Obama’s Elitism, Careerism Now Campaign Issues
Obama's elitist remarks to a group of rich donors is only part of the disconnect between a man who inspires millions on the stump and the coldly calculating careerist whose ambition has led him to the brink of success.
Support Pajamas Media; Visit Our Advertisers
Until today, Barack Obama was something of a cipher - a sphinx-like candidate who was so new to the national spotlight that the press, the pundits, and the voters had little to go on as far as the true nature of the man and his attitudes toward America, its traditions and history, as well as its citizens.
Obama assisted in keeping this mystery deliberately. His carefully crafted speeches were, at first, little more than “change and hope,” pep talks delivered with the practiced care and calculated effect of a master propagandist. Never saying anything offensive about anyone, never going “off message” in an attempt to appeal directly to the anger and unease Democrats feel about the direction of the country, Obama’s rhetoric soared and touched the deepest longings of the American soul for unity, community, and most of all, change.
The fact that he has never given more than a thumbnail’s description of how he intends to achieve these miracles didn’t matter to the press or his adoring supporters. It was a tonic to hear an American politician so optimistic about the future, so capable of arousing in even the most cynical of breasts feelings of hope and happiness. Obama had a gift that allowed people to believe in him despite scant evidence that he had the ability or even the temperament to battle the special interests and reform Washington, or ram national health insurance legislation through a reluctant Congress, or bring prosperity to all.
But the campaign season is long and a candidate is tested as for no other elective office in the world. Eventually - finally - there would be some kind of reckoning; a revelatory episode that would show the press and the voter the man behind the pretty words, silken voice, and bountiful charisma.
The realization that Obama is an elitist who lacks a basic understanding of how the majority of Americans live and what is important to them will no doubt have far reaching consequences for his candidacy. But beyond the immediate problem for Obama’s disconnect from ordinary people is the seeming contradiction between his rhetoric on the campaign trail and how he has conducted himself throughout his career in seeking to achieve high office. Ultimately, it goes back to the fundamental question we ask of all candidates.
Who is Barack Obama?
We have had hints of the man who resides within Obama - the inner voice that talks to him, shapes his thoughts, animates his view of the world. But these hints have been from those close to him, those the candidate himself has relied on for advice, friendship, and mentoring. His wife, whose comment about her husband’s candidacy making her proud about America for the first time in her adult life as well as her contention that America is a profoundly “mean” country inhabited by “cynics, sloths, and complacents” was shocking because it opened up a line of questioning into Obama’s own beliefs.
Michelle Obama’s casual confession about lacking pride in America was the first time people paused in mid-jump on the Obama bandwagon to ask themselves some serious questions about the tangle of thoughts in the candidate’s mind. Just what does this guy really believe? What is the core of his personal, most intimate thoughts about America and her people?
Then along came Reverend Jeremiah Wright and suddenly, the questions started to pile up. Along with revelations about his relationship with unrepentant domestic terrorists William Ayers and Bernadine Dorhn as well as a shady Chicago Machine fixer Tony Rezko, people were starting to ask “Will the real Barack Obama please stand up?”
How could this bright, optimistic, sincere youngish politician be associated with these characters who represented the worst of America when the candidate himself was appealing to the best in all of us?
It is a mystery until you examine the contours of Obama’s life and see a man who for a very long time has had his eyes on high office. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course - unless the ambition takes over and your principles are tossed out the window, your life becoming a slave to career advancement.
This is the seeming disconnect between Obama on the stump and Obama the careerist. Where the Obama on the stump preaches racial healing, the careerist Obama embraces a Reverend Wright whose church was one of the most visible in the African American community in Chicago and Wright himself a nationally renowned minister. For more than 20 years Obama sat in the pews of a church run by an admirer of Louis Farrakhan and believer in AIDS conspiracy theories. And yet, his attendance also brought him respect in the African American community - as it was fully intended to do.
The episode with Wright is instructive: the idea that the Obama we see on the stump could believe in anything the wild eyed, bigoted, America hating Wright believed in was so farfetched, that all it took to dispense with Wright as a campaign issue (temporarily anyway) were some soothing words about race delivered before a nation willing to forgive the initial falsehoods the candidate told about not knowing of Wright’s bigotry. Other, more troubling questions about why anyone who loved this country continued to attend services at a church whose statement of beliefs was so at odds with what most of the rest of us believe were answered with the incredible notion that the candidate believed Wright was dispensing a message of hope.
More disconnect from the speechifying Obama came from the continuing revelations regarding his long time friend and political patron Tony Rezko. Obama on the stump talked of reforming politics, of being a champion against special interests. But Obama the careerist shunned the political reform movement in Chicago to lie down with the likes of Rezko, who not only raised more than a quarter of a million dollars for his campaigns but introduced him to other fat cat donors who would prove valuable when the time came to run for the US senate.
How can someone spouting political reform on the stump be tied up with Rezko, Mayor Daley, and others while endorsing for office proven crooks like Cook County Commissioner the late John Stroger and other Chicago Machine politicians?
A similar “What was he thinking” question could be raised when discussing his association with perhaps the most grotesque of all the characters that have emerged this campaign season; former Weather Underground bombers William Ayers and Bernadine Dorhn. One can only shake the head in disbelief that the potential next president of the United States is on a first name basis with someone who is proud of bombing the Pentagon.
Again, it isn’t so much what Ayers stood for as much as what Ayers could do for an ambitious liberal seeking his first public office. Ayers was very well respected in the far left circles of the Senate district Obama was running in. An introduction to Ayers from the retiring incumbent was necessary if Obama were to win the seat.
If the relationship had stopped there, no one would blame Obama for doing what was necessary to win. But over the years, Obama kept up with the association by appearing in forums with Ayers and even serving on the board of a left wing foundation with him.
Again, it seems impossible that the Obama of the stump could find anything about Mr. Ayers remotely appealing. But Ayers has a certain cachet with the far left in this country - the shock troops who promote and work for liberal causes and staff the campaigns of liberal Democrats. The careerist Obama found that Ayers name opened doors that may have been normally shut to a young African American politician positioning himself for a US senate run.
Obama has clearly been an opportunist in his political career. All good politicians are. And the best ones seize their opportunities without hesitation and run as far as luck and brains can take them. Obama has been lucky. He has also been as calculating a politician as we have seen since Lyndon Johnson ruled the senate. Both men proved to have towering ambition and enormous political gifts.
But Johnson also suffered from this apparent disconnect - a down home country politician who played hardball on the Hill as well as it can be played. Johnson had problematic associations and connections also, men that made one wonder what kind of a man was this whose friends wheeled and dealed their way through Washington while Johnson railed against their kind on the Senate floor.
In the end, the answer to the riddle is that both men set a goal early in their careers and never let anything get in the way of achieving it. This includes principles espoused in their public speeches which for both men had a nasty habit of contradicting what they were doing in the political trenches. We are just finding this out about Obama - as we are discovering that the candidate is also an elitist of the first order.
Last Sunday in San Francisco, in off-the-cuff remarks before a group of rich donors, Obama let his true feelings about average Americans be known:
But — so the questions you’re most likely to get about me, ‘Well, what is this guy going to do for me? What’s the concrete thing?’ What they wanna hear is — so, we’ll give you talking points about what we’re proposing — close tax loopholes, roll back, you know, the tax cuts for the top 1 percent. Obama’s gonna give tax breaks to middle-class folks and we’re gonna provide health care for every American. So we’ll go down a series of talking points.
But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there’s not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of 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 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. So it’s not surprising then that 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.
By trying to diagnose what is wrong with the Rust Belt middle class, Obama reveals a shockingly cartoonish understanding of white people - in its own way as ignorant as Reverend Wright’s clownish demonizations of whites. This is an Obama out of touch with regular folks, speaking in disparaging tones about people who take their religion seriously or have an abiding love of the outdoors represented by their owning a firearm (hunting being a second religion in Pennsylvania). It was a dumbfounding moment, showing a candidate who views about half of America as victims of their own bitter frustrations.
Obama later issued a “clarifying statement” after his campaign tried to plead ignorance about what he said:
“Senator Obama has said many times in this campaign that Americans are understandably upset with their leaders in Washington for saying anything to win elections while failing to stand up to the special interests and fight for an economic agenda that will bring jobs and opportunity back to struggling communities. And if John McCain wants a debate about who’s out of touch with the American people, we can start by talking about the tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans that he once said offended his conscience but now wants to make permanent,”
Trying to shift the focus to McCain is a weak move. He did not address what has everyone up in arms - the disconnect between Obama on the stump who would never denigrate working people as he did, and the Obama talking to liberal elitists - apparently like himself - explaining his understanding of how the rubes live and what’s wrong with them.
This revelation has a chance to do more damage to his candidacy than 10 Reverend Wrights. It is doubtful that Obama could find a venue to give a speech trying to explain the naked elitism he revealed in just a few sentences to a group of mega rich contributors. Even if he did give a speech, what could he say? Just about anything he came up with would sound even more condescending.
The more we learn about Obama, the wider the gap grows between the messianic character on the stump whose golden voice and pitch perfect rhetoric has inspired millions of people and the coldly calculating careerist politician whose elitism has blinded him to the struggles and hopes of ordinary people.
The two Obamas are irreconcilable. And the confusion felt by many will almost certainly translate into a loss of support for the candidate in these final primaries that will determine the Democratic nominee for president.
Rick Moran is PJM Chicago editor; his own blog is Right Wing Nut House.
[Correction: the article initially misstated the city where the fund-raising event took place; it was San Francisco, not Los Angeles]
| Comment |  Digg This |
 del.icio.us |
 |
 |
 PJM Home |
78 Comments
Mike:Great analysis. Too bad that it’s taken a week for Obama’s guns/religion/racism line to come out (it’s also at Powerline), but hopefully it will be a slow burner. If Obama gets the nomination the McCain team is going to have a whole pile of audio and video gaffes to turn into campaign ads!
Apr 12, 2008 - 2:33 am christopher rivers:I’m confident things like this won’t hurt obama too much in the primary - half the committed dems agree with him, the other half will claim they know what he “really” meant. He’ll get the nomination, and McCain will have a pile of stuff to beat him over the head with during an election campaign. And I shall laugh and laugh.
Apr 12, 2008 - 4:09 am USpace:In four or eight years the GOP should run a conservative African-American for POTUS, scores of so-called ‘progressives’ will most assuredly reveal their deep-seated racism.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe hates
typical white people
just they are responsible
for the EVIL in the world
.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
ALL Whites are racist
people of other races
can never be racists
.
absurd thought -
God of the Universe says
don’t discuss politicians
or their political views
bankrupt ideologies
.
Apr 12, 2008 - 4:20 am vb:http://absurdthoughtsaboutgod.blogspot.com/2008/03/whos-more-racist-obamas-hateful.html
.
The Obamas are let them eat cake types who want to bake the cakes for their underlings. Let’s see–you have a few extra inches around the waist. I think you need a tofu cake with a locally grown (as long as I don’t have to break my back picking it) organic spinach topping. We want to be pround of America, and your BMI is embarrassing us. And don’t give us the line that you want Grandma’s devils food cake for your birthday. Don’t you know that that name is hurtful?
And while we are at it, we need to talk about that religion thing. How dare you attend church because it gives meaning to your lives I don’t care if three generations of your family were baptized, married, and buried with the blessings of its congregation. I don’t care if the ladies of the church brought casseroles for your family after you had that tumor removed. You have to get over your bitterness and join a church that gives you street creds.
You are lazy. Do you really think this country needs people to deliver mail, fix cars, stack shelves at Walmart, monitor vital signs in the ambulance, choose books for the local library, install new floors in bathrooms? What we need are more professors of ethnic studies and women’s studies and more government agencies supported by a tax code that ensures full employment for CPAs. We need more activists who burn houses of folks that don’t take animal rights seriously. We don’t want you to be bitter; we want you to be mad–mad at the lousy country we live in. We are tired of having to apologize for you when we are trying to sell our America-basing books and movies abroad. We have our million dollar house to pay for and we want to hold our heads high as we do. Don’t make us feel guilty for our granite countertops. Shape up folks. I’ll show you how.
Apr 12, 2008 - 4:44 am slp:Please correct this post.
The meeting with the billionaire boys club was in San Francisco, not Los Angeles.
Apr 12, 2008 - 4:56 am Jack:Everyone should stop financially supporting African American organizations. Give money directly to AA individuals, anonymously, if that is the way your giving goes.
Obama seems to be more of a divider than a uniter.
Apr 12, 2008 - 5:15 am WR Jonas:This man is so staggeringly arrogant ,I do not understand how he can even be a pimple on the political plain.
Apr 12, 2008 - 6:39 am Saltherring:Does he truly believe this garbage ? Which stack of liberal crap does he sleep under each night?
Simply unbelievable.
Christopher Rivers wrote ” half the committed dems agree with him, the other half will claim they know what he ‘really’ meant.” How true. And one of these election cycles those types will outnumber thinking, reasoning, discerning and patriotic Americans. If we succeed in saving ourselves from this Obama, we may not have the numbers to do so with the next one. Heaven help America.
Apr 12, 2008 - 7:05 am Eric Dondero:As bad as this particular remark was, his remarks to a crowd of Seniors the other day in PA could ultimately prove even more damaging. Obama told the crowd that if they didn’t subsidize the education of “minority students” today, it’s unlikely they would continue to fund their Social Security checks in the future.
An outright threat.
Even worse, he singled out subsidies only for “minority students,” Asian and Whites need not apply.
The Chicago Trib.’s Swamp broke the story. The Baltimore Sun mentioned it, and it was picked up on a couple blogs like Libertarian Republican. But amazingly that was all the coverage it received.
I guess these days there’s so many Obama gaffes to choose from, that the media, even the blogosphere can only carry news on a limited number.
Apr 12, 2008 - 7:34 am David Thomson:“Barry” Obama’s ridiculous comment is also another example of the mediocre education he received from Harvard University. He is a pseudoeducated man who possesses a shallow understanding of so-called angry white men. Try imagining someone discussing how black people love eating watermelon and getting poontang on Saturday night.
Apr 12, 2008 - 7:41 am Glenn:Here’s the real problem, this story is going to get very little play in the legacy media. What little it gets will be today (Saturday) to make sure as few people as possible find out about BOs comments. For example the San Francisco Chronicle has yet to say a word. Tim Russert and Chris Matthews won’t ask any hard questions of BO or his advisors. His revised,modified, limited hang out will be widely quoted and his original remarks ignored by his cheering section in the media. And so on and so forth.
Apr 12, 2008 - 7:43 am Misanthropicus:Interesting and unfortunately true. From his first (big time) public exposures I was wary of this fellow’s glibness and of what might lurk underneath - yet the response of the media and, unfortunately, of the public is more appaling for me. During the Nov/Dec campaign in mid-west people simply went medieval, crawling on their knees in rain, mud and sleet, lamenting, arms extended - the man of hope is here! He can heal scrofules and hemorhoids with only a touch/stare! Economy, war, global heating, he can fix them all! Totally Cantenbury Tales, and indeed scary - it shows how fragile democracies are and that it is not that impossible for a slick operator to nest himself in a social crevice opened by a national crisis then bloom, and this in US, not in Ruritania or who knows where!
Apr 12, 2008 - 8:19 am Bill Bradley:However, I think (hope) that his tongue will un-do him - too many alarming things have began to grow around mister Glib’ama.
The private fundraiser where Obama made his remarks was in San Francisco, not Los Angeles.
I know because I asked to attend the event and was denied. On the not unreasonable grounds that it was private, off-the-record, and closed to the press.
I’m considered a member of the press by the campaigns, and have carried press credentials for over a decade.
Somehow, someone attached to the Huffington Post, ironically an Obama supporter who blogs about the campaign, got into the fundraiser, recorded it — the audio quality is terrible and it obviously a microphone in front of Obama — and had it put up on HuffPo Friday.
My friend Steve Schmidt of the McCain campaign got hold of it and issued marching orders for the outrage to echo forth.
A fascinating situation.
Apr 12, 2008 - 8:33 am maya:I’m concerned about the issues that have hit the surface since this election started. it appears that weare more devided than ever. more racism is confronting us and we cannot ask questions of Obama because we are intimidated as hate mongers. We need to have Obama clarify his associations with Bill Ayers, the weatherman terrorist, who is his friend and Rashid Khalidi, who has been a friend and supporter of OBAMA and a promoter of the PLO. I’d hate tothink that our president is in supportof the PLO.
Apr 12, 2008 - 8:36 am Ciscokid:Rick Moran point’s out it’s business as usual for politicians to befriend or use those who’re considered to be out on the “fringe” of both political parties. Next step is for the politician to distance themselves from these groups or people by explaining they’re either being taken out of “context” or they’re not responsible and can’t control who endorses them. Using rationalization (better well known as denial) next step for the party faithful is to believe their candidate will do as they themselves have promised us they will do, when elected to office. Fringe groups are needed to raise money or secure their vote. Both parties candidates must be careful not to alienate the fringe groups. Okay, we get it. Arguments will be made that logically dismiss both sides as a necessary evil to win an election. All in all it’s a distraction from who the candidate really is, what they believe and how they “personally” will lead us. Planed and prepared speeches are great but who can argue with what a candidate says off the cuff. Those comment’s speak volumes to fill in the blanks. Obama has just told us we shouldn’t be allowed or trusted to think for ourselves. Obama has just told us he’s smarter than us. Right or wrong is this the person who should be leading us? Should we at this critical time in world history surrender our trust to a elitist thinking, Harvard lawyer? Shouldn’t we by now recognize Obama is no more than a typical politician who’s promises of hope and change is no more than a campaign slogan? Easily put - If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck - it’s a duck. Distractions aside I believe electing Obama and his advisors to office will make the Carter presidency pale in comparison to the damage he’s likely to do. Stars have aligned themselves to elect another “ultraliberal” president to office by the previously planted seeds. This time lets show the elites that we’re not so dumb after all. Obama has done nothing more than play to whatever we want to hear, distracting us to what he will actually do if elected to office. This country will be far more divided than ever. Stagnation to the economy while opening the door for aggressors by using their historically best friend of appeasement. Obama won’t be able to simply vote ‘present” (done for “political” reasons in the past !!!) while sitting in the Presidents chair. All elections are important. This one is critical to get right. I never thought in my wildest dreams I’d ever see Hilary as a better alternative. I will vote for McCain.
Apr 12, 2008 - 9:21 am Bernardo:So, the Democratic Party has fielded a candidate who, unless he wins both their nomination AND the White House, has the backing of home-grown terrorists and anti-American hate-mongers ready to take to the streets in retaliation.
We are in for fun times this year.
Apr 12, 2008 - 9:25 am Bill Bradley:Actually, our President does support the PLO.
By our President, I am referring to President Bush.
The United States supports the Fatah government of the Palestinian Authority.
Fatah is part of the PLO, and was founded by Yasser Arafat.
John McCain supports them, too.
>I’d hate tothink that our president is in supportof the PLO.
Apr 12, 2008 - 9:37 am 11B40:Greetings:
For me, it all goes back to Senator Obama’s involvement in the Saul Alinsky “community organizing” business. The basis of Mr. Alinsky’s theory and practice was what is referred to as the “felt needs” of the community. These needs were to be identified, amplified and manipulated to advance the unrevealed Alinsky socio-political agenda which was of a socialist/communist nature. This superior knowledge entitles the “organizers” to manipulate the targeted population and is elitist to its core.
Apr 12, 2008 - 10:04 am Believer:Over at zombietime.com is a pictorial of that day - Billionaire’s Row.
Nicely written; I only hope Rick Moran or someone else follows up on Eric Dondero’s news of his visit with the Seniors.
We can’t afford to be ignorant of who this man truly is.
Apr 12, 2008 - 10:51 am Typical White Pennsylvanian:Believer: Thanks for the link!! It is fabulous. Nothing like insulting us bitter and ignorant PA voters in front of the Getty’s and such.
Why isn’t he bowling for dollars there?
Bye bye Barack!
Apr 12, 2008 - 12:02 pm Navy One:I feel like a diner stuck with three choices, three dishes I don’t necessarily want.
Apr 12, 2008 - 12:06 pm Rubicon:Hilary is like escargot. I know snails intimately from my garden, but I never want to eat them after trying their slipperiness once.
Obama is the mystery fish. What kind is it? I am not sure. Is it fresh, have we had it before? Maybe, maybe not. The hopeful waiter did make it sound so perfect. And I would be a backwards, unsophisticated diner if I didn’t opt for change.
McCain is liver, plain and simple. I have had it many times at this restaurant, and don’t really feel like it today. But hell, liver gives strength and it is hard to screw up.
What mostly bothers me is that our media have fallen down on the job. The media seem to be so “in the pocket” of liberal causes & beliefs that they simply ignore, overlook, or downplay what are obvious flaws in the mental character of this man & any who support the socialist cause.
If our media have sold out as much as it appears they have, it means they have already bought into the indoctrination propaganda of socialism & they seek a collectivist America. This despite the historical failures of such countries & governments. They always end up oppressors seeking power & wealth for the elite in control.
What we have ain’t perfect, but we have more control over it than we will ever have if we fall into the socialism trap!
Does anyone else wonder what’s in it for George Soros, the financial guru of the radical liberal left? I mean, he can never be president since he was not born here.
So why is he spending literally hundreds of millions to change America? He wants legalized prostitution, legalized drugs, and has even provided some financial support for the pedophile party in the Netherlands. (Yes, there really is a political party there based on pedophilia).
Soros loves the idea that the United Nations (UN) would lead the world. Could that be because “he” financially or even operationally controls many UN non governmental organizations (NGO) & he has incredible influence over many UN departments & managers?
Obama’s attitudes & those of Soros are almost the same. Obama has shown us his attitude when it comes to us average rubes. We are bitter & frustrated victims who must be saved through his enlightened leadership… with the help of his socialist buddies of course! Because we are incapable of making decisions on our own & must be shown what & how to think, just like him!! Oh joy!!!!
Apr 12, 2008 - 12:21 pm david p:Barrak Obama just can’t stop revealing to us what he REALLY thinks about America. He ascribes to an ideology born out of academia, that is saturated with impracticalities. Plans to craft “changes” to our foreign policy based on theories put forth by Harvard colleagues Mearsheimer and Walt expose his true obsession.
Apr 12, 2008 - 12:21 pm WR Jonas:You gotta love Bill Bradley. Now the McCain campaign issues “marching orders”? Bill, get away from California for awhile and take a little vacation without your press credentials.
Apr 12, 2008 - 12:25 pm M. Simon:At the University of Chicago students and staff are treated like Royalty and the neighborhood folks are treated like servants.
At my son’s graduation there last summer almost all the wait staff were blacks from the neighborhood dressed like servants in the Jim Crow South (I lived there as a youth). It had an offensive feel to it. Just the way Jim Crow felt offensive to me.
That is the environment Obama was used to. His behavior fits in well with the people he associated with. And how do you behave towards servants? Well you certainly don’t get into any kind of personal conversation with them.
Apr 12, 2008 - 1:11 pm P NEAL:Not only is Obama’s arrogance and condescension slowly dripping out of his pores, his entire camdidacy based on Change and Hope is about to implode with the imminent advant of the Larry Sinclair allegations of cocaine use and gay sex in 1999 and perhaps an unsavoury connection to the Donald Young murder.
Apr 12, 2008 - 1:13 pm Sissy Willis:A totally awesome analysis of the unraveling of Barack Obama’s tapestry of deceit.
Here’s my take on it all:
http://sisu.typepad.com/sisu/2008/04/hillary-said-so.html
Apr 12, 2008 - 2:28 pm R Becker:Careerism indeed! Obama and chief strategist David Axelrod have shown quite a knack for knocking off opponents without any or much off an election. Witness Alice Palmer, Blair Hull, and Jack Ryan in Illnois.
When this other ruthless side of Obama is fully exposed, he’s done.
http://theobamamonitor.blogspot.com/2008/02/david-axelrod.html
Apr 12, 2008 - 2:35 pm jw:Obama thinks that people have religious beliefs only because they are bitter with life - Karl Marx’s view that religion is the opiate of the masses - but he has been and still is a member of the church formerly headed by Jeremiah Wright, whom he claims brought him to Jesus!
Apr 12, 2008 - 2:44 pm Eric Dondero:Libertarian Presidential candidate Bob Barr just slammed Obama for his Anti-Rural White America remarks.
This is great! A one/two punch from Republican McCain and Libertarian Bob Barr. Hillary has even chimed in with a very decent slam of Obama. Three on one now!
Story on Barr slams Obama at Libertarian Republican blog (click on link).
Apr 12, 2008 - 3:03 pm LCSusan:I find it interesting that many conservatives are only now coming to the conclusions some of us libs have had for a long time: Senator Obama is an opportunist in post partisan transcendent clothing - not that I have anything against opportunists, I just like my opportunists honest.
http://strictlyanecdotal.com/2008/04/11/senator-obama-what-pennsylvania-did-you-visit.aspx
Apr 12, 2008 - 3:25 pm David Thomson:“…imminent advant of the Larry Sinclair allegations of cocaine use and gay sex in 1999 and perhaps an unsavoury connection to the Donald Young murder.”
I don’t like dealing with vague suspicions bordering on slander. Let the supermarket tabloids continue handling this sort of stuff. We should not touch it with the proverbial ten foot pole.
Apr 12, 2008 - 3:27 pm Bill Bradley:Actually, the McCain campaign does issue marching orders, to every media organ of the Republican Party.
Obviously.
Why don’t you watch my interview with Steve Schmidt?
>WR Jonas:
You gotta love Bill Bradley. Now the McCain campaign issues “marching orders”? Bill, get away from California for awhile and take a little vacation without your press credentials.
Apr 12, 2008 - 12:25 pm
Apr 12, 2008 - 4:43 pm Bill Bradley:Actually, it’s slander when you say it.
Libel when you write it.
>David Thomson:
“…imminent advant of the Larry Sinclair allegations of cocaine use and gay sex in 1999 and perhaps an unsavoury connection to the Donald Young murder.”
I don’t like dealing with vague suspicions bordering on slander. Let the supermarket tabloids continue handling this sort of stuff. We should not touch it with the proverbial ten foot pole.
Apr 12, 2008 - 3:27 pm
Apr 12, 2008 - 4:44 pm rotwang:Very telling that Moran assumes there are only “white people” here in PA (and the Rust Belt in general). Or perhaps he believes that Obama is referring only to whites…because who else would a black man be minimizing so glibly? You know — just like that nasty Rev. Wright.
Mr. Moran’s own bigotry tends to disqualify his arguments against Obama.
Apr 12, 2008 - 6:04 pm dark helmet:obama is no more black than he is white. He is not and never will be an africn American. No one who is born here is from africa. A continent is not a race, it is a place. A religion is not a race, it is a choice, a country is not a race either. Any one who puts anything in front of being an American is unloyal and certainly NOT worthy of being President.
If canidates were honest about who they are, then they wouldn’t be type casted in the press.
It is past time for all of you to get real.
Apr 12, 2008 - 6:25 pm Cole Younger:It’s a stranger than strange country in which we now live…a Black, socialist politician can be accused of being ‘elitist;’ Hillary Clinton can get away with claiming that she’s a pro-gun Christian, and John McCain, a maverick moderate Conservative can be blasted by the Right for being just like Obama and Clinton.
Kind of boggles the mind, doesn’t it?
Apr 12, 2008 - 6:48 pm glenn:The simple answer to what Barry wants, He wants to be the only guy who gets to ride in the limo.
Apr 12, 2008 - 6:49 pm tanstaafl:Right Wing Nut House.
So, Barack Obama has finally revealed himself as an elitist? This is news?
Not at all news to anybody listening and watching closely over these past (already too many and many more to come) months.
They (the Founders) saw man as born into mortal sin and therefore an imperfect being who couldn’t be trusted with too much power over others. Our balance of powers among the three branches of government is derived from this mindset.
The “mortal sin” part is a bit of an exaggeration. Balance of powers/checks & balances among branches of government were to prevent any single branch of the federal government from becoming too powerful. Separation of powers between the states and federal government (federalism) was spelled out to clearly delineate limits on the power of the federal government as a whole.
Neither remaining candidate for the Democrat nomination understands those concepts of checks on the power of the federal government.
Are liberals then the intellectual descendants of the Founding Fathers?
That the founding fathers were attuned to the pitfalls of pure or “direct” democracy in no manner shape or form equates to the shallow élitists of today. You’re right about them being driven by notions of control and micromanaging every aspect of human existence.
Both right and left have been known to denigrate the tens of millions of ordinary citizens who don’t read blogs, barely know the internet, and eschew the minutia of political debates in favor of following every twist and turn on American Idol.
Weren’t all 3 Prez candidates scheduled to be on American Idol ? Hell, McCain jokes around (pretty funny, actually) with David Letterman, and the next thing you know, Hillary’s yukking it on Jay Leno. Barack and Hillary have both been on The View, with the screaming meemies.
It’s rather a mish mash, entertainment & politics. (For the record, anybody who has appeared on The View has no business dissing the hoi polloi)
It is not only elitist but also delusional to believe that this great amorphous mass of citizens cares a whit about the daily goings on here in blogland or the internet.
You sure ’bout that ? Sounds a bit of an élitist assumption to me.
Apr 12, 2008 - 7:12 pm mollie:RE: Elitism has far less to do with how much money a person has and much more to do with how “superior” a person feels him or herself to be. Elitism is a mindset, one that Obama obviously possesses. Elitism is endemic on the Left which is why modern Liberals believe they “know better,” than the ordinary Joe or Jane who needs enlightenment. Obama’s latest comment wasn’t a gaff — it was a private gathering, remember — he was repeating part of the “group think” shared by his audience. Working people haven’t been major players in the new Democratic party for years. They are “hold overs.” Dems have long since focused on idenity politics — and the irony is that this is coming back to bite them in the backside now. Obama has the advantage because in identity politics, race trumps gender.
By the way, with regards to the President’s ostensible support for the PLO. While it’s true that Abbas represents the PLO (vis a vis Hamas), the organization founded by Arafat,they are “supposedly” (or so they have stated), willing to negotiate with Israel with regards to some kind of peace settlement. While their sincerity may indeed by doubtful, those who support Abbas,viz., Bush, Rice, McCain — and, indeed, many Israelis — are making an effort to negotiate with the lesser of two evils — the other evil being Hamas — which is not only on our terror list but on that of the EU, which is openly pro-Palestinain and anti-Israel. It is the very same Hamas that Carter plans to visit — the same ex president (who never met a dictator he didn’t like) who endorced Obama and who shares candidate’s mind set to sit down with enemies without any preconditions.
Obama is closely associated with Rashid Khalidi, a professor at Columbia and a co-founder of the Arab American Action Network. During the ’70’s,Khalidi had ties to the PLO, and at that time, the PLO was comparable to today’s Hamas, dedicated to the complete obliteration of Israel.
Another thing about “elitists” — in the true sense of the word, they are anything but.
Apr 12, 2008 - 7:40 pm gordo:Obama cannot win the general election - he is becoming radioactive to much of the electorate. Clinton can’t beat McCain either. The question is will McCain’s victory have coattails? Will there be a surprising number of Repubs in the new Congress. I hope so, but I don’t know.
Apr 12, 2008 - 7:56 pm Night Owl:The elite have a problem, as I see it, that can be explained thusly- when people surround themselves with others who think, act and speak exactly as they do, they lose the ability to discern when they are off-the-mark on an issue. The elite majority rules and everyone must agree, or they risk alienation from the group.
Overtime, after much regurgitation and digestion, much of what passes for “the truth” among the elite, amounts to nothing more than a pile of crap. But when you are around crap long enough, you become immune to the smell. However, the non-elite have not lost their ability to recognize the stench of bullshit when it is presented to them, and will cry foul. Much to the surprise and vexation of the bewildered elite; who will nonetheless write it off as proof of their superior wisdom over the unsophisticated rubes, after issuing the requisite but disingenuous “apology”.
My speculation as to why the Dems have been losing presidential elections (as I suspect they will lose this one) even when conventional wisdom says it is their time (so-so economy, unpopular war, unpopular sitting president, etc.) - they are increasingly becoming the party of the out-of-touch elite. Their words are resonating less and less among those outside the academic, pseudo-intellectual (hello Hollywood!), and/or “upper class” urban settings. And to those who, in the elitist view, inhabit the world of the “eternally down-trodden”, they toss scraps and expect devotion as one would of a starving dog.
In short, the Dems need to leave the fetid ivory towers to the group-think high-society, and get out among the “real” people they claim to represent. Maybe then they can come up with policies and programs that don’t reek of condescension and utopian egg-head bullshit.
And Obama needs to pick his advisors and mentors better, or he will lose big-time. The more he speaks the more he comes across as an elitist bigoted snob; to anyone left with an acute sense of smell.
Apr 12, 2008 - 7:58 pm Nicescool:I cannot believe the fuss about what Senator Obama siad. Is he so wrong? Not really, yet I admit stupid to get caught on it.
Apr 12, 2008 - 8:02 pm P NEAL:Once you leave the big cities of this great country things get wierd.
In that far away world of neverland there are actually people who are tired of the whole political process (Republicans forever!) where in other parts of the world people will die to have the voice of a vote.
In that same world there are actually people who think ABC, NBC and CBS are opinionated media compared to Fox News.
And you think that saying that it is not surprising that people are bitter, cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or have an anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations is not true?
Dream on!
One may choose not to touch the Sinclair allegations with a ten foot pole if one chooses to, just as the ostrich chooses to bury his head in the soil…unfortunatly, the tabloids are not the only ones interstede in the “obama scandals”…there is a lawsuit filed in federal court alleging the “facts” and the Puerto Rican TV channel that interviewed Larry Sinclair was blessed by an interview with an attorney for Obama who DID NOT DENY THE ALLEGATIONS….DRIP DRIP DRIP: A ROSE IS A ROSE IS A ROSE…
Apr 12, 2008 - 8:19 pm Lucius Vorenus:Zombie Time has a compelling photo essay of the event at Gordon Getty’s mansion [on Sunday, April 6, 2008], which is where Obama probably made the remarks:
Obama Visits Billionaires Row
http://www.zombietime.com/obama_visits_billionaires_row/
There are more pictures in this Flickr album:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/glennia
And here is a list of the billionaires on Billionaires’ Row [Broadway Street]:
http://members.virtualtourist.com/m/b1a10/b870f/6/
Earlier today, Stanley Kurtz floated the idea of dubbing this scandal “Bittergate”, but there’s a movement afoot now to call it “Gettygate”.
Apr 12, 2008 - 8:43 pm NotYourDaddy:Obama is so arrogant he thinks anybody who disagrees with his policies on controversial issues is just expressing frustration because they feel like nobody’s paying attention to them, as though they were petulant children. But it’s OK, because Daddy Obama Understands.
Apr 12, 2008 - 9:19 pm Jean:I was watching him, with the sound off, not wanting to,
Apr 12, 2008 - 10:04 pm Chuck Moody:the was just there as I passed through.I watched the
people behind him and what a change!
No smiles, no moving, no showing wonder at this wonderful, incredible man, just glum faces and I
cheered to myself.
Once he really gets seen through he will get angry
and act like a two year old kid. He will blame every
body but himself and we can sigh with relief even
if the MSM tries to save him.
Sigh, I simply cannot wait for his next blunder!
The nasty old white guy from Idaho chimes in. I am a retired HS English teacher with emphasis on the tired part. The irony in B. Hussein’s comment about funding minority students is that if they, or any group of students, were actually educated, they would see through him and those like him at light speed.
Our schools are predicated on making students into reactively “thinking” cogs in a giant wheel; this goes all the way back to the Robber Barons and Industrialists like Andrew Carnegie. For thinking people to have any hope, our education system must be forced to produce actual thinkers. I say forced because the NEA/AFT will never go quietly into that intellectual light.
Democracy failed in Athens when groups who added nothing found they had the numbers to allocate funds from the public purse. When real democracy fails, what follows sounds like the liberal/elitist/social dictatorship of B. Hussen or Hitlery.
Ave atque Vale,
Apr 12, 2008 - 10:26 pm ObamaTheSalesman:Chuck Moody
Agree with many of the comments here. Obama is the epitome of a liberal (far left) elitist. His clever car salesman technique has gotten him this far due to a large sect of Dems who 1) are easily pursuaded, 2) have the same Socialist beliefs as he does.
Came across the picture at the bottom of this website and thought it was very telling (and hilarious). Although I despise the Clinton 3am ads, this picture should be everywhere.
Apr 13, 2008 - 12:51 am ObamaTheSalesman:http://www.hellnobama.com
Apr 13, 2008 - 12:52 am gringo:He-he-he…
“…people were starting to ask “Will the real Barack Obama please stand up?”
Come on, guys, a real Barack Obama will never stand up. Do you think he crazy? Come on. Watch this great explanation on why it is bad to stand up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltmMJntSfQI
Apr 13, 2008 - 3:11 am Mr. Unite Us:The lazy thing to do is to judge someone based on a fragment of sentence. The best thing to do in this case is read what Obama actually said
OBAMA: So, it depends on where you are, but I think it’s fair to say that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the places where people feel most cynical about government. The people are mis-appre…I think they’re misunderstanding why the demographics in our, in this contest have broken out as they are. Because everybody just ascribes it to ‘white working-class don’t wanna work — don’t wanna vote for the black guy.’ That’s…there were intimations of that in an article in the Sunday New York Times today - kind of implies that it’s sort of a race thing.
Here’s how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn’t buy it. And when it’s delivered by — it’s true that when it’s delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama (laugher), then that adds another layer of skepticism (laughter).
But — so the questions you’re most likely to get about me, ‘Well, what is this guy going to do for me? What’s the concrete thing?’ What they wanna hear is — so, we’ll give you talking points about what we’re proposing — close tax loopholes, roll back, you know, the tax cuts for the top 1 percent. Obama’s gonna give tax breaks to middle-class folks and we’re gonna provide health care for every American. So we’ll go down a series of talking points.
But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there’s not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of 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 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. So it’s not surprising then that 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.
Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you’ll find is, is that people of every background — there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you’ll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I’d be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you’re doing what you’re doing.
Remember this?
Bush calls for ban on gay marriage - U.S. news- msnbc.comJun 21, 2005 … President Bush called for a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage Tuesday, reviving a major plank of his re-election campaign.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8303545/ -
This got Bush some votes from people he did nothing
to help. After he was re-elected he dropped the issue.
Clinton demeaned entire states she didn’t deem worthy of her time.
Apr 13, 2008 - 5:05 am Moe Higgins:So Obama’s elitist and arrogant. The other candidates are not? Come on, all who actively seek the presidency are liars and conniving opportunitists. Just because Clinton and McCain haven’t said such things does not mean they don’t think them. Their campaign personas are carefully crafted deceptions. They are making fools of all of us.
Apr 13, 2008 - 5:39 am RE:Obama continues to reveal his true self. This is a good thing.
His alleged ‘eloquence’ comes from a script prepared by others. Behind the facade, he is clearly not an ‘of the people, for the people, by the people’ kind of guy.
He thinks he knows better than the rest of us. He’s command and control.
He needs to be shown the door - with an added boot for emphasis.
Apr 13, 2008 - 6:11 am Eric Dondero:Here is the link for the story on Obama’s comments at the Senior Citizens ctr. Remember, two liberal media outlets reported on this: Chicago Trib. and Baltimore Sun. They undoubtably did this, because they saw nothing wrong with the comments. Surely, they may have thought that telling Senior Citizens to fund Minority Students education now, or risk losing their Social Security checks in the futre, made sense.
But to a libertarian or conservative or even a Centrist, such views are downright insulting on a multitude of levels.
http://libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com/2008/04/obama-threatens-senior-citizens-with.html
Apr 13, 2008 - 6:20 am MaE:*snore*
“actually,” i’m repulsed by name droppers.
meanwhile, the first candidate to pounce on Obama’s remark and to attempt to capitalize on them was not McCain, but Clinton.
Apr 13, 2008 - 7:02 am Edmund Jenks (MAXINE):In short, Barack Obama declared in front of a crowd of politically friendly people that one of the root causes of racism, the dislike toward open-borders immigration, the perceived need for personal gun ownership, and a deep and entrenched focus on religious principles is bitterness.
NICE!
This simplistic and revealing utterance by Obama should leave a mark.
Anyone thinking person knows that each of these issues can not be explained with the broad overlay of bitterness, caused by a changing economic landscape, and the propensity for humans to react slowly to these changes, while wanting to guard against erosion to their personal freedoms.
Denver should be fun to watch this year!
Apr 13, 2008 - 7:14 am P.A. Smith:Obama told it like it is. He shouldn’t apologize in any way for his remarks, but rather should embellish on them. Americans’ egos are so fragile that can’t stand a dose of truth. Well, they should, by now, be able to see what voting for one they are are sold a bill of goods on to make them think is like themselves gets them. The Bushes and Clintons are the true elitists and they have the income they have made from milking this country to prove it. Americans need to educate themselves more on the real issues and start voting with their minds instead of their guts.
Apr 13, 2008 - 7:35 am P.A. Smith:In many ways, Obama is helping voters think about real issues more than ever. It is obvious though that the media and others prefer to focus on the outrageous spin that the Clintons and McCain are puttin on his remarks rather on what he actually said and truly believes.
Obama told it like it is. He shouldn’t apologize in any way for his remarks, but rather should embellish on them. Americans’ egos are so fragile that can’t stand a dose of truth. Well, they should, by now, be able to see what voting for one they are are sold a bill of goods on to make them think is like themselves gets them. The Bushes and Clintons are the true elitists and they have the income they have made from milking this country to prove it. Americans need to educate themselves more on the real issues and start voting with their minds instead of their guts.
Apr 13, 2008 - 7:42 am david p:In many ways, Obama is helping voters think about real issues more than ever. It is obvious though that the media and others prefer to focus on the outrageous spin that the Clintons and McCain are putting on his remarks rather on what he actually said and truly believes.
OBVIOUS TO AMERICA DEMOCRATS NOT READY TO TAKE OVER IN 2008
Apr 13, 2008 - 8:37 am glenn:A typical white person channels BOs remarks;
You go into these urban “neighborhoods” (Don’t go at night)and you see 70%+ illegitimacy rates, 50%+ high school dropout rates, high crime, murder rates that would do Iraq proud, hundreds of thousands of children being raised by their grandparents. Preachers who tell their flocks deliberate lies to inflame their passions, No wonder people are bitter and frustrated. All that time and money for so few results. Then Barack Obama comes along and criticises us in front of a crowd of rich SF liberals. Can’t short him for nerve.
Apr 13, 2008 - 10:20 am Misanthropicus:When Emperor Hussein the 1st of America speaks…
Apr 13, 2008 - 10:20 am Bernardo:The following is an excerpt from the REAL speech made by the fiercely intelligent Emperor Hussein the 1st. of America about the disgusting flaws of Americans, i.e. of Pennsylvanians w/o (affirmative action) Columbia/ Harvard/ Princeton degrees:
“[…] my awful fellow Americans, those Pennsylvanians disgusting as they surely look in the eyes of any super-evoluated human like me or Michelle [(a) Michelle= the Princeton empress; b) super-evoluated/pointed-eared= Leonard Nimoy is one of the latest Hussein supporters, NB)], it is not surprising that they [they= those Pennsylvania dolts] get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant [and] anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations. My (few & vaguely intelligent) fellow Americans, we have to recognize the fact that people when born are not equally fiercelly intelligent & grandmotherly endowed, no matter how much their (regretably white) mother was ahead of her time - and some, sad as it is with most the repugnant white Americans, are simply not that fiercely intelligent to throw their grandmothers in front of the tram for satisfying the exigencies of the racial-reckoning claptrap required by the liberal Slackmesam & Trackmesam media.
Sad yet these are the times. Also, we must recognize that most of white Americans cannot govern themselves or make judicios decisions when time comes to empower with presidential powers someone fiercely intelligent like me who knows how to drag them out from the situation where their stupidity, intolerance and low-melamine quotient has brought them. My (few & vaguely intelligent) fellow Americans, do not dispair though! Michelle (my fiercely intelligent, meritous equal opportunity empress-wife) studied this, Americans’ retardedness matter in her Princeton, ground-breaking, fiercely intelligent sociology thesis in which she analysed for the Cosmos’ edification her comfort zone (at Princeton) by using in the most, Orca Winfrey-recommended scientific manner the term “I FEEL” THREE HUNDRED FORTY-THREE TIMES! Now we are talking about fierce intelligence! [and Princeton credentials, NB]. My (few & vaguely intelligent fellow Anmericans - HuffPo pesonnel y compris), rest assured that I and Empress Michelle will try to do anything possible to corral and guide those Pennsylvanians yahoos (and their, alas! discouragingly numerous brethen across this damn’ country) to better pastures. As far as ‘cling to religion, I will give you, blockheads, some clarification here: as long as it is ‘God damn’ America!’ that is fine and I and Michelle fiercely endorse this concept - as far as ‘God’, my (few & vaguely intelligent) Americans, I, Michelle, reverend Wright, my cousin Osama and MoveOn.Org have to remind you here that Allah is One and Muhammad is his ONLY and TRUE prophet, and no matter what that traitor general Petraeus said and will say - YOU ARE ON SHORT NOTICE! […]” [a suivre…]
If you get away from this inbred world of political junkies, you will find that a vast number of potential voters are totally unaware of Rev. Wright or any of the other negatives surrounding Sen. Obama. And, even if they hear such talk, they block it out. They are more comfortable opting for political correctness over anything negative or controversial. This will be the case right up until voting day.
I predict that, much like the outcome of the OJ trial, we will be shocked that so much evidence was overlooked, and the outcome so wrong … because we failed to account for the gullibility of so many voters (jurors in the OJ case).
Apr 13, 2008 - 10:35 am G-whiz:Rotwang – You’re ability to rationalize, minimize and justify in defense of liberal socialism is only surpassed by your complete lack of understanding of people who work for a living. Let me guess… liberal socialist with the teachers union… tenured liberal socialist professor… liberal socialist in mainstream media… liberal socialist politician? It really doesn’t matter, we (right thinking people) know who you are. Just like Barack Hussein Obama, the more you speak, the more you reveal of your liberal socialist dogma. Shout it from the rooftops! In case you hadn’t noticed, liberal socialism is a failed experiment regardless of who is wearing the lab coat. Isn’t it ironic, the Pied Piper of hope and change offers neither? That would be laugh out loud funny if it weren’t so utterly pathetic. And the “audacity of hope in a skirt” Hillary is having equal success with her version of liberal socialism.
Mollie: Nice job putting Bill Bradley in his place with the facts on Abbas & the PLO in his attempt to over simplify a very complex situation and show his own version of intellectual elitism. I thought it was interesting how Mr. Bradley couldn’t resist teaching class on libel vs. slander too. Although he was correct, it once again proves the Pavlovian response liberals have when it comes to telling the rest of us how smart they are (i.e. Bill Bradley, Rotwang etc.).
Chuck Moody: Well said! Night Owl: Bravo!
Nicescool & P.A. Smith: “Is he so wrong.” “Obama told it like it is.” You both obviously have your finger on the pulse of liberal socialism. Keep up the good work comrade and the party will surely reward you handsomely!
Apr 13, 2008 - 10:57 am Heartland, PA:Barack Obama = the “Manchurian Candidate”.
Apr 13, 2008 - 11:31 am Ed Wallis:The author end his piece with, “The two Obamas are irreconcilable.”
(I’ll accept the literary intent, but…) In reality, there is only ONE Obama. That is the person running for President of the United States of America.
That this same one individual is so clearly hypocritical [insert phrase of your choice here: “do as I say, not as I do,” “Imus’ words ‘bad,’ Wright’s words ‘good,” etc. etc.] is sufficient to reject him as a choice for that high position of judgement and responsibility.
Apr 13, 2008 - 11:49 am Jack:In light of Barack Obama’s insult to regular folks in small town Pennsylvania - and really everywhere in the USA - I wrote this parody song to the tune of “Okie from Muskogee”
Al Bruner from Altoona
We don’t smoke marijuana in Altoona;
We don’t take our trips on Air Force Three
We don’t burn Klan crosses down on Main Street;
We like livin’ right, and bein’ free.
I’m proud to be Al Bruner from Altoona,
A place where even squares can have a ball
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And the Harvard racist, Obama’s gonna fall
We don’t make an issue out of phone calls;
We want to catch a terrorist or two;
We want to know who’s callin’ up Al Queda,
Unlike Pelosi out in San Francisco do.
And I’m proud to be Al Bruner from Altoona,
A place where even squares can have a ball.
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And that Harvard racist, Obama’s gonna fall
Leather boots are still in style for manly footwear;
Beads and Roman sandals won’t be shown.
Football’s still the roughest thing on campus,
And our town ain’t some lib college gun free zone.
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
Apr 13, 2008 - 2:30 pm Believer:In Altoona, Pennsylvania, USA.
I think we have to put all of Obama’s “bloopers” into context.
When unscripted, he reveals the radical elements he’s (admittedly) gravitated to throughout his life; some introduced to him in his youth.
It’s natural for him to think that bleak economic conditions would generate bitterness and anger. It’s what he’s witnessed - and aided - in the community he most wants to help. It’s what that Alinsky model of “community organizing” was all about. It’s what the “church” he chose is all about.
It’s not surprising that only one word separates “bitter” and “cling to guns”(aka violence) because that’s the route his pals have taken when they’re “frustrated.” (Ayers, Dorhn - and let’s not forget the little riot “cousin” Odinga caused when he lost the election - the one Obama campaigned for during the NH primary).
A lesser known influence on Obama was Frank Marshall Davis. He was a family friend during Obama’s high school years, and indeed the one he turned to when Granny and Grandpa fought over that ride to the bus stop. I am sure, being a poet, Mr. Davis contributed to the eloquence we now hear in Obama’s style of speech. How much Mr. Davis, as a Communist Party member, contributed to Obama’s liberalism is yet unknown.
What we do know is that Mr. Obama turns to government as the cure for the ills in society. There, it would seem he believes, are the answers. What he doesn’t know is that the community he most wants to help - those whom he feels have been most forgotten and ill-treated - is suffering more from a spiritual deficit than an economic one.
Had his own personal history been more “middle America”, I might hope he’d be able to guide his community to a far better solution than the one he offers them.
I can only pray they find their true Savior.
Apr 13, 2008 - 4:16 pm ElliotNC:It’s ironic that Obama is lambasted for what his supporters insist is “the Truth,” (i.e. that many middle class “folks” are bitter).
Ironic, because inconvenient truths rile the masses.
How much mileage did the Obama campaign get out of their indignation over the “truthiness” of Geraldine Ferraro’s comments?
They launched a series of over-the-top responses within moments of the Drudge Report releasing a well-circulated of Obama in a turban, just because Drudge claimed it came from a Clinton worker.
Those scathing tirades were carried around the world, when the chances are better than not that it was planted by the Obama campaign, in order to ridicule Clinton.
The list is long, but the point is that the things that wind up biting you in the butt are probably not the things for which you deserve the bite.
With the help of the media, Obama has gotten a free pass on a lot of things that should have blown up in his face.
Maybe he is getting more abuse over this item than he deserves, but what goes around comes around.
He has been the prime beneficiary of playing the thin-skinned victim. It’s called “Karma.”
Apr 13, 2008 - 6:59 pm joyce:If anyone knows about “clinging to religion due to bitterness”, it’s Barak Obama. He’s been clinging to his racist Reverend and his religion of hate for 20 years. I guess Obama is bitter about having had alot of advantages most Americans never get.
Apr 13, 2008 - 6:59 pm NotYourDaddy:Believer, I think you’ve hit the nail on the head when you say the community he most wants to help is suffering more from a spiritual deficit than an economic one. My blog post It’s Not About Race, Rev. Wright discusses the harm that’s done to the black community by black “leaders” who pander to the culture of resentment and entitlement, rather than leading their people out of the ghetto mentality and promoting assimiliation as the road to success.
We have in Obama an upper-class half-black man, trying desperately to convince the ghetto culture that he’s black like them and, at the same time, trying to convice the white majority that race is not an issue for him. He’s trying to walk down both sides of the street in opposite directions. I wonder how it will turn out.
Apr 13, 2008 - 7:33 pm Ben:So now we have “angry whitemen” added to “angry blackmen” in American Politics.
This guy is both”angry white and black ” all rolled into one.
He is a joke as I know him since the primaries started.Are you people really seriously in getting this joker into your whitehouse ? How about the next four years for the US and the world ??
One sure way to bring hailstorms to yourself is to have him in your team !!
Apr 14, 2008 - 5:12 am Believer:NotYourDaddy:
I paid a visit to your blog and was impressed. You make some very good points. While I agree with probably all your positions (I read it late last night), I might add some of my own thoughts as a deeply “faith-led” Christian.
I don’t think we can afford, at any time in our lives - but especially in these somewhat more perilous times - to be a people without faith. If we have established a knowledge of - and a trusting relationship with - our Creator, we will be able to withstand whatever challenges we might face in life.
This is the evil of Obama’s solution: he makes government our god. He cheats man of a reliance on himself and his walk with his Creator. And government will not always be there. But God will.
Rather than look to the “world” in times of need, if man turns instead to the One who has “known us before we were born” and “has counted every hair on our head”, we might find that the very horrible situation we’re in will, in fact, be our greatest blessing. How? Because in relying on Him, we have allowed Him to work in our lives as never before. Our faith in - and love for - Him are only increased.
There is another evil that Obama’s “church” and his own intention to redistribute wealth cause. They encourage covetousness and envy. And so long as those are swirling within one’s heart, worldly solutions are only temporary. There will still be a void; a need not yet filled.
The times we live in are perilous. And Obama is clueless. It is the couragous, self-reliant, faith-filled middle American who has seen our nation through some very tough times in the past. God bless and keep him. We’re going to need him in the months and years ahead.
Apr 14, 2008 - 2:22 pm Misanthropicus:Obama’s Careerism…
Completely true, and there is a name for this: charlatanie - there is so much, sensational Al. Dumas stuff in Obama’s career, but we haven’t gotten so far a comprehensive debunking of this operetta stuff (The Prince Beggar, The Beggar Prince, The False Czar, you name them).
Apr 15, 2008 - 6:11 pm Bob Murphy:Here I’d like though to add a few details to Moran’s analysis, details which show how calculated and calibrated all Obama’s efforts have for long been, everything done to position himself in the best angle for the enthralled media. Since I cannot spend my time reading his books (Oprah’s picks guarantee crappy stuff, anyway) the following are some scoops from LA Times/NY Times which describe Obama’s fraudulence:
A) his use of drugs during the college years = Oh, my god, this young man has faced so many difficulties, this is so inspiring! (Rebuttal: not much drugs use, the research shows, his school mates describe him as motivated and precise; Obama’s exaggerated description in his memoir was made exactly to elicit sympathy, compassion & admiration; NY Times)
B) his lavishly mentioning his indebtedness to the Kennedy clan, i.e., Ted Kennedy footing the bill for bringing/schooling Obama senior from Kenya to USA = oh, my god, this is so beautiful, so inspiring, so much generosity and how beautifully it worked with this excellent young man! (Rebuttal: not really, the research has shown that, while the Kennedy estate was contacted at the time for financing the education of some Kenyan students in US, they passed – only at a later time, when Obama junior was already born and Obama senior was already back in Kenya, the Kennedy-s made some contributions to the fund in question, money which anyway never touched Obama junior’s existence; LA Times).
C) his years in an “exclusivist” prep school in Hawaii = “exclusivist prep school”, poor Barrack among all those white rich kids who rejected him! (Rebuttal: not really. Hawaii is not Trondheim where you can expected that one half of the class to be pure white Johanssen and the other one pure white Arnulfsen – Hawaii is the most interracially mixed state in the Union and I’m pretty sure that Barrack wasn’t a sad, lonely figure among two tons of white kids – I’d say that a white kid is the rara avis in a Hawaian school.
I am certain that Obama’s memoirs and official bio are full of elements carefully arranged to elicit sympathy and admiration, and so far it really worked - we’re going Gothic & Fussli, expect evil twins, a testament written by Jefferson, some prophets, visions, murderers with poisoned daggers lurking behind curtains, monks with secret messages, imolations, hollowed books, mad philosophers, talking penguins, etc.
Leaving the funny part aside, this is a dangerous situation - we go through difficult times and the country’s helm is within the reach of an ambitious, lucky and incompetent adventurer.
The message I get from this blog and story is “How could a man who has a white mother and was raised by whites possibly know anything about white people. We can all see that he is black.”
Apr 25, 2008 - 10:54 amThat’s the message I get here.
Scary for ya’ll isn’t it (particularly for Misanthropicus)- that we could actually have a half black, intelligent, educated, ambitious, president!!