Obama Chose Right Word: Who Wouldn’t Be ‘Bitter’ About Being Bushed?
Barack Obama may have been a little too blunt in his now infamous quip about how the economic insecurities gripping small-town America manifest themselves, but the word ”bitter” perfectly sums up my feelings these days.
You bet I’m bitter.
I’ve watched my country get hijacked by a group of self-serving incompetents who have little conscience about sending young men and women to die in an unnecessary war, while putting the bill on a credit card for the next generation.
You bet I’m bitter.
I’ve seen some of the greatest moral handiwork of modern civilization - the Geneva Conventions - get treated as if it were the naive ramblings of out-of-touch do-gooders. I’ve watched the founding principles of our nation - the inalienable right of due process of law and the checks and balances of three equal branches of government - treated as a copse to be mowed down on route to the unitary executive.
You bet I’m bitter.
I’ve stood by as the wealth of our nation has been concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite while the middle class struggles to tread water financially. I’ve seen our tax policies shift to benefit this small group, starving our national treasury of needed resources and making it far less possible to prepare for the future by investing in infrastructure, education and shoring up Social Security and Medicare.
You bet I’m bitter.
I’ve watched a macabre health care system become even more dysfunctional, so that a single accident or illness can destroy the economic security of a family. I’ve seen Big Pharma use its lobbying muscle to keep Medicare from negotiating better drug prices. I’ve observed as health insurance companies with their inflated middle-man profits add immeasurably to the cost of care while trying to deny coverage and services to their customers. I’ve heard our leaders whine about ‘’socialized medicine” anytime a comprehensive fix is suggested.
You bet I’m bitter.
I’ve seen industry insiders put in charge of regulatory agencies so that worker safety and environmental protection are eroded in the name of increased profits. I’ve watched as science is subverted to ideology. Where facts on global climate change are ignored or manipulated to fit a politically driven script. I’ve seen the Department of Justice transform into the legal arm of the Republican Party.
You bet I’m bitter.
I’ve watched the dismantling of the wall of separation between church and state, allowing billions of tax dollars to flow to religiously affiliated groups that peddle their own brand of faith as part of the government-funded service. I’ve seen Christian fundamentalism defeat funding for international family planning and constrain the distribution of condoms in places where HIV/AIDS has decimated the population.
You bet I’m bitter.
I’ve stood by as the national debt nearly doubled in the last seven years due to irresponsible tax cuts and spending on such folly as an endless preemptive war that may end up costing $3 trillion. I’ve observed the privatization of core government functions, such as the handling of security assignments in Iraq by the unaccountable Blackwater. I’ve seen billions of dollars in Iraq reconstruction money wasted and lost to a system of endemic corruption.
You bet I’m bitter.
I’ve watched our nation get less secure thanks to the counterproductive policies of the neocons in charge. I’ve seen the populations of otherwise friendly nations turn against the United States, seeing us as the world’s biggest bully and hypocrite rather than its greatest beacon of liberty, justice and opportunity. I’ve observed that our willingness to abuse prisoners has become a recruiting tool for our enemies, making us masters of our own demise.
You bet I’m bitter. And when more than 80 percent of Americans think we’re on the wrong track, I’m not the only one. Obama chose the right word. The only question is, how long will this bad taste last and how do we get rid of it?
Robyn Blumner can be reached by e-mail to blumner@sptimes.com
© 2008 The Salt Lake Tribune
Top 5 (Okay, 6) Reasons for “Supervoters” Why the Clinton “Big State” Strategy and Argument is a House of Cards
1.) It lost the last two elections.
2.) When Bill Clinton, in South Carolina, pushed the double-speak of “Obama-can’t-win-but-they-would-make-a-dream- ticket” line, he reasoned it would be because of what he implied was Obama’s “urban” draw. Yes. That same old map – with Hillary taking what would be, according to conventional wisdom, Republican territory in a general election. As if Clinton will really compete there. Anyone seen her “negatives” amongst Democrats, let alone Republicans?
3.) This is further undercut by Obama’s wins in those “small states.” You know, where there are a lot of those “white” working class voters that Clinton says are her “base.” Am I missing something here? I don’t think there’s any reason to doubt Obama is going continue to bring new voters to the polls and pad the popular vote – state by state. (“There are not blue states and red states…there are the United States…blah, blah, blah.”)
4.) Clinton’s latest double-speak where behind closed doors she continues to say Obama can’t win, but when pushed said that not only does Clinton think Obama can beat McCain, but she also said she’ll do “anything” she can to make sure a Democrat takes the Whitehouse following November’s election. That would make the “Big State” strategy moot anyway, right? I mean, since she’ll bring it home for the Dems anyway?
5.) The reason Obama’s message has resonated with large chunks of the electorate is because it transcends the micro-poll messaging and targeting that leads to a divided electorate – currently playing itself out with the Clinton “Big State” (and 50% + 1, slash and burn, kitchen sink) strategy in exit polling, showing the same old divides of class, race, gender, religion, region, etc., etc., etc.
6.) Playing devil’s advocate (you know, “we’re only toughening Obama up for the general when the Republican attack machine really comes after whoever’s the nominee”) still makes you an advocate for, um, the devil. Uh, did I mention Clinton’s negatives?
In the end, what Obama has bet on is that changing the electoral map can transcend what a friend of mine calls the “tyranny of the six percent” (you know – so many agree with you and so many disagree with you and you go after the rest) that leads to micro-poll messaging and targeting and 50 % + 1 tactical elections (oh yeah, and two-party corporate control of the electoral system – oops did I say that?) where solutions and progress get lost in the margins of the “undecideds” and special interests.
This race is down to a debate about strategy. Obama’s team has shown throughout the primary campaign that it is clearly better at strategy, and Clinton’s house of cards is showing that Obama’s strategy is clearly better for the general election.
Clinton’s strategy is exactly that of George w. Bush. When you cannot understand something you must carpet bomb it and hope you hit at least one target.
Sadly, an excellent article, well-written and true. I’m bitter also, and furious!
Robyn -
I’m bitter too, but (apparently just like you) I’m not about to go cling to a gun, God, ethnic paranoia, or some other xenophobic form of scapegoating as a result of my bitterness.
The central truth of that dynamic is what got Barack in trouble, because it was so easy to demagogue his San Francisco remarks by lifting them out of their intended context - the reality that folks who are rightly angered and/or embittered by economic stresses beyond their control are indeed vulnerable to manipulation by political forces that pander to their fears. Obama’s comments said nothing about hunting, the role of religion in American life, or the fact that plenty of well off people also respond to fear mongering. But since the backlash pretended that was in his message, that’s what the mainstream media called him out on.
For those that concoct the attack ads, Archie Bunker can take his pick: Obama is either an elitist sell out to corporate interests who looks down on the working classes, or else he’s a dangerous, black liberation oriented closet Muslim, clandestinely plotting to subvert the very foundations of American society. Of course it makes no sense. But if the powers that be can make such scare techniques work, they could care less.
Bill from Saginaw
A great article. It would have been even better if it had included trade policy that has been responsible for shifting millions of good paying middle class jobs out of the country to the third world.
Lobo Gris
Okay, I’m bitter too! But guess what. I’m bitter and disgusted at the way we push the responsibility for all this muck onto “them,” “the government” as though “they” were aliens from another planet wreaking havoc on our land. Pah. WE are THEM!! WE are the people elected to the government, and the people doing the electing! The government is made up of Americans! What does that say about us? That we support corruption and jump on the bandwagon of greed and self serving stupidity the first chance we get. As Pogo so wisely stated :” I have seen the enemy, and he is US!”
This article points to the very reasons Bu$h/Cheney must be impeached, investigated, then imprisoned.
I’m plenty bitter too. Bitter that most of my former party, the Democratic Party, is about to choose as its nominee a person who (borrowing from Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report) a man who:
1. Has been selected by Wall Street as its next puppet to head the U.S. government.
2. Has (under Oprah’s flag) been inducted into the celebrity world of an “American Idol.”
3. Is the recipient of the subliminal racism of white Americans who would dearly love to vote for a black man (who doesn’t even sound like a black man and distances himself from “radical” blacks like Wright) to prove to themselves that they are not prejudiced against blacks.
4. Is the recipient of the understandable yearning of black Americans to have one of themselves “in charge” for a change after a prolonged history of slavery and then having to sit in the back of the bus.
5. And all this because the “alternative” (Clinton) is just as weakly qualified as himself to be President.
Yeah, I’m bitter and bitter finally because the media, both mainstream and “alternative” progressive outlets like Common Dreams, AlterNet, Znet, and The Nation are sucked into this same mind-numbing syndrome; in the latter case, because these progressives like Norman Solomon give us the untenable hypothesis that, if progressives will only support Obama and put “pressure” on him to be what we want him to be, he’ll somehow emerge as mere liberal than he appears to be (Didn’t it happen in 32 with FDR?)
Yes, Jerry D. Rose, and your second, third and fourth enumerated points are probably the only way you can even hope to get anyone but a Republican in the modern era of TV-ad-dominated politics. Let Obama happen. Or tell us all why you think McCain would somehow be better.
I’m bitter too as I feel the domino effect that is rippling through the country now, and see that idiot face on big screen of a game show making light of asking the dem congress for three more trillion dollars, and then hear his stepford wife playing hostess on one of the early shows this morning.
Somewhere in the mix between those shows someone said something profound - that we’re quickly becoming the richest third-world country in the world.
Wait until Uncle Dick starts another war, then you’ll see bitter.
Bitter and pissed. But before dramatic change takes place, people have to suffer, die and get so mad that they take up arms to change things. Otherwise the human condition is to continue along, and take the path of least resistance.
We’re not there yet. Not yet
I hate it in baseball when they bunt. They call it small ball.
That is what the Republican/Clinton strategy is. Exhaust the Democratic money to minimize the gains possible in Senate and Congressional races. They are also as usual working to promote conservative candidates within the Democratic party.
And guess what, they’ll still be ‘bitter’ about being ‘Obamad’ in a couple of years.
Bitter? Only if you’re hanging on to a lifetime of hopes and trials. All things come to an end - this too will pass. Bitter? No, enjoy the show! We are all actors in this dream of the world - relax, sit back in your deck chairs and enjoy the ‘Titanic’ voyage of Bush’s ChristoCorporate ship of state. Enjoy it to the Bitter end. It’s only the end of our world as we knew it.
G. Goodman stated:
“I hate it in baseball when they bunt. They call it small ball.” You must be from an American League city, eh?
Sometimes you have to do what is necessary to win the game which includes bunting. It’s a very usefull skill to know to be able to help the team win at times. In the 80’s I have seen W. Herzog win many a game by calling for a bunt.
One of my favorite Spanish sayings is “poco a poco se va lejos”–Little by little one goes far.
OYE
WHATFOOLS - I like your philosophy and look at life!
Interesting that my comments were for the first time ever moderated out here……. In expressing my outrage at small town America being smeared and lumped altogether as one, and deeply seated parts of our culture such as religion and gun ownership which date back to the beginning of America characterized as if they were some kind of perversion….. As if all or even a significant number of small town and rural residents were “bitter”, and from the way the comment was worded perhaps militia members…. hating and distrusting all who differ from us……. This is intolerable….. to me and to others in Rural America. It shows a willingness to pidgeonhole a huge segment of America as if all small town folks marched in lockstep……. it shows a man totally out of touch with reality, and is deeply offensive. His words describe a small group of people…….. we all know some of them I suspect….. who themselves are outsiders who have retreated to rural America and exist in their own little enclaves……. with a “bunker mentality”…… and are tolerated….. as rural and small town Americans always tolerate and learn to live with diverse people. It in NO WAY represents even a significant percentage of small town America. The comment resembles racist and sexist comments one hears and which provoke outrage as they should….. Apparently urban folks like most who contribute here see it as acceptable…. and in their ignorance many actually believe it to be representative of small town and rural residents. Are we as a nation so divided amongst ourselves that we see each other as caricatures rather than as fellow Americans… and individuals? I could not possibly support a man who thinks in such mindless generalizations!
Hopefully I have eliminated whatever words resulted in my previous post being moderated…… I would hope that it was my wording rather than my opinion and sentiments.
It apparently is OK to make insulting generalizations against small town America…. but not OK to use analogies that equate this with racist generalizations…….. I had previously believed that closed minded intolerance to free expression was the venue of the far right…….. Now I see that it extends toward the so called progressive end of the political spectrum.
Howard
nycat:
“WE are the people elected to the government, and the people doing the electing!”
Don’t be so sure.
The author mentions the privatization of core government functions.
That now includes elections.
http://www.bbvforums.org/cgi-bin/forums/board-auth.cgi?file=/1954/73637.html
Stonetool,
As someone who grew up in a rural/small town area in the South, I strongly disagree with your statements. The great majority of people in such areas may have guns (I started using firearms to slaughter small defenseless animals well before I attended junior high, though I retired from such pursuits as a freshman in highschool) and may hold some religious beliefs, but there appears to be a clear pattern, at least from my experience, that those who feel some level of economic insecurity often “cling” to their guns or their religion, as they desperately seek as much comfort as they can find in whatever sources are available. And they become very wary of anyone they believe may want to take away those remaining sources of comfort.
I do not believe Obama’s statements were insulting or inaccurate. But politicians and pundits who do constantly condescend to those who live in small towns and in rural areas believed they saw in such comments another golden opportunity to bamboozle the public.
This article is a very good one, it make the case for impeachment of Cheney and Bush much stronger,
Sign Congressman Robert Wexler’s Petition today, Call for an immediate special prosecutor to investigate these filthy criminals. Its time for our country to regain the moral compass she once had before the Republican crime family took over our government and our loves
Wexlerwantshearings.com
Another poster made this comment. I think it explains the picture perfectly.
‘Democratic Party hacks would rather elect a Republican hack than a Democratic Reformer.’
Vote Green or Nader, that will change the party dynamics. Otherwise whether you are voting for McCain, Obamma or Hillery, you are still voting republican.
so it goes…
The small town America Barak Obama was talking about is in the state of mind. He could just as easily have said that bitter and exhausted soccer moms and dads in the suburbs cling to lawn mowers, weed killers and green lawns to keep from even thinking about what has happened to our country in the last eight years. Or he could have said that greedy rich CEO’s of bloated mega corporations cling to their tax cuts like life preservers while plotting their escape from our crumbling infrastructure. But then, Obama is more polite than I am!
It’s not the “bitter” comment that hurt him, it’s the superior tone of the whole comment, as if those who are religious, or enjoy guns/hunting are little children “clinging” to their blanket. It makes him sound like what he is, an elitist asshole.
We are all bitter. One of the posters mentioned that there was no mention of the oursourcing and loss of jobs. My bitterness arises from the treatment of the Wounded and crippled American veterans and those who gave their lives in a thankless battle to make a small group more rich, using the American Soldiers for personal gain : Treason.
I am fully bitter. SO????
To whom it may concern:
“I’m not about to go cling to a gun, God, ethnic paranoia, or some other xenophobic form of scapegoating”
This kind of gibberish is just the type of thing that convinces people that progressives are idiots. Only a small group have such a narrow mindset.
This is like saying all conservatives are neocons. They aren’t.
If you or for that matter Senator Obama can’t realize when a mistake is made, we can’t win so don’t be surprised.
Now as to the article, great article! I am not sure what he is referring to as far as the government funding for churches he’s talking about, but I’m sure someone can tell me.
Loved the title!!
I’ve just had a great idea. Why don’t Americans turn their bitterness into action, the kind of action that turns the show around, sets a new course, brings back some old values and ideals?
Just askin’! Seemed a good idea at the time.
Perhaps endlessly whining is better.
“Is it right for you to be angry about this?”
“Yes, it is right for me to be angry enough to die.”—Jonah
You think people are sheep? Wait till they find out what has been done to them.
GKL 4:28pm
Loved your comment. Spot on!
90% of the people in America are bitter for one reason or another. Obama should become more outspoken, not less.
I too am bitter. Bitter at the lemmings eating up what the press gives them w/o thinking for themselves. Bitter at people voting abortion and guns (sorry stonehill but my home town ignorantly votes for these and so does my white trash family) and following these jerks off the cliff, thus voting against their own interests.
Other reasons to be bitter? Consider:
1) How fast the press has turned on and buried Obama starting with Hills “win” in March in Texas and Ohio, even though Obama actually PICKED UP DELEGATES
2)Folks like beloved George Will (who should stick with baseball writing, he too loves small ball and hates the DH). Labeling Obama as liberal elite out of touch with America, a label that tends to stick.
3) I live in Paraguay right now. And they finally rose up and kicked a very corrupt, ruthless ruling party to the curb, despite all the venom, hate and dirty tricks they threw at the voters. Paraguay rates well below US in the UDI chart, especially in education. Yet they were able to think for themselves and try something new. I feel we are SOOOOO far from being able to to this, and it makes me very, very, very bitter.
The soultion? Two words: Electoral College. Started by the founding fathers, liberal elites during their time, (but the Repubs love to pick and choose when they cozy up to them), they highly mistrusted the ability of the populace, uneducated and ignorant, to make sound decisions in their votes, so they set up the electoral college to overturn dangerous votes. Had they known this would give us GW, which picked up the ignorant vote and discarded the liberal elite vote, they would have not created it. Anyway, my point is, that our country was founded on a mistrust of the populace to make their own decisions and seeing where we are headed right now, with needing a miracle to not be swearing in McCain next Jan, perhaps it is time to really use the electoral college for its orginal intent? Lord knows if we tell those lemmings that God told us to do it, and maybe we will overturn R vs W someday in the future, they will probably go along with it and we will never, ever have to deliver on R v Wade. Has worked for the repubs for close to 30 years.
What comes after bitter? What comes when the hopes turns into worse than Bush?
Obama has no plan to actually change the existing power relationships between the haves and the havenots. His change mantra is just an empty slogan, but easily swallowed by an uncritical public (probably a large part of Obama’s support bought the Bush lies about Iraq).
Therefore, there isn’t going to be any change under an Obama Administration. All the present trends: de unionization of the work force, corruption in the economy, a media that diverts attention from the real issues, a politics bought and paid for by corporate America, a teaching and learning environment in public schools straight jacketed by business run school boards and standardized tests, a military occupation of the planet (over 800 U.S. military bases dot the globe), a massive wasteful sink hole known as the “defense” budget, an unjust judicial system that screws over blacks, an energy system dominated by big oil that literally holds up consumers at the gas pump, a health care system completely dominated by HMOs—-all of this will, in fact, continue under a President Obama.
Well, if you read Obama’s book, “Dreams from my Father”, you will see he is a “bitter” man himself, or at least he was at the age of 33 when he wrote the book. Doesn’t like whites too much, and admires a man, his father, who seems to not be very admirable, putting it mildly.
More on his father here.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=431908&in_page_id=1770
Maybe he changed.
Change to me, from a man who is black and white, would be for him to say he is neither black nor white, he is just a man whose father was black and whose mother was white. Yet he choose to pick his color. Curious why he chose that route and is sticking by it.
The bitterness needs to be directed at those elite whose globalization-free trade policies are destroying nations, and not directed at the religous, racial and social divides among us. That would be real change. But Obama and Hillary support globalization and free trade, and are beholden to the elite money powers. There will be no change with either one.
Change will only come from the bottom up. Not from the top down. Failure to recognize this ensures not only will there be no change for the better, but that there will be change for the worse. You need to wake up your fellow bottom dwellers who still believe in the myths the elite use to keep us ignorant.
When I turn on a single day’s news broadcast of Pope Mobiles crusing down Pennyslvania Avenue and Chelsea Clinton doing pub crawls getting out the ‘gay vote’, it sure seems like America is well distracted by what’s really underfoot.
If you can quadtruple the price of oil in five years and pillage the bank accounts of every American, well then you’ve made a profit! Daddy sure taught GWB well!
“But before dramatic change takes place, people have to suffer, die and get so mad that they take up arms to change things”
wouldn’t change doodly - same old same old.
the right to bear arms does not make it right to bear arms.
Let’s get real. You want to know bitter:
Look at the incidence of child abuse and neglect in our society.
Look at the depression, anxiety, rebellion, unloving-sex, bullying and sucidal-feelings among our teens. See their mosh-pits and listen to some of their favorite ‘music’.
Look at so many of our elderly who are basically shut in their own homes with, if they are lucky, a daily ‘meals-on-wheels’ visitor.
Look at how many females are physically abused by their own ‘loved ones’.
Look at the scam artists who have been allowed to prey on the weak and the vulnerable in our ‘annything-for-a buck’ society.
Look at some of those business school graduates who, among other things are pushing tobacco-based sickness & death all over our planet.
Look at the lack of knowing our own neighbors and not having even eye-contact with our fellow human beings in public places.
If I hadn’t spent time in certain third world villages, and, with more than one Saint in India — well, I too might thing that our so-called ‘real-world’ is indeed normal. Truly, thank God, I know that it is not.
MiMiCcS: If you’re part black, you have to be black. It’s the “one drop” rule. You can’t really choose, unless of course you’re so white-looking that you can “pass” and no one knows unless they’re told. So Obama must declare himself black, in spite of having a white mother. By default he faces racism.
I do agree with you that it does seem odd that he writes a book that at least on the cover, idealizes his father. It was his mother and his mother’s family who did the heavy lifting for him and raised him. On the other hand, I can understand the importance of his search for a father and the rich heritage that is his through his father.
I’m bitter that voters are still thinking it’s a good idea to vote for Barack Obama! My wish: they would actually read his position papers, listen to him more closely (beyond his buzz words: “change” and “hope”), see him for the patriarch he actually is, to look at his lack of leadership in the U.S. senate, to examine closely where he has won (in states that are going to go for John McCain in the fall; he loses in almost all the states that are must wins in November), and the class bias in his voters who have superiority complexes.
I’m going to vote for the other black candidate in the race: Cynthia McKinney! She’s right on all the issues.
I suspect the election will be well fixed….is it McCain’s campaign manager that is trying to buy Diebold?
If Hillary can’t economically manage a campaign without bankrupting it, how can she manage the country’s economy efficiently?
I am sooo sick of these primaries…if the super delegates have the final say…they why are going through all of this…if those guys and women can usurp the popular vote….then it was all a worthless game to the people….but not for the media, advertising, hotels and restaurants, etc.
I have no problem with Obama said about bitter…or even the guns and God…I understood the point. People can try to twist it into something else…but he made a valid point.
At least Obama is still pushing for end to war…Clinton stated that she would obliterate Iran if they attacked Israel…I suspect that us or Israel will make the first strikes…not Iran. False flags are wonderful things for the warmongers. Her vote for the war in Iraq was a sincere one, apparantly.
I have a Republican friend who focuses his bitterness on Bill Clinton and the Dems. He works for a small company that has seen its customers move to China or Mexico. It actually still sells parts to a few plants that have been moved to Mexico. The company is hanging on by a thread. He hasn’t had raise in years, can’t afford to fuel his car…
But CLINTON “opened the doors”. He turned red when I reminded him that Bush has had 8 years to reverse that, but is actually widening and deepening globalization, and making sure big corporations make a bundle. Even some original apostles of globalization like Robert Reich, and maybe even Hillary, are seeing what a monster they have created.
My friend doesn’t care. He sees red, but the republicans can do no wrong. He knows evey Clinton scandal going back 20 years and believes we are saving Iraq from al qaeda and Iran. Of course, Fox is on TV every night at his house.
The polls say the election will be close whether Clinton or Obama is the candidate. I find it incomprehensible after the disasters of the last 7 years. Both candidates need to avoid becoming targets if this misdirected rage. Obama had a near miss.
The GOP candidate is taking a Disability Pension! Well at 72(next birthday) he should be eligible for an “old age pension” as well.
Thomas More April 22nd, 2008 6:26 pm
“Now as to the article, great article! I am not sure what he is referring to as far as the government funding for churches he’s talking about, but I’m sure someone can tell me.”
Google Faith based initiatives
Lobo Gris
william street:
I’m bitter too, but (apparently just like you) I’m not about to go cling to a gun, God, ethnic paranoia, or some other xenophobic form of scapegoating as a result of my bitterness.
–Obama’s statement is really interesting on a couple of levels if look at it in a practical sense. This means not identifying yourself as being one of the “bitter” and “angry” people, who are presumably bitter because they feel betrayed by Bush after voting for him–twice (oh dear).
First, what do you ‘cling’ to on a daily basis to ‘escape’ the fear and boredom of your inner state? Come on now, if you’re honest with yourself, you’d see that you alternate between what you might call ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ states: pleasure and ‘discomfort.’ When nervous about something, we grab a book, bible, drink, eat, golf, shop, go online and blog (ha ha), right?
Second, do these wealthy/elite politicians REALLY understand what it means to be IN YOUR SHOES? My bet is that if they ever did, they’ve quickly forgotten, or now even look down upon others in their former condition with contempt. A ‘let them eat cake’ kind of attitude. Why? Because your struggles are no long THEIR struggles. Either they do not care, or even think you are stupid for buying their tripe as they laugh all the way to the bank. That’s right, they laugh at you with contempt, though they also have this gnawing fear that enough ‘idiots’ (from their point of view) might actually catch on to how they’re screwing them, meaning the ‘everything is great’ spin will not work anymore. How else could Bush have screwed us like he did for last 8 YEARS?? Think about it.
Now, I got to hand it to Obama, he’s slick as Vaseline (aka petroleum jelly). Get this: we are bitter and angry and, because of that, we become xenophobic and anti-free trade (the implication is that immigration and free trade aren’t really valid concerns, but that we have become prejudice toward them because of our bitterness!). This means it’s OUR FAULT that we’re bitter and angry about the loss of livelihood, stagnant wages, and the overcrowding of our schools by undocumented immigrants (as an example). What Obama is really telling you, here, is that he will do little or nothing to change NAFTA, or stem the tide of illegal immigration. After all, it’s only in YOUR MIND anyway, get it folks?
I hate to break your Obama illusion. Though he does seem like a likable enough fellow, he is more intoxicated with the smell of power and his own self-image as president than any concern you might have–just like any other politician.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not really putting down Obama because McCain and Hillary are just as bad–or even worse–but I see many setting themselves up for disappointment and disillusionment should he get elected. Until we understand ourselves better, we will not be able to see through the slick talk and polished veneer. As long as we want a cheerleader to make us feel good, we will remain susceptible to being conned. Remember the Amway con?
I like Obama. I plan to vote for him if I get a chance.
I’m delighted that Hillary won, the race will go on and further weaken this corrupt ‘opposition’ party known as Democrats.
Progressives should support Nader, of course, but McCain is preferable to any Democrats ten times over. At least we’ll know who our enemy will be.
Chessgames56, thank you for articulating things I think but have had a hard time writing down in words!
I sincerely hope Barack Obama drops out or is forced out at the convention. I can’t bear 4 years of John McCain as president.
I can see it all now. This election is going to be the same mess previous elections have been. Because people are not united in a common goal to kick the Republican’s out of office. Because people in this country aren’t intelligent enough to figure out which side their bread is buttered on. They will throw their vote away on someone like Nader who can’t win. They will vote for McCain because they don’t like Obama or Clinton. What is it going to take to wake people in this country up to the mess we are in?????? Another 4 years of failed Republican policies that will destroy what’s left of us???? Isn’t it time for people to start thinking about the country and start voting accordingly? I really don’t care which Democratic candidate wins. Even though I am getting to where I throughly dislike Hillary because she is keeping this primary going with her inability to face reality. But, I will hold my nose and vote for her if I have to. Because I refuse to vote fascist Republican or some third party who will put another Republican in office. That should be every patriotic American’s goal this election. Is to see that the corrupt crime family is put out of business.
There are three things the MSM avoids discussing:
1) How dumb the average American really is.
2) The need for population and/or birth control.
3) Anything negative (or the truth) about israel.
Obama was attempting to empathize with redneck America. His conclusions were less than profound and not very useful(except to the predatorial Clintons). Hey, at least, the man is capable of practicing empathy and not pandering to every possible element of political constituency-at-large. He’s not going to get their votes in any case, so he should stop risking vulnerability, and, thereby, giving the real elitists ammunition.
If Obama loses the nomination in part because he dared to speak the truth, I’ll be bitter.
It won’t make any difference which one of these clowns get elected. If this is the best we can field with 300m people,we’re in deep dodo. The only true statesman was thrown under the bus,marginalized and painted as a looney(Dr. Ron Paul) Yep. He wanted to abolish the Fed, IRS, bring home the troops now. Don’t look for any change in policies no matter which republicrat is elected.(Diebold is sorting that out for you now)
Kivals Apparently feels that broad generalizations that lump entire groups of people together are OK….. While I know people like this…… and you do also, it is a gross generalization quite similar to those applied to minorities and women…… “group x are strongly inclined toward criminality”, or “group Y are lazy and shiftless”, or “group Z are greedy and grasping or dishonest”, etc…..
You are free to disagree with me as far as Obama’s statements NOT being insulting and demeaning….. but you are wrong…… Anybody who considers broad based generalizations right and proper is by definition wrong. These are the same sorts of generalizations being used against racial groups, illegals, etc… the same sorts of generalizations used by the Nazis against the Jews, the Bush administration’s supporters against Muslims, etc… The only difference between yours and Obama’s insulting generalizations and those of Rush Limbaugh against minorities and illegals and Muslims is the side of the isle they originate from…… left versus right…… They are equally wrong, unjust, insulting, and contemptible. I take this very personally having lived in small rural areas all my adult life, and being a gun owner since a very early age……. Your very statement about killing small and defenseless animals puts you clearly in the PETA camp. You have absolutely NO RIGHT or standing to sit in judgment of me or of anybody else, and that clearly is what you are doing ……. with no basis other than your own personal prejudices. Your words are deeply offensive and insulting to myself and millions of other Americans who choose NOT to understand, but rather to judge……. Your kind of judgmentalism is a blight on this earth.
Howard
Stonetool,
As someone who grew up in a rural/small town area in the South, I strongly disagree with your statements. The great majority of people in such areas may have guns (I started using firearms to slaughter small defenseless animals well before I attended junior high, though I retired from such pursuits as a freshman in highschool) and may hold some religious beliefs, but there appears to be a clear pattern, at least from my experience, that those who feel some level of economic insecurity often “cling” to their guns or their religion, as they desperately seek as much comfort as they can find in whatever sources are available. And they become very wary of anyone they believe may want to take away those remaining sources of comfort.
I do not believe Obama’s statements were insulting or inaccurate. But politicians and pundits who do constantly condescend to those who live in small towns and in rural areas believed they saw in such comments another golden opportunity to bamboozle the public.
#
Stonetool is the classic rural denier who won’t accept their share of the blame for re-electing Bush. Fooled you once… and got fooled again.
The numbers don’t lie. It was those ’salt of the earth country folk’ who put the war criminal back in office in ‘04. That’s after they knew he lied us into war, ran up debt future generations will have to pay for, mainstreamed torture and elevated crony capitalism to the unofficial state religion. Worst of all, they actually thought they got a tax cut. The city elitists didn’t re-elect Bush - you common sense, patriotic, gun-totin’, god-fearin’, white, country conservatives did.
I, too, am bitter because:
1. My health insurance no longer covers preventive care or medical tests, including X-rays, MRI’s, CAT scans or anything else of the like, leaving me to foot the bill, which I cannot afford. It also makes prescriptions prohibitively expensive to afford. At my age (51 as of today), that is tough medicine to swallow.
2. After 25 years on the job, and five years from retirement, I am only making a paltry $25,000 a year, hardly enough to live on in these days of gas approaching $4 a gallon and impacting the cost of everything else we consume. I am now considered to be among the “working poor” and “underinsured” - and I am a degreed, college educated woman!
3. No one has the cojones to impeach what has perhaps been the most criminal administration in our nation’s history. Everyone makes stupid excuses as to why it can’t be done. Like, hello? Did you read your Constitution today?
4. The war(s) drag on….and on….and on, and with no plausible end in sight. The drain on our treasury is staggering and our country is no safer from terrorism than it was pre-9/11.
5. People say that they are not ready to elect an African-American President. This, 40 years after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Have we not advanced far enough to get past racial politics? Are we really such a racist nation that we can never get past the color of a person’s skin and instead look at their character, as MLK urged us to do so eloquently and so long ago?
6. People are looking longingly at a Clinton Restoration, as if it will somehow bring back the good times of the 90’s. Hello? Do you know that most of that was built on the smoke and mirrors of the dot-com boom, that eventually went bust and cost a lot of folks jobs, just like today’s sub-prime mortgage meltdown? Face it, folks, the roaring 90’s are never going to return, so ditch your hopes of a Clinton Restoration bringing back those times again. Hate to burst y’all’s bubble, but Bubba and Wife ain’t gonna bring it all back again.
7. Hillary Hatred is going to cost the Dems this election if she’s nominated. She is still considered to be an extremely polarizing figure among many people. Obama “Fear the Black Man” is also going to cost the Dems the election unless he can somehow win over the white and blue collar vote, and sadly, that may just never happen. If only Al Gore would toss his hat into the ring. We’d finally have our dream candidate that would probably be able to win over all of Hillary’s and Obama’s respective constituencies and solidify the Democratic Party once and for all. Instead, it continues to devolve into a vicious cat fight to see who can scratch and claw their way to the nomination. Dems are bound and determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Am I bitter? You bet. And with good reason.
And how. Nice list there. So many things to be bitter about, it’s bewildering.
About guns. I probably won’t convince anyone here, but I don’t agree with Mr Obama, I see no reason not to cling to them, in a nation gone nuts. I’ve been itching to say that, and I’m sorry if it’s offensive.
Don’t take our guns. Don’t write off the need for an armed revolution. Sorry it sounds silly, at this point, today. Maybe not next year. Just because it hasn’t happened yet doesn’t mean it won’t happen at all. Don’t pretend for a second our founders didn’t mean anything of what they said. “Blood of patriots”, right?
Our government is murderous. It is insane to discuss disarming law-abiding citizens. How can it not be?
People hate guns, but all I have to do is look at the famous people who hate guns, but have armed guards, to see hypocrisy there. And think about the guns that would be left, if we allowed strict gun control.
So yeah, I’d be happy to talk about gun control, just as soon as the ordinary citizen isn’t the only one under those controls. Seriously, how many guns would be left in the hands of police, military, guards, prisons, etc? How many criminals would get rid of their guns? How many would be left unable to find another gun?? Black market anyone? Anyone?
Will ordinary chemistry be affected by the law, or will the ordinary ingredients needed to make gunpowder cease to exist? Guns will never go away. I’m sorry. It’s just a fact. Handguns are easy. Think about how long they’ve been around. Any one of us could probably make one.
I worry more about new and improved electricity weapons that work from a distance and can heat you up like a microwave. Works on crowds. Works great, and it’s silent too. No, it’s real and they’ve got it. It’s not science fiction. It’s hardware.
So police violence lately doesn’t seem to be decreasing. And how many contractors are in Iraq, as many as our military, right? Think Blackwater is going away, anytime soon? Hell, they have people here, and we have NO legal control of them, we cannot “order” them.
I mean, really. Quit with the guns. I know everyone hates the shootings, but maybe if we weren’t waging a drug war on our own people, we’d see a decrease in violence without having to pervert our right to bear arms. Why don’t we try that? Why not??? If we care about shootings, lets really do something. Stop the drug war. What we need is justice, treatment for victims, and an end to the destruction of what we believe is America.
crisler37 wrote the following insulting garbage:
Stonetool is the classic rural denier who won’t accept their share of the blame for re-electing Bush. Fooled you once… and got fooled again.
The numbers don’t lie. It was those ’salt of the earth country folk’ who put the war criminal back in office in ‘04. That’s after they knew he lied us into war, ran up debt future generations will have to pay for, mainstreamed torture and elevated crony capitalism to the unofficial state religion. Worst of all, they actually thought they got a tax cut. The city elitists didn’t re-elect Bush - you common sense, patriotic, gun-totin’, god-fearin’, white, country conservatives did.
********* It must be nice to be able to fall back on so mindless and simplistic a world view…… All portions of the US had Bush supporters IN PERCENTAGES…. The simplistic black and white view of the world…. or the nation…. actually “red / blue”……. Far easier to lump everybody together in groups by skin color, religion, race, gender, lifestyle and condemn them as a group…… That’s the Nazi way ….. than to look at the world realistically. From where I sit, “left wing Limbaughs” are no more charming than their right wing equivalent…… This comment is very reminiscent of one a right wing wacko I know made about the Muslim world when I pointed out that the problems we face involve only a small percentage of these people…tiny actually….. his words were “kill em all and let God sort em out”….. This is exactly the same sort of contemptible mindset. Read your words……. are you proud of what you wrote? Was it intelligent and insightful?……. Did you have the courage to sign your name to them?
……. You wrote that “numbers don’t lie”…… It is you, not I who needs to look at the numbers rather than just slinging mud mindlessly………….. I did not as you imply to suggest vote for any Bush EVER….. nor have a large percentage of my small town and rural friends.
Howard
Stonetool are you so conveniently ignorant as to deny that the ‘04 vote didn’t boil down to urban vs rural/small town. Again, I invite you to look at the voting demographic map. Does that mean every person who resides in the latter is a knuckle-dragging, Christian fascist militia nut? That every city person is enlightened and humane? Of course not. But if wasn’t for the former’s huge support for Bush he couldn’t have won.
So I’ll say it once more: The vast majority of small town/rural/small state America (and overwhelmingly white) - voted for Bush in ‘04. This isn’t a generalization, it’s a statistic.
And this demographic also claims to harbor very strong Christian beliefs. How is it that this sanctimonious majority - those who voted for Bush (not you and your friends) - could overlook: an illegal and immoral invasion of a third-world country to control their resources, killing half a million of them; virtual genocide of Palestinians; torture and illegal spying, et al? Care to call me a Nazi for that fact, or generalization as you say?
“You bet I’m bitter. And when more than 80 percent of Americans think we’re on the wrong track, I’m not the only one. Obama chose the right word. The only question is, how long will this bad taste last and how do we get rid of it?”
It’ll take a lot of toothpaste.
(just hope that it doesn’t have antifreeze in it)
Well, it’s about time! What is that phrase about perspective? I guess it depends on who’s Ox is being gored. As a fairly conservative American, meaning I really believe in the context and content of our Constitution, I’ve been predicting this type of government for almost thirty years. It doesn’t matter if you are on “the right” or “the left”, and it hasn’t for a long time in the red, white and blue of American Patriotism. If you’d had the nerve to stand back and see the bigger picture, you might have seen that for every program, tax or regulation that is inflicted on the American people, there is always an undercurrent of explotation and more importantly control of the populace. I know many of you will challenge my point, but even the little things; mandatory seat belt laws, mandatory schooling (mostly in unfit public schools), the Rockefeller drugs laws and the enrichment of the media/prison/military/law enforcement industrial complex has been about setting the stage for this type of government. I have known for years that these days were coming, yet everyone I speak to acts as though they are so very surprised? Did you all not see or hear about WACO, Ruby Ridge and Oklahoma City? Did you not notice the increase in no-knock raids and swat teams outfitted better than divisions of the SS? Did you all think it was about creating a better, more just society? How about the more than 1 in every 100 of our citizens that are in prison? Did you all not get the message that what used to be considered vices are now considered crimes? How far of a leap did you think it was going to take before that slippery slope was used to toss the majority of us into the pit?
The part that cracks me up is this belief that all we need to do is win an election, or do more community organization, and if we just work hard enough, the authorities will simply bow to our needs? They are not going to let go until there are millions of us in the streets engaged in a level of civil disobedience that shakes the entire world monetary system to it’s core, and even then I still think they’ll kill hundreds of thousands of us and lable it law enforcement. Do you think Obama is the answer? perhaps he’s a great guy and operates out of a true spirit of constitutional government? Well, we already had him in the spirit of Jimmy Carter, and look what they did to his presidency. Without armed resistance, our real choice is to force the fascist’s hand and demand a constitutional convention that works out the differences between what our country should have been based upon it’s founding, and a new understanding of what may be required in a modern effort to provide for the population, while allowing the independent, moral version of capitalsim to flourish. Oh, and one more thing, we need a few people with real principles and values to lead us into a more equitable place, and after we establish new constituional principles, we need to throw out every member of Congress, the Supreme Court and the Presidency, while we out law anyone who previously held office from ever doing so again. Now that would be a start.
Good Luck.
Regards,
Robert
I knew Dubya was a dangerously bad `un in late 2000 when i read about his mocking response to Carla Faye Tucker’s plea for her life, and realised then that he was chosen for his psychopathic attributes when exercising the power of life and death, as was well demonstrated also for the others when he was Gov of Texas and dispatched 100+ condemned without so much as bothering to read the file on his desk.
People here complain of the unintended bad consequences of Dubya’s policies, but i would say that these bad consequences are what is intended, as he first has to all but destroy America to make it malleable for absorption into the NAU in order to `save` it from a worse fate.
The trick for him and the cabal surrounding him is to do these nation wrecking things accidentally on purpose but not be caught doing it.
Hillary will be the same. Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton; if she gets in.
I haven’t read all the comments here so forgive me if this repeats what someone else has said. Obama got it right on the “bitter” part, but what he got wrong was the same divisiveness that the entire country is suffering from- small town people, or those who have religion, or favor carrying a gun are somehow different than a core “Us”. He made the same mistake Jesse Ventura made here in MN, with his comment:
“Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers.”
Whether you believe that or not, saying it out loud divides us into groups, and we instantly take sides. You would think politicians would know this. Jesse was a fluke, I expected more/better from Obama (not that I was planning to vote for him, but I had some hope). I not only expected him to be a better politician, but to have a better grasp on human nature.
I’m getting more and more frustrated by SO-CALLED “NEWS” programs making trumped up and unreasonable attacks on Obama.
I don’t agree with all of Obama’s platform, but it sure beats keeping our troops in Iraq for 100 years, or listening to another 4 or 8 years of false accusations about Whitewater and Monica.
The latest story to have the pundits in a feeding frenzy is the claim that “Obama slammed small town America.”
Believe me… I grew up in “small town America” and lived there until I was 38 years old.
Everything Obama said was ABSOLUTELY TRUE… We had LOTS of industry in Michigan, and then the paper companies died, the small manufacturers died, the GM plant was closed and all of the “feeder” businesses went broke… and we were all promised that tax cuts for the wealthy would “trickle down” in the form of new investment and new industry to replace those that left… it never did and STILL hasn’t!
The result of too much poverty in a formerly affluent area was a rapid expansion of the Michigan Militia, huge expansion of the fundamentalist churches, and a great deal of anger and bitterness with the federal government and the corporate greed that drove the industry first to the Southern states and then overseas.
Attacking small town America? NO… attacking corporate greed and government stupidity!
…and frankly, SOMEONE should be attacking the so-called “news media” too… when they can’t find a story, they jump on anything that they can blow out of proportion!