(no subject)
"They're calling him an elitist. I looked up the definition of elitist for us, "Group or class of persons, enjoying a superior intellectual, social or economic status". Here's the thing, he was raised by a single mother, he just finished paying off his student loans. Both Hiliary and McCain are worth $100 million dollars, how is he the elitist exactly?" - Joy Behar, The View (I don't normally like any of them too much, but Joy was on fiyah this morning. She made a couple remarks about McCain that I wish I could've gotten down)
Will Obama Pay for 'Bitter' Flap?
"Obama used the word "bitter" when he should have said "frustrated," said Donna Brazile, an undecided Super Delegate who ran Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000. "Clearly Obama's comments were "unartful," but not inaccurate. Polls show most voters are dissatisfied with the current direction of the country. And politicians have always played on their fears-and used issues like crime, welfare, gay rights and abortion-to draw distinctions without addressing the deep issues that voters care about."
"Obama tried his best to repair the damage quickly. "I didn't say it as well as I could have," Obama told a crowd in Muncie, Indiana Saturday. Later that same day he told a North Carolina newspaper: "Obviously, if I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that." At the same time, Obama refused to repudiate his words, seeking instead to clarify them. "People end up- they don't vote on economic issues because they don't expect anybody's going to help them," Obama said. "So people end up, you know, voting on issues like guns, and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. And they take refuge in their faith and their community and their families and things they can count on. But they don't believe they can count on Washington."
"I thought his response in Indiana, in which he reemphasized the point he was making rather than apologize or "clarify" it, was sensible and refreshing," said Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington."
"Mistakes become "gaffes" when they play to an underlying stereotype," said Michael Munger, a polticial science professor at Duke University in North Carolina, which is scheduled to hold its primary May 6. "If Bill Clinton had said this thing about some white people being bitter and using guns, it would have been fine, since he grew up a poor white guy. But the Obama stereotype is a wealthy ivy-league elitist. He's a little too well-spoken; his suits are a little too expensive. From him, the comment comes off as condescending."
But if Clinton, and McCain for that matter, are going to use these comments to cast Obama as an arrogant elitist, they better be prepared to deal with the blowback. As Jamal Simmons, a Democratic consultant and Obama supporter, put it in an email exchange with TIME, "Hillary Clinton calls Barack Obama elitist? Really? Hillary Clinton was a corporate lawyer who sat on the Wal Mart board before becoming First Lady and is now worth over $100 million. Barack Obama is the child of a single mother raised in part by his grandparents who went to school on a scholarship and was a community organizer making $12,000 a year before becoming a law professor, lawyer and state senator. Five years ago he was still paying off student loans. It's a bogus charge."
And just for shits and giggles, some info on how they compare financially, Obama Releases Tax Returns and Clintons made nearly $109 Million since 2000.
Will Obama Pay for 'Bitter' Flap?
"Obama used the word "bitter" when he should have said "frustrated," said Donna Brazile, an undecided Super Delegate who ran Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000. "Clearly Obama's comments were "unartful," but not inaccurate. Polls show most voters are dissatisfied with the current direction of the country. And politicians have always played on their fears-and used issues like crime, welfare, gay rights and abortion-to draw distinctions without addressing the deep issues that voters care about."
"Obama tried his best to repair the damage quickly. "I didn't say it as well as I could have," Obama told a crowd in Muncie, Indiana Saturday. Later that same day he told a North Carolina newspaper: "Obviously, if I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that." At the same time, Obama refused to repudiate his words, seeking instead to clarify them. "People end up- they don't vote on economic issues because they don't expect anybody's going to help them," Obama said. "So people end up, you know, voting on issues like guns, and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. And they take refuge in their faith and their community and their families and things they can count on. But they don't believe they can count on Washington."
"I thought his response in Indiana, in which he reemphasized the point he was making rather than apologize or "clarify" it, was sensible and refreshing," said Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington."
"Mistakes become "gaffes" when they play to an underlying stereotype," said Michael Munger, a polticial science professor at Duke University in North Carolina, which is scheduled to hold its primary May 6. "If Bill Clinton had said this thing about some white people being bitter and using guns, it would have been fine, since he grew up a poor white guy. But the Obama stereotype is a wealthy ivy-league elitist. He's a little too well-spoken; his suits are a little too expensive. From him, the comment comes off as condescending."
But if Clinton, and McCain for that matter, are going to use these comments to cast Obama as an arrogant elitist, they better be prepared to deal with the blowback. As Jamal Simmons, a Democratic consultant and Obama supporter, put it in an email exchange with TIME, "Hillary Clinton calls Barack Obama elitist? Really? Hillary Clinton was a corporate lawyer who sat on the Wal Mart board before becoming First Lady and is now worth over $100 million. Barack Obama is the child of a single mother raised in part by his grandparents who went to school on a scholarship and was a community organizer making $12,000 a year before becoming a law professor, lawyer and state senator. Five years ago he was still paying off student loans. It's a bogus charge."
And just for shits and giggles, some info on how they compare financially, Obama Releases Tax Returns and Clintons made nearly $109 Million since 2000.