The McGovernization of Obama

[metta 0]

The McGovernization of Obama [Victor Davis Hanson]

I still believe that by August, Obama, the half-term rookie Senator, will have become the second George McGovern. Cf. his latest declaration to the Marin County faithful (coming on the heels of the crazy anti-Semitic rant of Rev. Eric Lee, a prominent LA Obama supporter):

"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," Obama said. "And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. 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."

Let us count the ways that this is a disastrous declaration:

1. “Nothing’s replaced them”? As someone who lives in a small rural town that saw a lot of closed plants and farm depression in the 1980s, a lot has “replaced them”—explaining why for much of the last decade the national unemployment rate has been below 5%.

2. “They”. This evokes Michelle’s similar “they” (as in the “they” who raised the proverbial bar on the Obamas), and likewise suggests both hostility and a certain us/they contempt for a slice of America that the Obamas apparently know very little about—but for the first time in their lives are rapidly discovering.

3. “They cling to guns or religion”. This is revealing for two reasons: one, Obama has been trying to finesse his position on guns to appeal precisely to gun owners and thus we start to see that his repositioning is cynical to the core; two, “cling to religion?” No rural Pennsylvanian clings to religion more than Obama himself, who for 20 years sat silent in the pews, while a hate-spewing minister damned his country and most everyone else. The question is not why Pennsylvanians “cling to their religion”, but why do the Obamas still cling to the Trinity Church that seems far more extreme than anything I’ve seen in rural America.

4. “antipathy to people who aren't like them”—as in the case of Rev. Wright’s views of Jews, whites, Italians, or Americans in general? In short, Obama accuses rural Pennsylvanians of a racism that they haven’t expressed while contextualizing the racism that his own Rev. Wright has.

5. “Anti-immigrant sentiment”? As in wishing that drivers’ licenses are not issued to those here illegally, or that we insist that those who immigrate to the U.S. do so legally?

6. The worst hypocrisy, of course, is Obama’s charge that these small towns in Pennsylvania express “anti-trade sentiment.” It was not George Bush or John McCain, but Barack Obama himself who tried to salvage Ohio by demagoguing NAFTA and opposing a free-trade agreement with Columbia. His entire campaign is predicated on showing more anti-trade sentiment that the Clintons.

7. Let me get this straight: Obama goes to the Bay Area to an affluent liberal enclave to give a condescending take on the supposed poor fools that he is currently trying to court. This is not just hypocritical, but abjectly stupid. All of Pennsylvania surely is asking today what is so hip and sophisticated about the Trinity Church and Rev. Wright?

So here we have the essential Obama, a walking paradox between the postmodern hip-Ivy-Leaguer who sneers at middle-class America’s supposed prejudices and parochialism, while at the same time courting an anti-Enlightenment, prejudicial demagogue like Jeremiah Wright. For free trade or anti-free trade? For 2nd-amendment rights or not? Post-religious or pious and fundamentalist? For public campaign financing or not? A uniter of various groups or someone who sees America in terms of “they”? Straight-talking or someone who evokes "context" to explain away the inexplicable?

Again, we will see more and more of these condescending statements of the Michelle Obama strain, more and more of Revs. Wright, Meeks, Lee and others peddlers of division like them, and more and more clues to a long hostility to Israel—in what will eventually become the most disastrous chapter in recent Democratic history.

And pundits keep wondering why Hillary won't give up?

[cmartyn 0]

Uncle Uncle.. THe emporer has no clothes.

I know, lets vote for another grandson of a Nazi colaberator bankster GOP dude. That would be good. Bring in Jeb.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The Hillbots sure want this to get some traction. It won't.

[Don_Joy's Prince 0]

Uncle Uncle.. THe emporer has no clothes.

I know, lets vote for another grandson of a Nazi colaberator bankster GOP dude. That would be good. Bring in Jeb.

Show your proof of Nazi collaboration or withdraw your remarks.

You cannot go around spewing unsupported allegations without being challenged.

Show your FACTS!

[metta 0]

The Hillbots sure want this to get some traction. It won't.

Awww, you're in denial

This is why rookies shouldn’t run for President

Rookies should not run for President. Rookies make mistakes that brand them, and once made on the national stage, those brands never entirely disappear. Ask Joe Biden, whose plagiarism 20 years ago still largely defines him outside of Delaware, and he was hardly a rookie at the time.

What makes this so breathtaking is the mindless, casual way in which Obama reveals his snobbishness and elitism. We saw hints of this from Michelle Obama, in her assertions about never being proud of her country until her husband ran for President. (Soren Dayton has more on this.) We had not seen it from Obama himself in such a blatant and unmistakable manner. The matter-of-fact style in which he spoke this shows the unthinking contempt he has for people he has never engaged — an acceptance of stereotypes without questioning them that shows his own bigotry, not to mention foolishness and poor judgment.

At times, we have remarked that Obama only really performs well with a script. Once he has to speak extemporaneously, not only does he fare worse as an orator, but he tends to get lost and make unforced errors. It’s hard to imagine one worse than this. It’s all the worse because it’s not a gaffe in the normal sense, but a revealing moment that shows how Obama really views Americans. With this statement, it’s not hard to understand why he sat in Jeremiah Wright’s church for 20 years and heard nothing that moved him to dissent.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Uncle Uncle.. THe emporer has no clothes.

I know, lets vote for another grandson of a Nazi colaberator bankster GOP dude. That would be good. Bring in Jeb.

Show your proof of Nazi collaboration or withdraw your remarks.

You cannot go around spewing unsupported allegations without being challenged.

Show your FACTS!

You mean Prescott Bush?

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The Hillbots sure want this to get some traction. It won't.

Awww, you're in denial

Actually, you are. This is like the third thread you guys started on the same subject. Go ahead, spam some more. Let your desperation show. And keep them tears for when Hill is officially done. You'll need them then.

[cmartyn 0]

Facts? Ok, you caught me, I was being a ditto head. Unlike everyone here who is fully educated on every subject they speak about. I have been reading a lot of economic theory and stuff like this pops its head up with a surprising level of regularity. Still, The Union Banking Corporation (UBC) was a banking corporation in the US whose assets were seized by the United States government during World War II under the trading with the enemy act. Prescott Bush was a director of the UBC bank at that time. I think that If nothing else, it shows a lack of good judgment and perhaps a little problem in the morality department. Some go so far as to say it showed a colossal lack of judgment and a character completely devoid of morals.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

This is why rookies shouldn’t run for President

Being condescending was the issue, yes? That headline sure is. Playing field all level again. Except, of course, there being a bit of an oversight here. After all, Hillary has a whole 8 years of elected public office under her belt. Obama has 12. So, if rookies shouldn't run for President, then maybe that's just another reason for Hillary to drop out of that race. Other than being second fiddle to Bill, she ain't got much to show.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

The Hillbots sure want this to get some traction. It won't.

Just ran across this gem - like I said, it won't stick. Billary tried to peddle it for some additional mileage in NC but even they noticed it ain't flying. They dropped it off the menu. But some fools within camp Billary will keep peddling it until it backfires.

From NBC/NJ's Carrie Dann

GOLDSBORO, NC -- As is evident from political journalists' email boxes today, the Clinton campaign appears to believe it's found a silver bullet -- served with a side of brie and chardonnay -- in Obama's recent controversial comments.

On the same day that Obama's opponents keep their eyes peeled for outrage from small-town America, Bill Clinton is doing a marathon six-stop campaign day in rural eastern North Carolina, a swing billed by one supporter as a "Barbeque Tour."

But the issue doesn't seem to be sticking. Clinton himself has been silent on the issue. But at the first two events of the day, the campaign has sent one of Carolina's hometown boys out to push the issue before Clinton takes the stage. Tom Hendrickson, a Clinton supporter and former Democratic Party chairman, included a reading of Obama's comments in his introduction of Clinton.

"Senator Obama, don't pity us and think that we're bitter and frustrated," he said in Winterville this morning. "We are hard-working family folks who are smart, and we get it. We don't need pundits to tell us what to think."

Hendrickson repeated the sentiment at a later stop in Winston, but dropped the direct mention of Obama as the source of the quote.

In both instances, Hendrickson's speech evidenced little reaction from the crowd, which had been waiting for the main event for over an hour, and appeared to have little tolerance for a parade of surrogates.

By the third stop of the day in Goldsboro, Hendrickson did not even take the stage.

In Goldsboro, close observers noticed a (light) smattering of stickers being worn by attendees. "I'm not bitter!" read the simple rectangular label on the lapels of a couple dozen in the crowd. The campaign says that the stickers are evidence of outrage at the grassroots level.

Yet it's unclear how spontaneous the sentiment was. A boxful of the stickers was spotted at Clinton's first event of the day -- being whisked backstage.

Source

Very interesting to read through the debate underneath the article. People are fed up. With DC, with Hillary.

Edited April 13, 2008 by Mr. Big Dog

[one...two...tree 2,762]

GOLDSBORO, NC -- As is evident from political journalists' email boxes today, the Clinton campaign appears to believe it's found a silver bullet -- served with a side of brie and chardonnay -- in Obama's recent controversial comments.

That's hitting the nail on the head. Hillary's camp is desperately looking for a silver bullet, a miscalculated move, a mispoken word, a scandal...anything that might 'do him in' and it's both laughable and sad.

What sad times these are for the Democratic Party when the trailing candidate who has no conceivable chance of garnering the popular vote or majority of delegates, is so eager to discredit and dismiss the frontrunner as unfit to be President. Shame on Bill and Hillary for what they are doing to the Party that supported them all these years.

[SqdnGuns 21]

GOLDSBORO, NC -- As is evident from political journalists' email boxes today, the Clinton campaign appears to believe it's found a silver bullet -- served with a side of brie and chardonnay -- in Obama's recent controversial comments.

That's hitting the nail on the head. Hillary's camp is desperately looking for a silver bullet, a miscalculated move, a mispoken word, a scandal...anything that might 'do him in' and it's both laughable and sad.

What sad times these are for the Democratic Party when the trailing candidate who has no conceivable chance of garnering the popular vote or majority of delegates, is so eager to discredit and dismiss the frontrunner as unfit to be President. Shame on Bill and Hillary for what they are doing to the Party that supported them all these years.

They're using the Party like Bill used his women..............

[one...two...tree 2,762]

GOLDSBORO, NC -- As is evident from political journalists' email boxes today, the Clinton campaign appears to believe it's found a silver bullet -- served with a side of brie and chardonnay -- in Obama's recent controversial comments.

That's hitting the nail on the head. Hillary's camp is desperately looking for a silver bullet, a miscalculated move, a mispoken word, a scandal...anything that might 'do him in' and it's both laughable and sad.

What sad times these are for the Democratic Party when the trailing candidate who has no conceivable chance of garnering the popular vote or majority of delegates, is so eager to discredit and dismiss the frontrunner as unfit to be President. Shame on Bill and Hillary for what they are doing to the Party that supported them all these years.

They're using the Party like Bill used his women..............

LOL...that about sums it up nicely.