MyDD :: For Balance. Video of Obama's awesome response to "elitist" charge

For Balance. Video of Obama's awesome response to "elitist" charge

by Hesiod Theogeny, Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 09:13:20 AM EST

And, I might add, that a charge of elitism or being out of touch with working people is quite a charge coming from either Hillary Clinton or John McCain.

Hillary STILL employs Mark Penn in her campaign, despite the fact that he has done consulting work for union busting entities. Penn also worked -- as everyone knows -- for the Colombian Government pushing the free trade pact.

As for Hillary herself, she was once a member of Walmart's Board of Directors, and sat by silently while members of the board busted unions and called them "blood sucking leeches."

McCain, of course, along with his wife, is a Multimillionaire son of an Admiral.

Until he was shot down in Vietnam, his claim to fame was as a hard-partying, womanizing, rule-breaking son of privilege. [Remind you of anyone?]

And, of course, the whole "Obama's an elitist" meme is one that Karl Rove cooked up and has been pushing. It is no surprise, then, that Hillary supporters here have been doing the GOP's bidding and pushing this meme. They care more about destroying Obama's chances of winning than they do about electing a Democrat in the Fall.

Tags: Obama. Clinton, McCain (all tags)

Permalink :: 23 Comments :: Post a Comment

Yup. (2.00 / 2)

Unsurprisingly for anyone with eyes to see, we're seeing the other two campaigns align, Washington status quo against the upstart outsider, two millionaires making common cause against the guy threatening what they're entitled to. Totally off-topic: how do you embed video in a diary? I tried posting this last night, and only got a jumbled mess of code.

"This election is not about ideology, it's about competence." -Michael Dukakis

by MBNYC on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 09:24:40 AM EST

Re: Yup. (2.00 / 1)

post your diary, then EDIT your diary and put the video in.

weird I know but its how you get video into diaries.

Congratulations to Barack Obama, the presumptive Presumptive Democratic Nominee

by TruthMatters on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 09:26:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Aha! (none / 0)

See, I knew there was a quirk somewhere I didn't know about :-)

"This election is not about ideology, it's about competence." -Michael Dukakis

by MBNYC on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 09:46:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Youtube has an "Embed" field (2.00 / 0)

thing you can just copy and paste into your posts.

I figure you tried that and it didn't work. Practice it in one of the open threads. Sometimes things don't work right in preview but work right once you post them. And you can always just post a straight link to the youtube page instead of embedding it.

Hmmm... let me try it. Here's a yummy one.

by Dumbo on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 09:30:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: You may be right about the campaigns (1.66 / 3)

But this issue has legs more because it demonstrates what Senator Obama believes. I wonder when he actually takes responsibility for his views, words and actions -- rather than deflecting it toward others. It shows him to be in touch -- indeed, but with a very small group of people who believe the worst in people and about our system of government. And - as usual, he never gives answers about why voting for him would change any of it, esp. when he's demonstrating time and again when he's just another politician like all the others before him.

by BostonIndependent on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 10:06:20 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: You may be right about the campaigns (none / 0)

He's said specifically that voters in PA came to him and said they were angry, and bitter with their government. And he's right. I live in the Rust Belt and he is speaking for us, and how we're disillusioned.

And if you honestly still think he has no policies which would "change any of it", then you're purposefully not educating yourself. Don't expect anyone to hand feed it to you, they're far too busy trying to manipulate your sense of outrage in order to distract you from the real problems that are affecting the poor and middle class.

by upstate girl on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 10:11:21 AM EST
[ Parent ]

It has legs because people like you keep lying. (none / 0)

And pushing the bullshit meme that Obama is an elitist.

I expect that from the hacktackular media and the Republicans.

But concern trolling on MYDD has become a cottage industry of late.

by Hesiod Theogeny on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 10:21:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: For Balance. (2.00 / 1)

Didn't Michelle Obama work for Tree House Foods up until recently? One of Wal Mart's largest suppliers?
Frankly, this new tactic Obama is trying (the bus tour, town hall meetings) may wake him up to the reality of what is happening in small towns across America, and it has very little to do with God and guns.

by skohayes on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 09:31:03 AM EST

Looks like Clinton and McCain are out of touch! (none / 0)

I do not think Obama is out of touch, I think he completely understands where we stand today, completely disquested with our government and less than optimistic about our and our childrens futures. Just another reason to end the Bush, Clinton, Bush, (Clinton / McBush) cycle.

by netgui68 on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 09:37:45 AM EST

Come on - you know Obama (2.00 / 1)

will be joining their ranks when he leaves this primary or the presidency. You don't think he will be selling books and/or giving talks. I note that after he'd been in the senate for a bit, he bought an expensive house.

This is not to say he shouldn't have bought the house - it is to say there aren't any working class people or middle class (as I understand the term) running for the presidency period. Nor as far as I can see will there ever be. He's doing well in fund raising - he gets it. Let's have this conversation in ten years or so (if I'm around that is).

I'd be careful with the McCain/bush analogy - one went to war and the other didn't.

As I've said many times I'll vote for sen. Obama should he win the nomination.

Acccording to Carl Bernstein in his book: A woman in Charge, during the heyday of university shut downs and universities closing down - sit ins, violence:

"True to form, Hillary identified with the larger goals of the May Day protest and aligned herself with those who were determined that the demonstration remained peaceful, purposeful, pragmatic and aimed at achieving longer-term objectives within the system."

She acted this way throughout the tumultous time of her law school years. I see her sitting on the Board a reflection of these principles.

And don't tell me that Sen. Obama walked out of meetings that may have reflected a more radical view and rougher language than he espouses.

by Xanthe on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 09:43:39 AM EST

Trying again... (none / 0)

Trying HTML formatted this time instead of Auto Format.

by Dumbo on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 09:44:51 AM EST

Not impressed ... (2.00 / 2)

I'm sorry. I don't find the response satisfying at all. Senator Obama is now running against politics? People will vote the issues as they see them. He seems to be losing it. When a politician has to say 'I'm in touch' or 'I'm telling you the truth' or 'I'm not a crook' -- watch out.

Perhaps he explained why people may be 'bitter' in the above video, but not why he believes what he does about their voting behavior -- people turning to guns, religion or antipathy to others that aren't like them. In fact, I hear his comments as 'if you don't vote for me, you are one of those people'. And I see this as part of the same pattern as his race speech -- that does not acknowledge the good in people, or how far we have come.

I'm sure he'll give another grand speech explaining why this sort of thing exists in America -- and how we should understand the context and have a conversation etc. etc. The press will swoon and write about what a great politician he is even when he's demonstrating his inexperience, competence and inability to talk about such matters. Sigh. It's a pity that we cannot hold politicians to the standards we hold ourselves in these blogs. Where is the link for why you believe all this -- Senator? Who was the anti-immigrant in small town America that told you that they turned to guns because they were dis-satisfied and bitter about the current system? Why do you believe the worst in people?

What was worse was where he chose to make this speech (SFO) and the laughter. See ..the pictures.

So much for a campaign that was about new politics and change. This man just just comes across as having weird views about ordinary Americans and is not large minded or visionary at all.

Personally speaking, I think these comments are being a bit overblown. He's just another politician -- who probably will disappoint us all. Get over it.

by BostonIndependent on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 09:55:14 AM EST

Re: Not impressed ... with your comment (none / 0)

Your comment had little to do with what Senator Obama said.

And what little of it was relevant, was inaccurate. It's almost as if you didn't even listen to what he was saying.

He said that folks in these small towns have been battered economically for 25 years -- and have heard politicians promising them to fix it for that whole time -- and nothing ever gets fixed.

So, that is why they don't vote their economic self interests. Because they don' believe it matters.

So, they focus on other issues they care about like the right to bear arms, and their faith and values because they feel they do have an impact on those issues.

If you want to be taken seriously, you should really do a better job of actually responding to what people have written and said, rather than posting pre-fabbed bullshit.

by Hesiod Theogeny on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 10:19:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Not impressed ... with your comment (2.00 / 1)

I understand that politicians will use issues like this to divert our attention. But I find Obama doing the same.

I do not believe there is a causal connection between bitterness about the economy (or politics) to why people vote on issues such as guns, religion or 'antipathy toward people who are not like them' -- whatever that means. If you have evidence of that -- please post.

Question is: why isn't voting for Obama more of the same? And, isn't his success a counter-example to his own argument? I think he's trying to make a 'new politics' argument, which one can only buy if we don't see the overall context of his remarks and where they were made, and understand the tone and laughter that accompanied them.

Don't get me wrong -- I think this issue is being blown out of proportion to what he said. I just find his response uncalibrated -- he is trying to make this about politics, when it's really an issue about his views. If he spent time on what he'd do about this, and how he'd specifically change this bitterness.. perhaps the conversation will move to the next step.

by BostonIndependent on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 10:56:30 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: For Balance. Video of Obama's awesome response (none / 0)

HRC net worth $100m
John McCain net worth $100m
Barack Obama net worth $1m!

And they accuse Barack Obama of being elitist???!

A former hillary supporter.

by Cristalgirl on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 10:32:51 AM EST

Desperate attempt to change subject (none / 0)

duly noted.

Try to find a quote from Hillary that even approaches the clear condescension of Obama's clinging to guns, religion, and racism remark.

And being a patronizing elitist hardly has anything inherently to do with being rich, or connected to the corporate world.

Or do you think that a good portion of the faculty at Harvard and Berkeley don't sneer at the rubes in small town America? They may not be rich, but, man, do they know how superior they are. Just ask them, any day in the week.

by frankly0 on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 11:03:32 AM EST

Re: Desperate attempt to change subject (none / 0)

More false victimization. I'll tell you for sure - admitting that the American people are fed up with our politicians using religion and second amendment wedge issues to cover for their fleecing of America is exactly what the poor and middle class are angry about. Please don't tell me to be offended when someone is speaking the truth. I'm tired of false outrage over misconstrued out of context quotes replacing intelligent discussion about what we need to do to fix our corrupt government.

by upstate girl on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 11:18:01 AM EST
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I repeat: (1.50 / 2)

find me a quote from Hillary that even approaches the condescension, the inherent sense of moral and intellectual superiority captured in Obama's clinging to guns, religion, and racism remark.

If you can't see how deeply offensive that remark is to voters, what can I say to you?

Obama's remark is not about what politicians do, it's about who people in small town America are, and what they value.

Obama is saying that their most powerfully felt beliefs are negative things that they turn to in desperate bitterness.

Could he make a more patronizing, offensive remark about them and their values?

by frankly0 on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 11:49:52 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: I repeat: (none / 0)

Don't tell me what small town American values, thank you very much. I live in one, right in the Rust Belt, the same people and the same towns that Obama was talking about.

We value a candidate that says yes, the government has not been working for you, and liberal is not a four letter word. We value a candidate who isn't connected to the same capitalist power structure that hobbles the rest of our national political infrastructure.

Obama never once said that the things that people cling to in times of trouble are negative. You parsed that from your own opinion of Obama.

Could you make a more patronizing, offensive remark than either Clinton or McCain, who immediately jumped in the fray with "everyone is happy! Obama doesn't know what he's talking about!"

I doubt it.

by upstate girl on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 12:59:04 PM EST
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