by Matthew Hay Brown
Hillary Clinton, who once belittled Barack Obama’s campaign theme of hope, now is touting that very quality in the small-town Pennsylvania voters she’s courting.
On the day Obama’s comments about the bitterness of rural Midwesterners hit the media, Clinton told a rally in Philadelphia that she sees a very different picture.
"As I travel around Pennsylvania, I meet people who are resilient, who are optimistic, who are positive, who are rolling up their sleeves,” she said, in comments reported by the Associated Press. “They are working hard every day for a better future, for themselves and their children.”
Clinton, whose father was born in Scranton, is trying to rebuild her once commanding lead over Obama ahead of the April 22 primary vote. To that end, she was seizing on comments Obama made at an April 6 fundraiser in San Francisco, in which he linked gun ownership and religious devotion among small-town Pennsylvanians to frustration over economic hardship during the Clinton and Bush administrations.
“Our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives,” he said. “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.”
The dismissive-sounding talk of clinging to religion was interesting from a candidate who has written and spoken of the power of Christianity in his life, and has been criticized for not distancing himself further from his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, over the incendiary comments Wright has made at Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
Clinton described Obama’s analysis as condescending.
“Pennsylvania doesn't need a president who looks down on them," she said. "They need a president who stands up for them, who fights for them, who works hard for your futures, your jobs, your families."
Clinton wasn’t the only one to criticize.
House Republican Leader John Boehner, in neighboring Ohio, also protested.
“Tonight I’m in one of the small towns Barack Obama insulted while he was raising money in San Francisco. It’s my hometown,” he said from West Chester, Ohio, late Friday. And it’s clear why Obama and other liberal Democrats don’t get small town America: small towns want less government spending and lower taxes.
"They want to practice their faith without being berated by condescending elitists. And they want a Congress and a president that uphold our Constitutional rights and American values. That Obama doesn’t know that indicates just how out of touch he really is.”
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Comments
“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.” So this is what Sen. Obama thinks of us poor, little, feeble-minded, small-town hicks, huh? Nice. And this guy is the “Great Uniter” candidate, right? Then he tries to cover it up by saying, “Oh, I meant that small-town people are bitter about losing their jobs.” And he thinks we are just so stupid that we will fall for that line. Nevermind that he just generally accused us small town folk of being gun-toting, xenophobic, religious zealots. This guy is such a snob.
Posted by: Cory | April 12, 2008 9:24 AM
So I guess that means Obama is " bitter" and that's why he clung to Rev. Wright for 20 years...Oops, that's right. He's not poor. Just makes bad choices..................
Posted by: kcm | April 12, 2008 9:33 AM
“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.” So this is what Sen. Obama thinks of us poor, little, feeble-minded, small-town hicks, huh? Nice. And this guy is the “Great Uniter” candidate, right? Then he tries to cover it up by saying, “Oh, I meant that small-town people are bitter about losing their jobs.” And he thinks we are just so stupid that we will fall for that line. Nevermind that he just generally accused us small town folk of being gun-toting, xenophobic, religious zealots. This guy is such a snob.
Posted by: Cory | April 12, 2008 9:24 AM
Ummmm...Cory. If you read the original quote, it starts with "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. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter."
So I guess you'd have to be stupid to fall for the other side saying he's saying anything other than exactly that. Try reading the actual quote for its actual content instead of taking the spin from opposing politicians, and maybe you'll realize who's trying to play you.
Are you saying people in small town Midwest haven't lost a helluva lot've jobs? Are you saying they aren't frustrated with Washiington? Are you saying they aren't voting based on "values" issues?
Why is it that when Obama actually speaks the truth to people, instead of patronizing them with platitudes and pseudo-issues, everyone gets offended. I think it's about time we have a politician that speaks directly to us about what's going on in this country. You can't change things if you don't even acknowledge the issues.
Posted by: crafty b | April 12, 2008 9:58 AM
Hillary is desparate; the sooner she is off the stage the better. There is certainly a degree of truth in what Obama has said. Trying to analyze a situation is the mark of a leader; Hillary just reacts as an opportunist.
Posted by: John A | April 12, 2008 10:00 AM
This is the fork in the Obama campaign.
It's done after this.
It was a fairytale--(Bill WAS right, not racist, as the Obamites claimed to their brief benefit)--built upon Obama's demonization early on of Hilary for having to vote for this disaster of a war. Obama would have had to do the same thing as all he other democrats prior to that election.
Obama did not know that the person to target was BUSH_-not a fellow party member.
Had he stood up to the mainstream media and become John Edwards' veep, he'd still have a viable career.
I don't know if Hilary can still help him out by making him her veep.
But I do know this--his wins to date were fake. Republicans voted him up so they can vote himdown in the Fall.
And US with it! Hilary Clinton and John Edwards were NEVER the enemy. But the Axelrods in the Obama campaign want to do the next rung in the ladder.
Yuppies.
That's what the latest comment out of the Obama campaign reveals. A real disconnect with the real people in the 'flyover' zone.
John A calls Hilary an 'opportunist', but she's been quite restrained with all the name-calling both overt and covert that this political neophyte has inflicted during a too long campaign.
This is a very revealing comment worth pouncing upon--unlike the 'he's a racist she's a racist' theme the campaign latched onto.
The mainstream media loves Obama's money---but right when it counts they will focus on things that, unlike the Clintons, the Obamas won't be able to explain and EXPLAIN WHILE GAINING POPULARITY as the clintons do:
Emil Jones
Pocket Money in Chicago (yes, just like Philly Mr. Perfesser)
Rezko and all the lies about helpiing poor people while Rezko helped hisself to some public housing property STILL rotting at the tune of 100 million dollars' worth or more)
VOTING PRESENT for gun control--where's Michael Moore?
'clean coal' support
'nukes' support
agribusiness support for the myth of biodiesel
you name it, there's gonna be a lot of things the McCainstream media can and WILL be able to use against Obama.
Instead of attacking HIlary further, he should be folding into her campaign and jettisoning the architects of this horribly divisive campaign. Let them go back to their former careers. Obama can, with time, redeem himself from these ill-thought comments.
(The media's paying attention to him now, for the first time in his political career. It will only get worse.)
Posted by: golden oldie | April 12, 2008 10:32 AM
Optimistic? Yes, about an Obama presidency!
Posted by: FED | April 12, 2008 10:55 AM
there is surely one thing to be OPTIMISTIC about - hillary is losing - that is good news for our country
hillary is losing so badly that after pennsylvania, hillary will still be losing in pledged delegates and popular vote - even if you count the states that have no valid reason to be counted and even if she wins pennsylvania by more than twice the amount that she has won any other state
51 % or more of all Americans would surely be BITTER if hil-LIAR-y's insidious plan to steal this election is successful
remember bill clinton in all of his pre-monica glory NEVER received a majority if the nationwide popular vote - NEVER
Posted by: the clinton plan | April 12, 2008 12:11 PM
Uh, NEWS FLASH to the clinton plan--
Hilary's gonna mop the floor in Pa and In and I wouldn't be surprised if there were an upset in NC, too.
Not that she'd need it. Remember when old faht Leahy asked her to bow out, then Obamites said she could stick in if she won PA?
Well, she's gonna win PA.
And not becuase of the latest boneheaded remarks from the newly watch junior senator (the media can't continue to ignore him now).
Picking ingrate, hated Bob Casey as a 'runnin' buddy was silly. Casey got what he needed--a 3 million dollar printing contract for sis' printing firm in Scranton (little Chicago) "Universal".
Where's the media?
And then Casey stood up a military family waiting for their dead son's Iraq war medals (casey's idea) the day before the event---cuz Casey thought Obama was more important.
That might make me bitter.
Casey will be lucky to win his own primary for reelection.
Nah nah nah, junior needs some judgment.
He can learn it from the clintons. They're forgiving people.
Some humility wouldn't hoit either.
Posted by: golden oldie | April 12, 2008 1:55 PM
Cant handle the TRUTH. But like the good book says...THE TRUTH WILL MAKE YOU FREE.
Posted by: Keith Lifetime Chicagoan and Southsider | April 12, 2008 4:14 PM
IS REV. WRIGHT LIKE DR. KING? It is insulting to the memory of Dr. King to in any way compare him to that vile racist, Rev. Wright. Can anyone imagine Dr. King "humping" a fake Monica Lewinsky during a sermon with children present, in order to mock Bill Clinton and further Obama's campaign? Moreover, Rev. King was a Christian, not a believer in black liberation theology. James Cone, an architect of black liberation theology, and a mentor of Obama's pastor Rev. Wright, has described their theology thusly: “Black theology refuses to accept a God who is not identified totally with the goals of the black community. If God is not for us and against white people, then he is a murderer, and we had better kill him. The task of black theology is to kill Gods who do not belong to the black community … Black theology will accept only the love of God which participates in the destruction of the white enemy. What we need is the divine love as expressed in Black Power, which is the power of black people to destroy their oppressors here and now by any means at their disposal. Unless God is participating in this holy activity, we must reject his love.”
Do these statements sound anything remotely like those with which Dr. King would agree? Dr. King specifically eschewed the violent and hateful leanings of Malcolm X, and instead preached peace and reconciliation. Yes, I'm getting very tired of those who, in their attempt to assist Obama's campaign by whitewashing Rev. Wright's racist and anti-American rants, sully the memory of Dr. King by making these comparisons. Politics will be politics, but there are some things which are just too sacred to our shared history as a nation to be utilized in such an intellectually dishonest and self-serving manner. The memory and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is one such thing. No, Jeremiah Wright is no Martin Luther King, and the apologists for Obama and Wright should stop acting as though he is.
Posted by: Fred Jones | April 12, 2008 5:56 PM
I live in Pennsylvania, and I thought there was a lot of truth to what he said.
Really, Hillary has nothing to attack Obama with, so she is jumping on anything that comes along.
I'm not worried - she'll do something stupid next week, like get caught in another big fat lie or something, and then we'll see who is bitter.
Posted by: PA Voter | April 12, 2008 9:49 PM