A "Bitter" Pill

Apologies for the sporadic updates. I've been slammed with assignments and Laura's computer is broken, but I should be able to update regularly again beginning today.

It seems the media's been slightly adrift over the past week or two. Hillary's sniper gaffe has run its course, and for a while there was no new major misstep or scandal to focus on. This was especially problematic because the Pennsylvania primaries are still two weeks away, so the election season is caught in a period without any actual elections in it. The media has just been waiting for a candidate to slip up again so they could pounce on it and hammer away, and now it looks like Obama has given them their chance.

The dominant story on nearly every political site since Friday has been a set of comments made by Barack Obama at a San Fransisco fundraiser in which he refers to small-town Americans as "bitter," and going on to say that "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."

It didn't take long for the media to pick up the story, and Obama's opponents followed soon after. Clinton was quick to hit him on it, using the comment to position herself as the friend of the working class (she mentioned her grandfather was a factory worker, although it is telling that one has go back two generations to find a working-class Clinton.) McCain aide Steve Schmidt also called Obama on the remarks, saying "It shows an elitism and condescension towards hardworking Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking...it is hard to imagine someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans."

So it seems that the right's charges about Obama are right after all. He really is an elitiest Harvard educated slickster with contempt for common American values and no understanding of the working class. The proof is in the comments, right?

Not so fast.

Obama is getting a raw deal here, on several levels. The media is famous for removing context from candidate statements, but they've truly outdone themselves this time, essentially boiling the entire statement down to a single word: "bitter." Well, there were a lot more words in Obama's statement than there. Here, in context, are his remarks:

"Here's how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn't buy it. And when it's delivered by -- it's true that when it's delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama (laugher), then that adds another layer of skepticism.

"You go into 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 they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

"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."


Doesn't seem quite so bad in context, does it? Rather than an attack on small-town America, Obama seems to be making a Clintonseque "I feel your pain" statement here. He's essentially saying "you're unhappy, you're angry, and it's because the government has forgotten about you. Well, I understand where you're coming from, and I haven't forgotten you."

Could it have been a little better phrased? Certainly. But what we have here is Obama essentially acknowledging the elephant in the room. We may not want to admit it, but there is no question that many small towns are in decline. There is no question that many people blame illegal immigrants or other minorities. There is no question that many working class people are angry. So is the whole country. Perhaps the "clinging to guns and religion" line was ill-advised, but what Obama did here was something similar to what he did with his speech on race: he had an honest conversation which acknowledged some ugly facts.

He could have offered empty compliments and canned statements about the "real America" and "salt of the Earth folks" like a typical politician, he could have done the old song-and-dance where you come in, pose next to a tractor, talk about how small towns are the most perfect, immaculate places on Earth and then continue ignoring their needs. But he wanted to have an honest conversation. He wanted to acknowledge that small towns do have problems, that their people aren't perfect, and then he wanted to ask "why is that? How can we fix it? How can I help?"

Essentially, Obama is being attacked today for refusing to pander.

Perhaps we have become so jaded, so complacent and expectant of candidates to pander to us, that any truly honest, warts-and-all statement becomes offensive. And there's no question that some lines in Obama's speech were a bit harsh and poorly chosen. But to transfer that into a supposed contempt for small-town America is absurd. If Obama has such feelings, they are not made apparent in his statements. Quite the opposite. He is trying to engage small-towners in an honest conversation instead of talking down to them. He may have failed to do that with his choice of words. But he did not insult them.

Perhaps in recognition of that, Obama has refused to take back his comments. He has expressed regret at causing offense, but maintains that the core sentiment was still valid.

The McCain and Clinton camps are jumping on this statement with everything they've got. I don't blame them. The media is going after this story like...well, like Hillary's sniper comment and Obama's preacher debacle (McCain remains safely out of the line of fire, it would seem.) Which means it will mostly blow over in a week or so, but it will leave scars which will continue to fester.

It's truly unfortunate, because this is not a story that deserves to be hyped this way. There were legitimate reasons to go after Wright. There was no way "God damn America" was going to be explained away with context. There were legitimate reasons to question the sniper comment. It was factually inaccurate no matter how you slice it. But the "bitter" story thrives on lack of context, and in fact, could hardly be as big WITH context. These are comments which are easy to misconstrue. While they might raise a minor stink on their own, rip out all the ideas and leave only the idea of "Obama says rural voters bitter, cling to guns and God," and only then do you have a major national story.

It couldn't come at a worse time for Obama, with the Pennsylvania primary two weeks away and polls showing him gaining significant ground on Clinton. This story could easily bring his numbers into freefall. We shall see.

One more observation: I have yet to hear a single actual small town Americans comment on this. For the past 24 hours, we've heard all three candidates, various hangers-on, and every pundit under the sun chime in. But every story I've read contains nothing but speculation as to how the people Obama is supposedly insulting will react. No one has bothered to go out and actually ASK these people if they're insulted or not. Instead, they've TOLD them how they feel. How's that for looking down on small towners? And now that the story's gotten such hype, it's a bit late to go around asking for comments without the whole chicken vs egg theory intruding: would they have reacted the same way before the media decided they should be outraged? We'll never know now, because the media didn't ask.

Well, you know what? I come from a small town. So here is my unsolicited opinion: I'm not happy. And what makes me unhappy is how these comments have been reported on, not the comments themselves.