Over the past several days, Barack Obama has been criticized mercilessly by the Clinton campaign, the McCain campaign, and the media for some comments he made on April 6th about small-town America.
Among other things, Obama asserted the following:
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.
As someone who was born and raised in small-town Pennsylvania, I know what Obama was talking about. While his words surely don't apply to every person in every small town in America, they apply to the world I grew up in and the world with which I still have some contact.
From my perspective as a former small-town American, Obama spoke the truth.
In some rural parts of Pennsylvania, people live unimaginably difficult lives. Decent-paying jobs have been hard to come by for decades. And, without good jobs, the residents cannot afford to venture far from home. This breeds the kind of homogeneous, xenophobic culture that I grew up in and couldn't wait to escape. And it breeds bitterness and distrust of everything and everyone outside their tight-knit communities and their narrow worldview. So they live their lives more simply than most city folks can imagine. They go to church, because it gives them hope. They go hunting and target shooting because it gives them a diversion from the difficulties of everyday life. Some do both. This is the reality in which I was raised.
Hillary Clinton responded as though Obama's comments were an insult to small-town America. But I believe that Obama's words were intended to be sympathetic and motivational and hope-inspiring, not insulting. As a former small-towner, I was not at all offended.
Perhaps instead we may want to consider that Clinton's and McCain's criticism of Obama's observations reveal that they are the ones who are truly out of touch with those who are most strongly feeling the pain of this economy, this war, and the current state of America in general.
Now let's move on to the real issues.
http://www.maryshawonline.com
Mary Shaw is a Philadelphia-based writer and activist, with a focus on politics, human rights, and social justice. She is a former Philadelphia Area Coordinator for the Nobel-Prize-winning human rights group Amnesty International, and her views appear regularly in a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites. Note that the ideas expressed here are the author's own, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Amnesty International or any other organization with which she may be associated.
I think the main problem here is that he made these remarks in San Francisco, where those in his audience indeed do look down their noses at guns and religion, not to mention small town America in general. So it's easy to see how this politician was using these sentiments for fund-raising purposes. Doubly insulting.
He characterized two things that have good times or bad always been important in small-town people's lives -- guns and religion -- not as noble and constitutionally protected pursuits, but as crutches, anesthesia or antidotes.
This could be bad news for Obama, maybe even more damaging than his association with Wright. And he knows it. Even if he still gets the nod, and perhaps he likely will, he's provided McCain or his surrogates with a bounty of ammunition. (npi)
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Alan Williams (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 586 comments)
on Sunday, April 13, 2008 at 3:50:51 PM
And I think that this "issue" and all the other non-issues like this are just attempts of candidates to discredit one another.
So, this is not a biggie to me.
But, having said that, I really don't like the implication that gun-owners and religious people are simpletons and don't know how to deal with the realities that are frustrating them.
I am a Christian who is 100% in favor of the Second Amendment, as I believe that to own an inanimate object such as a gun is a God-given right. People have a free will and can take responsibility for their property. We do not need Big Brother to hand out special permission to do what we have every right to do; therefore any licensure, permitting or registration of firearms is wrong.
In a free country one may keep and bear arms. None of the main 3 candidates (I call them the Evil Triplets) is truly for gun freedom.
I support Ron Paul, and to me it's him, a Libertarian nominee or nobody.
People attend church for many different reasons - to worship God, to socialize, etc. I most seriously doubt it because they are bitter about the government or economic conditions. People also go hunting for many reasons - to get outside, to enjoy the camraderie of hunting companions, to put food on the table, etc. And, again, I seriously doubt it because they are bitter about anything.
The fact is that Obama hasn't a clue why these people attend church or go hunting and that is why he said what he said. He is basically just pandering to the viewpoints he thought his audience shared of rural Americans in order to get encourage them to think that he is one of them. He is just another slimey politician. Nothing more. Nothing less.
Did Obama insult the rural Americans? I do not think so. I have lived a number of years in rural communities. I raised cattle and taught school in a small town. If you live in a rural community it is unlikely that you are offended by anyone's, particularly a Harvard graduate like Obama, characterization of you, particularly if they do not know you. Most rural people I know are pretty thick skinned, independent, and know what is important in life: family, friends, the land, and their church. Most of them just want government out of their way because they can take care of themselves and will help their neighbors and family if they need help.
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Mad Jayhawk (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 226 comments)
on Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 12:38:24 AM
I too come from a small conservative town in rural Maine, and there's alot of that, for sure.
Guns and God.
Saddest is when they shoot themselves in the foot on election day over one issue, like guns, because they bought the Repug propaganda that liberals will deprive them of their guns, so they end up putting the very kind of politicians in office that we need guns to protect ourselves from!
But.. there's also the pleasant surprises, like the Town Conservatives supporting my initiative to pass a Resolution against the "Patriot"Act in '04 at Town Meetin' . Their reasoning to counter the prevailing rhetoric of "Only Terrorists and Criminals should worry'?
"If they've got it, they'll USE it!"
Now, THAT is good ole small town Horse Sense!
Too bad the framed copy of our Resolution, which should be proudly displayed on the Town Office walls, has been deep-sixed into a desk drawer for fear of putting a few town Nazis' noses out of joint!
(Is THAT a sign of the times, or WHAAAAT!?)
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Bia Winter (2 articles, 0 quicklinks, 3 diaries, 242 comments)
on Thursday, April 17, 2008 at 7:28:03 AM
