today, esp illegal, since they keep wages low)
anti-trade sentiment (free trade is what caused the jobs to go away)
Message from Obama. “I recognize you are bitter” and as Cheney said: “So?”
Basically, as the Trilateralists said from the early 70’s, the price of globalization is going to require Americans to have a lower standard of living, and so, Americans today are bitter, but globalization must come first. The other hidden mesage from Obama: “I am going to take way what you are clinging to”.
Robert Reich states the obvious, that the money that’s not going into middle class salaries is going “to the top”, into the hands of the corporate elites, the wealthiest 1%. Very little of the corporate elite’s money shows up on the Gross Adjusted Income (GAI)line of a tax return. It’s all stock options, and capital gains and other kinds of income that largely escapes the GAI. Yet all the “tax reform” talk is about increasing or decreasing the marginal rates on GAI. Until we make the capital gains tax progressive, like the tax on earned income, the elites will continue to pull more and more of the nation’s wealth away from the rest of us. In the 1950’s the wealthiest 1% owned 20% of the nation’s wealth. Now they own in excess of 40%. The Spanish, Dutch and British Empires all fell when 40% of the wealth was concentrated in the hands of the wealthiest 1%. History says America is screwed if we don’t fix this problem.
Reich is right on when he attacks the press, but he must first disavow his support for globalization before I consider him a champion and spokesman for the working class.
At any rate, what the heck is he doing calling Tim Russert “one of the smartest guys on tv”? Of course Russert does not believe he’s doing the country a service! The spin is damaging and mean-spirited.
With regard to drbnp48’s comment regarding the fall of Spanish, Dutch and British Empires, - remember this - empires rise and fall but for the most part the wealthy continue to survide with their wealth mostly intact. It is the people who suffer when empires fall
“Eighty percent of Americans know the nation is on the wrong track.
Bitter? You ain’t seen nothing yet.”
Yeah, we know! All those detention centers that Homeland Security is building will become the new homes for the bitter and homeless. The timing couldn’t be more perfect. Does the government have a crystal ball they consult or is the coming economic meltdown something that was planned?
The Nation is on the wrong track…….The problems we face are global !
Too many people competing for too few resources,,and the greedy wealthy 1% of the world are doing nothing but making more wealth.
My soul simply shudders to think about a WWIII.
ESCAPE to canada as fast as you can…. RUN .. flee.. Flee Flee
MimiCcS:
I think they have a place for you on FOX.
You spun what he said like a pro.
In today’s world we are all clinging to something…that is reality not an insult.
Get it right…Cheney said “SO” not Obama!Once again it depends on what one considers a “terrible” comment and how one spins.
Unless you’re a Native American you’re an immigrant.Immigrants enrich our country…Corporate greed keeps wages low but you’ve got the right mindset blame it on the immigrants and embrace outsourcing as something we need.
Reich agrees with Obama’s assertion that the bitterness of irrational Small America is responsible for resistance to U.S. trade deals, for wanting to control illegal immigration, for wanting to keep guns and for going to church.
He underestimates the intelligence and common-sense of us fly-overs, for we see trading partners allowed to keep their protective tariffs while we must remove ours and our manufacturing and jobs sent to them as well, we see WITH OUR OWN EYES jobs our neighbors, friends and children used to do until being replaced by illegals for 1/4 the wage. We hunt and revere our constitutional right to have arms. We go to church because becauise it is the social center of our community; you see more religious radicals in the city-South Chicago, for example. If Reich, with Obama, thinks our attitudes are due to irrational bitterness, he is possessed of the same Eastern Ivy-league, elitist, ignorance of American culture as Obama.
Reich, get out of your ivy league office and your beltway run and get acquainted with what you talk about–American citizenry of the ilk that started this nation.
“Does Russert really believe he’s doing the nation a service for this parade of spin doctors talking about potential spins and the spin-offs from the words Obama used to state what everyone knows is true?”
The question really is, does Russert really care whether he’s doing the nation a service or not? Do the rest of the stenographers to power, the media whore, care? Or, are they in it for the money and the fun and screw the nation?
It’s imperative that WE remember, as we prepare to wave goodbye to this ship called Experiment In Democracy, that it has not been mortally wounded by natural causes - it was stabbed in the back. It’s also imperative to remember that the people who have done this have names and addresses. Remember what these people have done to our country and to our future. Remember.
That Hillary, she got a law degree, wealth, an ex-prez of a husband and his millions, used to sit on the board of Walmart, and has been spending millions of them green backs to campaign for that presidential nomination, and then she goes around telling us that Obama is an elitist.
What does it take to do something like that? A solid dose of denial or stupidity, a combination of both, or just plain shameless cynicism (”eh, the hoi polloi of Pennsylvania, they’re so emotional about their bitterness and so sentimental, they won’t notice”)?
Bill Moyers should host meet the press.
Peacegurl - right on sister.
Bitter? OK maybe a little bitter, but more like discouraged. I work much harder at my full time job, plus also moonlight as a writer and a musician and I still make less than I did working a single job in the 1980s. Professional public service/non-profit sector pay is so low one person can hardly live on it, never mind raise kids on it.
Teachers waitress on the weekends and police officers also work as security guards.
People with two and three jobs are not making it…. I suppose people may indeed be bitter but they are too dang busy getting food on the table and shoes on their kids’ feet to do much about it. One illness or medical issue and your economic health is shot.
Meanwhile earnings for the richest among us are riding higher than we could have even imagined only a few years ago.
Bless Obama for saying it out loud; shame on those who make political hay out of it instead of hearing what he really said and what real working people are saying about it. OK, Obama was clumsy and not exactly on target with his words, maybe he’ll pay for that, but it seems not. The message is a valid one. It’s unfair that some work so hard for so little — and bitterness is not a surprising result. It is surely a dangerous one.
That being said, I want to say that I don’t live bitter… I just deal the best I can, I do work a lot, live pretty simply and try not to worry too much about the economics even though it hangs over my head sometimes. But those of us whose ends don’t meet know that the day will come when we have to face the financial music.
Obama is speaking to us in this regard. Yes, Peacegurl, we are the educated poor. Some of us find solace and support in religion, sure. Some of us find comfort in other things. For me, it’s music. Keep singin’, friends. Songs have been known to drive change before… we shall….
“instead of showing why we need a more progressive tax system”
I am waiting for the Robert Reich’s of the world to stoptalking about “tax systems”; stop making themselves such an easy target for right wing political spin…and start talking about removing rampant government corporate giveaways as the first step toward reducing taxes…It is such a no-brainer. COME ON ROBERT…SPEAK UP ABOUT IT!!!
C’mon it’s pretty obvious, McCain and Hillary are identical, if you merged the two or if they spawned, the offspring would be a mini guiliani for crying out loud. Out here in the Central Valley (red part of blue state), more and more Dems going to the Obama route. Hillary tactics are revolting if not Rove-esque and those in middle would not support her and lean or stay in GOP column in Nov. What shame. I’m still a staunch Kucinich man (then Edwards) but let’s get real, HC has proven no depths too low and no innuendo off limits for her quest for the White House Throne. She’s desperate and it’s sad. Wait til the fall and see McCain fall by the wayside. If Hillary somehow pulls off the DEM nomination, great, another GOP victory and more of the same either way.
Just who are these “demagogues of the left”? I want to vote for one.
Obama’s comment wouldn’t have made a ripple if someone on his staff had noticed that Bill said the same thing back in ‘92.
I’m sure some above have already said they stopped watching MTP some time ago. Tell NBC/MSNBC you’re not watching anymore and why. steve.capus@nbc.com; phil.griffin@