dlovell, Mon, April 14th, 2008
According to news reports, Barack Obama is on the defensive. He's deflecting attention from himself and from comments he made recently about working-class voters, who are tired of politics as usual:
"It's not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
The Clinton campaign especially saw these comments as the weak point in the Obama armor. It was the opening Hillary and her attack dogs needed. And they have thus far battered this one spot with everything they have. Clinton has called the remarks "elitist," "condescending," "out of touch."
She left out one adjective: "Entirely correct."
I'm not running for anything, and frankly I find political correctness insincere and insulting. So I'm going to tell the truth. I'm going to tell the truth the same way Obama told the truth. Whether you like it or not.
Look: The fact is that voters -- and not just those in the working class -- have been promised too much by too many. And they've been let down, over and over and over again. The truth is that politics and governance have been purposely made too complicated for the general populace to wade through. Even the policy differences betwee Obama and Clinton are so slight that it takes a trained eye to spot them. And so, for as long as any of us can remember, elections haven't been about economic policy. Or about health care reform. Or poverty. Or tax breaks. Too many Americans are choosing their candidates based on a very simple checklist. Gun control. Gay rights. Abortion. Immigration.
Not only do Americans vote that way, but they act out bitter sentiments. "They can't take my guns." "We need tougher gun control laws." "Those illegals are getting all our jobs." "Those people shouldn't be getting married."
Obama is right. Americans don't favor one candidate as much as they oppose another. Even Clinton knows that: She's spent her entire campaign attempting to tear down Obama, rather than lay out compelling arguments why she should get support.
Clinton has spent so much time attacking Obama for his "elitist" and "condescending" comments that most people don't really know what Obama said, nor have they taken a moment to think about what he meant. That's the Clinton machine at work. It's also the sign of a Clinton machine that can see that it's rapidly sinking.
The fact is that no candidate in the running is more elitist or condescending than Hillary Clinton. While Clinton and Obama fight about Iraq, John McCain -- the only veteran on the ticket and a bona fide war hero -- actually has a son stationed there. And though Clinton calls Obama at elitist, she hobnobs with Hollywood stars. One of her biggest supporters in 2000, Peter Paul, has a lawsuit pending against her stemming from a star-studded gala that was a good bye party for Bill Clinton and a fundraiser for Hillary. Watch the video below, and you'll see the performers included Cher and Sugar Ray.
The point here is that, unfortunately, political correctness continues to trump truth. Obama isn't allowed to tell the truth, because the truth might hurt people's feelings. And if it doesn't, Clinton will make sure that it does. Clinton will tell us all how offended we should be by things Obama has said, and accuse him of looking down his nose at average Americans.
I don't know about you, but such complaints ring awfully hollow when spoken by someone who has enough spendable cash that she could afford to dump $5 million into campaign a couple of months ago, just so she could be elected. Such money, I might add, would be quite helpful if it were donated to a worthy cause, like feeding the hungry or clothing the poor. But I digress.
It's all a smoke-and-mirrors act, when it comes right down to it. It's all about doing one thing and accusing your enemy of doing something else. For Clinton, who has and will continue to lie, cheat and steal her way toward the White House, the truth has never been sacred.
Maybe that's why when Obama speaks the truth, Hillary finds it so offensive.
