Right. This time I’m talking about Obama making a rather stupid remark regarding Pennsylvania. I’m sure you’ve heard about it by now. The “bitter” remark. Although it’s not the comment that voters are bitter that should be getting attention. Again, the quote, in context, is this:
“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 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.”
Okay. It’s true, some coal-boom towns in PA suffer greatly when the jobs leave town. And sure, it makes people bitter.
But for once I agree with Hillary Clinton, who implied Obama’s remarks reflect a view that he’s somehow above the residents of these small towns.
The point I’d like to make is that just because people are bitter does not necessarily make them tough on immigration, supporters of the Second Amendment, or whackily religious. The last one is a real gem for Obama. What made Obama get religion? From the whacked-out Jeremiah Wright? Political expediency. He needed Wright’s backing to get elected. It’s that simple. So, sorry, Obama, but sometimes people turn to religion for their own reasons which have nothing to do with bitterness or political expediency. Some people actually have this marvelous thing called “faith”, Mr. Obama. They have opinions, too, and those opinions are not necessarily direct outgrowth at bitterness towards the current state of things in this country. The majority of them are proud, intelligent Americans, who know what they believe in and know what they want to vote for and know why.
Moving on — anti free trade? Obama is against free trade. He wants out of NAFTA, the biggest free trade agreement we have going (and a significant booster for our economy). So are you bitter, too, Mr. Obama?
Basically, all I’m saying is that you don’t tar people with a brush like this. How would it sound if McCain got up there and said black people are bitter, which is why they turn to the outrageous rantings of people like Jeremiah Wright and Farrakhan? I don’t think that would have gone over too well.
Plenty of people are bitter. Plenty of people are bitter at the government, for good reason. That doesn’t automatically make them vote from pure base emotion. It doesn’t make them “cling to guns”. Some people like to hunt, which, last time I checked, is still legal, despite the efforts of the left.
Once again, though, his campaign (never forget that Obama is merely the pinnacle of an extremely well-run political machine) has done a good job with spin and damage control. His jabs back at McCain and Clinton, after they attacked him on the comment, were well-crafted.
But let’s face it. Obama is looking down his nose at the people of Pennsylvania. I’d like to see them respond with a resounding victory for HRC, which would keep her in the race and please me and my fellow members of the VRWC to no end.