Uh-oh

Obama sure has been making his share of rhetorical gaffes lately, hasn't he? Yikes. How many more "terribly, terribly phrased" (or, if you prefer, "not the most felicitously phrased") remarks must we suffer through?

Once again, it's perfectly possible to defend his remarks at an intellectual level, but... he does realize he's running for President of the United States, not, like, dean of the law school, right? He can't win the general election if he keeps saying intellectually defensible but politically indefensible stuff like this.

P.S. In fact, I'm growing increasingly concerned that he can't win the general election, period. Maybe that's just sleepy pessimism talking, or maybe Hillary Clinton put a Borg microchip in my brain and the assimilation process is beginning ("Votes are irrelevant. Delegates are irrelevant. Resistance is futile."), but nevertheless, I fear the game might already be over. Has Obama done enough long-term damage to himself (with Rev. Wright's help) that the man who I once thought would be the "liberal Reagan" is going to lose in a landslide come November? I'd like to say no; I'd like to think American voters will rise to the occasion and judge these two fine men, Obama and McCain, on their actual merits, rather than on a handful of sound bites. But is that really a good bet to make? Can Obama really survive "God damn America" and "typical white person" and "punished with a baby" and "cling to guns or religion"? If he can, he really will be the liberal Reagan: truly teflon-coated.

P.P.S. To be clear: I say I "fear" this outcome because I want a competitive race between two well-respected candidates that's fought on the merits and the issues -- not necessarily because I want Obama to win. I'm undecided between Obama and McCain. But I'd like to see a real race, not a YouTube- and attack-ad-fueled McCain rout. But the latter becomes more likely with each Obama gaffe.

P.P.P.S. Mickey Kaus:

Because Obama's comments are clearly a Category II Kinsley Gaffe--in which the candidate accidentally says what he really thinks--it will be hard for Obama to explain away. [He could say he was tired and it was late at night?--ed But he was similarly condescending in his big, heartfelt, well-prepared "race speech." Better to embrace them. Let's have a national dialogue about egghead condescension!]

Heh.

Comments

[David K.]

Is this a substantial thing or a gotcha? Seems kinda gotcha like ;-)

[Brendan Loy]

It's a close call, David, but I'm not really playing "gotcha" so much as lamenting the inevitable reality of "gotcha" -- specifically, that this one is going to haunt him for the rest of the damn campaign.

[Jay McDonough]

from swimming freestyle:

"Barack Obama is a remarkably eloquent man and turning into a remarkably capable politician. But if the Senator believes it's smart to insult voters from a state critical to your success, he's hit one of the worst false notes yet in his campaign.

Yeah, I know what his campaign said, and that may have been what he meant. But a sophisticated candidate doesn't refer to voters in language that can be construed as derogatory or insulting. Obama asserted Pennsylvania voters are bitter and so simple and lacking in maturity and intelligence that they address their frustration by clinging to primitive and reactionary crutches rather than addressing their problems in constructive ways.

It's divisive. And not the way to attract the voters you need most."

http://swimmingfreestyle.typepad.com

[Ed]

The thing that any AA candidate needed to avoid at all costs was any hint of genuine bitterness towards the white majorities. BHO brilliantly portrayed himself as "reasonable" and was embraced by many.

Now, following his wife's display of simmering resentment (no pride remarks), the public awareness of the racist Wright, and now BHO's own no-longer disguised "disgust" with middle America, he has made it very tough on himself.

If a lingering belief that a given candidate or party holds hidden animus towards a class of folks is reason enough for that class of folks to reject such a candidate or party for decades (see AA:GOP), then it is well within bounds for a different class/ethnicity of folks to do the same with BHO or any other based on similar misgivings.

I am with you 100% as to a full vetting, on the issues and prior votes, BL. I pray for the day the average voter understands BHO's singular record as a liberal. If he is not a liberal or socialist, there is no such animal.

[Doc]

Obama's an alcoholic?

[Mad Max, Esquire]

Sorry, but what Obama said was 100% right. The so-called Reagan Democrats have gotten the short end of the stick over the past 25 years. The "shining city on a hill" has turned out to be a $7-an-hour job in the service industry that doesn't pay the bills and rising tuition that doesn't give your kids a chance to get out of the downward spiral of the working class. Instead of addressing the problem, Republicans and Democrats alike have simply found groups to scapegoat instead of finding solutions.

Obama has it right. It's not anti-white hate or whatever. How will it play in Reading, PA? I don't know. But I do believe we need a President who isn't going to tell us what we want to hear. Is America ready for this? Not sure, but it needs to be.

[PenguinSix]

When running for office, you never get in a position where you have to explain.

[Marty West]

Mad Max,

"How will it play in Reading, PA?"

Not well. In between Philly and Pittsburgh lies no man's land. These comments won't be well received by the majority (read white) of people who live in these town.

[Youngblai]

I don't think any of the presumptive candidates are truly ready for the YouTube / internet age. Seriously. 10 years ago, this gaffe would have been covered briefly by CNN and that would have been it. Now, you better believe this thing's gotten huge legs--and even the gun-clutching, Bible thumping hillbillies have e-mail.

What will save Obama in the primary is the near insurmountable lead and the fact that the good Senator Clinton claiming to be more electable is like a king cobra claiming to be only slightly less poisonous than a black mamba. What may save him in the general is if McCain has an "angry man" moment or if Bush bombs Iran (which I'm foreseeing on November 9, but events may preclude).

I'm with you, Brendan--I want to see a substantive debate, not rabble rousing demagoguery or attack ad central. Of course, I also wanted to see candidates who I believed had vision, but instead I'm getting Senators. Er, wait, did I say that out loud?

Besides, Obama's big issue is that, yes, the comment will be twisted as being aimed primarily at middle-class whites. (Personally I think lots of folks should be offended regardless of race, but that's just me.)

[Mad Max, Esquire]

First, it is impossible nowadays for anyone running for office to avoid "getting into positions where you have to explain." It is naive to believe any politician, no matter how good, can avoid it.

Second, how sure are you that it won't play well in Reading, PA? Are people in Reading, PA stupid? Do you think they think they aren't bitter? Is Obama saying something that is inaccurate? Do you have to be in law school to understand nuance?

Frankly, I think the media greatly underestimate the ability of the American public to understand statements like this. People are losing their homes. Their kids are at war. We are losing ground to China and India. People ARE bitter. Maybe this is the time for a real....and I mean REAL...conversation to take place between voters and those running for office.

[Joe Mama]

Having grown up in the PA "no man's land" under discussion, I can say with certainty that Obama made a very bad unforced error when he demonstrated that he clearly doesn't understand PA voters. I know exactly how his remarks are "playing in Reading, PA" (or, more precisely, the W-B/Scranton area). The only bitter people up there are those being condescended to by Obama's latter liberalism.

[Joe Mama]

. . . Obama's latte liberalism.

[Joe Mama]

Are people in Reading, PA stupid? Do you think they think they aren't bitter?

Wow. This obviously isn't the fist time Max talked out of his ass, but I can't remember him ever doing it so starkly.

[yea]

everything obama said was true. it looks like obama has stolen the straight talk express from mccain.

[yea]

obama will be fine competing in the general election. he's going outspend the republicans at a level never seen before. republican turnout already close maxed out because of anti-clintonism. when the election gets close and the former hillary supporters realize mccain will appoint anti-choice judges you'll see them come into the fold quickly. additionally, the millions of new democrats who registered during this primary season will be voting also, not to mention blacks who hadn't voted before.

i dont think republicans realize how much trouble they are in this election. best case scenario for repubs they keep the white house but lose a substantial number of seats in congress leaving us in deadlock

[Joe Loy]

"...isn't the fist time Max talked out of his ass, but I can't remember him ever doing it so starkly."

Well, JM, it's like I always say re starkliness: better latte than never. :} But personally I think MME is more like unto the biblical Balaam. It's his ass that's a-talkin' to him. :> [j/k MMe ;]

"In between Philly and Pittsburgh lies no man's land."

Or, Marty West, as that great philospher James Carville ;} has put it: 'Pennsylvania is Philadelphia in the east and Pittsburgh in the west and Alabama in between.'

* * * * * * * *
Of COURSE this is yet another Gotcha Moment. // My only remaining hope for this campaign, is This: that by the time it's all blessedly Over with, each & every known social, economic, ethnic, racial, religious, irreligious, gender-indentified, sexual-preferenced, ideological, chronological, and Other tribe within the electorate will have had its collective Feelings equally Hurt by somebody's utterance of a generalization about it (the Tribe) which It collectively Knows to be, essentially, True. / Thanks largely to the ongoing accumulation of Gotcha Moments this process is now well underway, but there still is much Work to do because this is America and we mustn't Miss anybody, that would be Discriminatory.

[Mad Max, Esquire]

"Wow. This obviously isn't the fist time Max talked out of his ass, but I can't remember him ever doing it so starkly."

81 percent of Americans believe the country is going in the wrong direction. People know they aren't happy.

I didn't grow up in PA, but I did grow up in a Midwestern working class family. I know the people who would be offended by Obama's remark were never go to vote for him anyway. However, I also know a lot of working class people who are smart enough to see that Obama is speaking the truth and appreciate it more than the pandering lies they have been receiving from Clinton and McCain.

I'm not saying this statement is a winner for Obama. But I think people will appreciate it more than lies about Bosnian snipers.

[Mad Max, Esquire]

Joe Loy has a good point. Now all we need is for McCain to bash the Amish for not supporting the war in Iraq.

[the fourth one]

I know a lot of people from Pennsylvania, and have spent a good bit of time there, myself. Although Mr. Obama's statements about the area were not particularly diplomatic, I think they were right on. People there have seen mills close, their young people have to move away in order to find decent work, and their towns become run-down. I think there is not only a bitterness/sadness, but also a strong desire to protect what they have left. I don't think Obama was saying people in that region are unintelligent; I think that he was accurately describing their very understandable reaction to what has been happening to them for a long time. I think that he should not back down from what he said, but, rather, talk about how he would like to change the situation.

When government fails, guns and religion are exactly what we should cling to. We are first free people. Guns to protect us from the mob's graping hands, religion to protect us from its ideas.

[Condor]

Clearly, saying stupid things does not disqualify you from the presidency.

[Anonymous Hoosier]

Brendan, the religion, guns, anti-immigration, and anti-trade portion of his original comment is only "intellectually defensible" if that phrase means "other over-educated intellectuals hold these condescending views of the motivations of people unlike them." It's a warped perception of the world that says religion and the Second Amendment are only important to voters because they're "bitter" that the government hasn't helped them overcome economic challenges. I'm an over-educated intellectual with a good job who votes in significant part based on these issues -- and I've been convinced to do so largely by friends and family who Sen. Obama now judges to be acting out of "bitterness." He's wrong.

But politicians are wrong about a lot of things. The reason this is important is it calls into question a couple of the central rationales of Sen. Obama's campaign. The most important of these is that he can bridge the gap between "red America" and "blue America" and remind us that we're "the United States of America." If this is what he thinks of voters in "red America" -- and his defense of his remarks suggests it is -- then Sen. Obama as bridge-builder is a pipe dream. (In my view, his remarks also cast doubt on whether he genuinely favors individual responsibility and not just government social programs as solutions, but I think that's a weaker case based on these remarks alone without the other mounting evidence).

[stan]

When the revelations about Ron Paul's newsletters came out, I was amazed and appalled at the comments his supporters posted on any blog which had the story. They went to bizarre lengths in their efforts to excuse, justify, or explain.

Obama's fans are giving us deja vu. His comments are indefensible on a number of levels, especially given his own record on trade and his experience with Rev. Wright.

[stan]

To support Hoosier -- some have tried to "explain" that Obama was merely articulating the "what's wrong with Kansas" argument -- the idea that voters in the heartland are too stupid to understand what is in their own best interests. I'm sure voters throughout the heartland will feel better voting for Obama once they understand this.

On a broader note, the "intellectuals" who buy into the "Kansas" theory are many of the same folks who looked at John Kerry's activities throughout the Vietnam experience and thought those activities made him attractive to military and defense voters. And now think that higher taxes, increased regulation and trade protectionism (the recipe that gave us the Depression) will boost the economy.

As one who has his own doctorate, I think "intellectual" may become merely code for stupid.

[JD]

I suppose Obama should be given some credit for not simply resorting to the most condescending phrase in the political process: "voting against your interests." But what he did say is along those lines.

[JD]

And it seems Stan beat me to the punch somewhat.

[sbk]

The problem with the Obama campaign is that to peddle "hope" he must convince people it's something they don't have and something they need. People don't always take well to being called hopeless.

Listen to Michelle Obama and how she repeatedly tells people how sorry they are so she can then paint Barack as a great savior. It's a very fine line to walk and this is just one instance of several where they've slipped over the edge.

So to answer BLoy's original question of how many more remarks we have to suffer through, I'd say several as it's a basic flaw of the main message of the campaign.

[Chuck]

Brendan please accept my sincere thanks for NOT using the term "Swiftboated", as in the GOP attack machine will "swiftboat" Mr. Obama with these statements.

Your concerns about the possibility of Obama losing in the general are felt by many. Not necessarily by me, but many who read your blog.

You are to be commended.

[Michael Silence]

http://blogs.knoxnews.com/knx/silence/archives/2008/04/heres_how_obama.shtml

[JO]

Tonight's show brought to you by Barack Obama and the not ready for prime time players.

This is John Kerry's "stuck in Iraq" gaffe all over again. This is not nuance, it's not misunderstaning or a botched joke (I loved that excuse). It's simply another lefty elitist looking down his nose at the unwashed masses and telling them how stupid they are if they vote anyone else but the Obaminator.

[Wire]

"After uncomfortable Wright exit from African-American steering committee, Obama says "confident" with replacement found in Alicia Keys, "looking forward" to Convention theme song."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,350916,00.html

[Brendan Loy]

In response to JO:

1) I hate John Kerry.

2) It quite clearly was a botched joke.

[Mad Max, Esquire]

"Obama's fans are giving us deja vu. His comments are indefensible on a number of levels, especially given his own record on trade and his experience with Rev. Wright."

Obama's comments are totally defensible. He was not being condescending. He was describing how our trade policies have left many Americans bitter and looking for scapegoats. What is not defensible are the policies that have led to the hollowing out of the American manufacturing base at the peril of our nation. Just pray to God China never decides to invade Taiwan, because we won't have the industrial capacity to fight them for long.

[yea]

stop making people look stupid mad max

[FzxGkJssFrk]

With this post coming so soon on the heels of your Star Trek clip, I think you most definitely need to bleg for one of your graphic-arts readers to come up with a Election '08 Star Trek: First Contact poster, featuring Obama as Picard, McCain as Data, and Hillary as the Borg Queen. Or, just Hillary as the Borg Queen.

[FzxGkJssFrk]

Actually, judging by the totality of your recent posts, it needs to be a composite Hillary-Pat Summitt-Borg Queen graphic...

[TKelso]

Sorry Obamiacs, there ain't nothing "gotcha" about this:

"...and it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

What it is is condescending and paternalistic, even with the prettied up rephrasing he used in Muncie. Folks in the sticks and up in them thar hollers don't much take to city-fied folks tellin' 'em they's backwerds 'n unlettered or that they's to dum to kno that they should really be mad at WalMart. On top of that EVERYONE is proud of something about where they come from--even USC alums, tho I personally don't get that one--heh heh heh. Maybe it's the biggest McDonald's in the USA (my hometown), or the biggest ball of twine, but everyone identifies with and is proud of something. Devaluing the religious values of small town Americans is just not a wise move. Period. The real problem, as Brendan alludes to, is that
Sen Obama thought he could have a side conversation with his peers in SF. He should ALWAYS be on, he is ALWAYS being evaluated. Somehow that just hasn't sunk in. This means IMHO (so save the flames)that he either really is the elitist person who was at the SF fundraiser, or, he's not a deft enough politician to have the post he's running for.

Hmmm
obama supporters seem to focus more on why their candidate of choice is great and less on why the other candidates aren't
meanwhile Hillary and to a lesser extent mccain supporters seem more focused in why obama is bad and less on why they are good
kinds says something that this is such a big story when really he's right. Middle and low class Americans have been screwed economically by the politicians and rather than mince words obama is willing to talk about it. I'm sick of the current trend of don't say things are bad when
they actually are (our current prez being an expert at that) its time for honesty bcause we can't make things better until we are honest about what's wrong in the first place

[Alasdair]

If you are going to do Star Trek casting, Obama is NO way Picard ... he is perhaps a dumbed-down clumsy version of Khan (elitist) - but more likely Obama would be the Ensign in the Red Shirt beaming down to the planet with the Away Party ...

Let's face it - Obama and Clinton may yet swing November to where McCain gets a landslide sweeping him into the White House ...

Hope you enjoyed this incredibly stupid and wrong statement by Obama, because it will be on every McCain commercial from now until November.

[Mad Max, Esquire]

"What it is is condescending and paternalistic"

What is condescending and paternalistic is the media's treatment of white people in small towns and rural areas as a bunch of Archie Bunkers who watch the Dukes of Hazzard and who have no ability at all to see what Obama was getting at.

There is nothing condescending or paternalistic about what Obama was saying. People are bitter and they are clinging to guns, gays and God because they have been forced into it by circumstance.

This country has major problems. Do you want a leader who will tell you what you want to hear and do nothing? Or do you want a leader who will tell you like it is? Personally, I think it is high time we cut out the soundbite parsing "gotcha" bullshit and start dealing honestly with the problems facing this nation.

[Anonymous Hoosier]

Mad Max,

It is Sen. Obama who is treating them as Archie Bunkers who watch the Dukes of Hazzard (nothing wrong with watching the Dukes, by the way), when he attributes their faith in God and their support for the rights explicitly enshrined in the Constitution to the fact that government has promised and failed to prevent the economy from changing.

I agree that Americans have a right to be exasperated about the failed promises by those on the left (and the "compassionate conservatives" on the right) that the government will make things better. After all, we've endured an endless series of tax hikes on our income, our spending, our property, and even our deaths and we get very little for it all. Certainly we don't get the free ride on life, all problems solved, jobs on a silver platter that politicians traipsing through America always promise.

But that's not why we believe in God and the Constitution. As Sen. Clinton correctly put it, we embrace these things because we're rich in faith - I think she said "spiritually rich," but that covers only one and not the other.

Of course, we're always destined to be disappointed by the promises of politicians. Big bureaucracies (whether it's a government agency of 55,000 paper pushers, or an HMO of 30,000 paper pushers, or a central school bureaucracy of 1,000 paper pushers) can't solve our problems. They struggle to handle much simpler missions, like answering the mail or buying computers. In the private sector (at least, where less overburdened by government regulations than in health care), some of the problems of bureaucracy are alleviated by small new players who can offer better service and better solutions. Not so with government, alas.

Everyone knows "what Obama was getting at". That's the problem, dumbass.

[Ken]

If these comment piss off a lot of voters in Pennsylvania and a lot of similar voters in Ohio, this could really be a problem for Obama in November. He already has essentially written off Florida by his failure to actively promote (I will give him the benefit of the doubt and phrase it as I have rather than saying he actively opposed) a new primary election there. So now he may be kissing off two other important swing states.

Voters can usually forgive candidates for a lot of things (eg. Rev. Wright) but if they perceive that they are personally being insulted by the candidate (whether or not you or I agree with the statements) then they are hardly likely to support him.

[FzxGkJssFrk]

Alasdair - I was originally going to suggest McCain as Picard, but somehow Obama as Data didn't quite work, either.

Back to the main conversation, Anonymous Hoosier's response to Mad Max is right on.

[Angrier and Angrier]

Oh look. A white Pennsylvanian who says, "Yes...we are bitter" and who also agrees that Obama's remarks were right...

[Angrier and Angrier]

Oops..Here is the link...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7A23EYCWcH4

yeah, like that one guy is going to be the last word on what all "white Pennsylvanians" think.

[Joe Mama]

Oh look, a poll showing Clinton opening up a 20-point lead on Obama in PA.

It's only one poll taken over the weekend, but then again, A&A's clip was an interview with only one person in a diner. Both are equally reliable as metrics of PA voters' attitudes towards Obama.

[Angrier and Angrier]

Joe Mama-

The AIR poll has been all over the map in just a few weeks. The real test isn't what I say or what the AIR poll says. It will be votes. While Obama's phrasing was regrettable, I think many Pennsylvanians will appreciate Obama's efforts to "feel their pain" while Hillary pretends people who are bitter aren't.

[Alasdair]

(This may be a bit obscure, but, here goes ...)

Obama doesn't know from bitter, he's more of a stout or a porter, whereas Clinton is more of an absinthe (or a potato-peelings vodka) ...