Tube City Almanac

April 13, 2008

The Nerve of Some People!

Category: Politics || By

I wish Barack Obama would stop saying things that make people uncomfortable:

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 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.

What's he talking about? Duquesne, Monessen, Charleroi, Jeannette, McKeesport, where the good-paying jobs left 25 years ago and nothing's replaced them?

Why, you take that back, Barack Obama!
And it's not surprising 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.

Is he trying to imply that white flight to the suburbs has left the Mon Valley more segregated than ever before, where communities like McKeesport have a minority population above 20 percent, while neighboring Port Vue and Liberty each have about 1 percent?

Is he trying to imply that protectionism and anti-immigration politics play well here, or that politicians have encouraged us to look for scapegoats for 20 years, or that fear has motivated many of us to buy guns or embrace churches that preach apocalyptic end-times scenarios?

As a gun-owning church-going Pennsylvanian, I resent Barack Obama's decision to point out the obvious!

Pennsylvania has a tradition to uphold as a parochial, territorial place, hostile to foreigners and other outsiders.

Without clinging to our past and ignoring the problems we face, it will be difficult for us to keep out new ideas and people, and to maintain the outward flow of young Pennsylvanians that has made us a leader in national population loss for the past 20 years.

Look at the great presidents we've had over the last 16 years or so. Remember their moving platitudes, like "I feel your pain" and "compassionate conservatism"?

They didn't try to make us confront reality. They didn't ask us to make any sacrifices or hard decisions. They sure didn't try to make us think. They told us that we could have it all --- increased government spending and lower taxes, war and peace.

Obama should just wear a flag pin and talk about abstract concepts like "creating jobs" and "freedom" and "the American dream." That's what Hillary Clinton and John McCain do.

Let's hope Sens. Clinton and McCain win their parties' nominations, so that we can bring an end to Obama's hate-filled, divisive, reality-based politics. I look forward to hearing both candidates talk fondly this fall about patriotism, children, democracy, rainbows and soft, fuzzy puppies.

And thank goodness for the brave men and women of cable TV and syndicated talk radio, who we can count on to attack Obama's insistence on talking about issues.

If I didn't have Tim Russert, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity and Chris Matthews to tell me how bad Obama's comments were, I might have to pay attention to the facts.






Your Comments are Welcome!

I think I agree with Obama when he says that he could have chosen his words better. But that’s only because the news media is insistent on interpreting everyone’s statements to be elitist, or unpatriotic or worse.
Aly Bencloski - April 13, 2008



Excellent post, Jason.
Lane in McK - April 13, 2008



It’s a good thing that irony is dead. Because otherwise, Hillary Clinton calling Barack Obama an “elitist” would have killed it.

Whoever is the Democratic nominee is going to be called “too liberal” and “too elite,” and is going to be accused of being a gun-control fanatic. That’s a given. So there are no surprises in the reaction from the right.

Obama gave the Republicans some nice ammunition (pun intended) but his comments aren’t that far out.

The real shame (to me) is that our current news cycle means that every single thing you say, whether “in private” or not, is going to be dissected.

Candidates really /can’t/ discuss issues, because if they make a single mistake, it’s dissected and twisted into knots.

McCain misspeaks when discussing the Sunnis and the Shiites, and the left jumps down his throat. Obama makes a casual remark about guns and religion, and the right pounces.

I wonder if that’s the reason why so many of our recent presidents have been so mediocre. People who don’t do or say anything won’t say anything controversial, either.
Webmaster - April 14, 2008



P.S. This is a pretty good speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NIxmi3e2Vmo

I don’t generally trust politicians, and I really hate jumping onto trends, so I really didn’t want to like Obama. I’ve also really been trying to stay impartial, but I can’t help it —- this clip made me smile, and it’s speeches like this that make me admire the guy. I guess I really am drinking the Kool-Aid now.

Also, notice that he’s speaking in front of that well-known bastion of elite snobs, the United Steelworkers of America.
Webmaster - April 14, 2008



Awesome Post Jason! Couldn’t have said it better myself….

Oops, I did. www.paulshelly.com

Glad you are on board with our next Commander in Chief!

I hear rumblings that Zappala, Jack Wagner and Mike Doyle may follow suit. Unconfirmed at this point except for 1. I’d tell you which is confirmed but then I’d have to kill you…

We need door knockers in White Oak, PV, Glassport, Liberty, and Dravosburg.

Anyone inerested should contact the campaign in the Mon Valley 412.901.3630 or email me at sluggopaulshelly.com

Peace in our time.

~Sluggo
Paul "Sluggo" Shelly (URL) - April 15, 2008



First of all, Obama is right to say there still is bitterness 25-30 years later.
After all, don’t you sometimes still hear people say they still expect the mills to return?
Second of all, Obama could have worded it better.
However, Obama’s only problems with the comment were (1) that he chose to make it in San Francisco at a private function rather than on the campaign trail and (2) the inference that patterns about social issues, the Second Amendment and religion somehow were caused by this bitterness, rather than perhaps resurge in people who have inherited those views from ancestors dating back as far as the mid-to-late 18th Century in this part of the country and would have them even if the mills were still going.
But what do I know?
Does it matter? - April 16, 2008



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