Re: [Marxism] Obama concedes remarks were ill chosen

[Bill Quimby <wquimby@xxxxxxx>]

All of which raises an interesting question - What did Obama
major in at Harvard [in his undergraduate years - I know about
the Law School thing.] I sense a strong sociological approach to
issues - I read his comments as if I was reading Durkheim...
or C. Wright Mills even. Perhaps his weakest "electable" point is that
he understands class issues and is actually willing to discuss them -
certainly an Amerikan no no.

You know what gives me hope? [Yes, I surrender - a Bernsteinian
hope] even should he lose he could be a powerful force  - for may
years - of a strong "Progressive" movement.

- Bill

Mike Friedman wrote:
> Obama concedes remarks were ill chosen
> 
> By JIM KUHNHENN and CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press WriterS 51 minutes
> ago
> 
> MUNCIE, Ind. - Democrat Barack Obama on Saturday conceded that comments he
> made about bitter working class voters who "cling to guns or religion"
> were ill chosen, as he tried to stem a burst of complaints that he is
> condescending.
> 
> "I didn't say it as well as I should have," he said.
> 
> As Obama tried to quell the furor, presidential rival Hillary Rodham
> Clinton hit him with one of her lengthiest and most pointed criticisms to
> date.
> 
> "Senator Obama's remarks were elitist and out of touch," she said,
> campaigning about an hour away in Indianapolis. "They are not reflective
> of the values and beliefs of Americans."
> 
> At issue are comments Obama made privately at a fundraiser in San
> Francisco last Sunday. He explained his troubles winning over working
> class voters, saying they have become frustrated with economic conditions:
> 
> "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 comments, posted on the Huffington Post political Web site Friday, set
> off a storm of criticism from Clinton, Republican nominee-in-waiting John
> McCain and other GOP officials. It threatened to highlight an Obama
> Achilles heel ï the image that the Harvard-trained lawyer is arrogant,
> aloof and carries himself with an air of superiority.
> 
> His campaign scrambled to defuse possible damage caused with working class
> voters that Obama needs to win in upcoming primaries in Pennsylvania and
> Indiana.
> 
> "Lately there has been a little typical sort of political flare up because
> I said something that everybody knows is true, which is that there are a
> whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here
> in Indiana, in my hometown in Illinois who are bitter," Obama said
> Saturday morning at Ball State University. "They are angry. They feel like
> they have been left behind. They feel like nobody is paying attention to
> what they're going through."
> 
> "So I said, well you know, when you're bitter you turn to what you can
> count on. So people, they vote about guns, or they take comfort from their
> faith and their family and their community. And they get mad about illegal
> immigrants who are coming over to this country."
> 
> After acknowledging that his previous remarks could have been better
> phrased, he added:
> 
> "The truth is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to
> generation, those are important. That's what sustains us. But what is
> absolutely true is that people don't feel like they are being listened to.
> 
> "And so they pray and they count on each other and they count on their
> families. You know this in your own lives, and what we need is a
> government that is actually paying attention. Government that is fighting
> for working people day in and day out making sure that we are trying to
> allow them to live out the American dream."
> 
> But Clinton struck hard, calling Obama's comments "demeaning." The
> increased attack showed that Clinton is eager to hold on to her working
> class support and is looking to open new questions about Obama's judgment
> that would make voters and Democratic officials reconsider their support
> for the Illinois senator.
> 
> "I was raised with Midwestern values and an unshakable faith in America
> and its policies," she said. "Now, Americans who believe in the Second
> Amendment believe it's a matter of constitutional right. Americans who
> believe in God believe it's a matter of personal faith.
> 
> "I grew up in a church-going family, a family that believed in the
> importance of living out and expressing our faith. The people of faith I
> know don't 'cling' to religion because they're bitter. People embrace
> faith not because they are materially poor, but because they are
> spiritually rich.
> 
> "Our faith is the faith of our parents and our grandparents. It is a
> fundamental expression of who we are and what we believe."
> 
> "People don't need a president who looks down on them," she said. "They
> need a president who stands up for them."
> 
> One of Clinton's staunchest supporters, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.,
> acknowledged there was some truth in Obama's remarks. But Republicans
> would use them against him anyway, Bayh said.
> 
> "We do have economic hard times, and that does lead to a frustration and
> some justifiable anger, it's true," Bayh told reporters after introducing
> Clinton in Indianapolis. "But I think you're on dangerous ground when you
> morph that into suggesting that people's cultural values whether it's
> religion or hunting and fishing or concern about trade are premised solely
> upon those kinds of anxieties and don't have a legitimate foundation
> independent of that."
> 
> ___
> 
> Associated Press Writer Charles Babington contributed from Indianapolis.
> 
> 
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