When Barack Obama described the character of the poorer classes in the great American swindle as displaying a tendency to “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them” as compensation for their generally unfortunate socio-economic circumstances, who could reasonably deny that such an assertion was, however unflattering, more on the mark than not? Were Obama's remarks, as have been claimed by some of our most notable elites, elitist? Perhaps, but as Jim Kunstler points out so deliciously in his most recent blog, there was more than a soupcon of hypocrisy from some quarters that took umbrage at Senator Obama's incisive remarks.
"The evermore loathsome and odious Hillary Clinton, co-owner of a $100 million personal wealth portfolio, seized the moment to remind voters what a normal, everyday gal she is -- who would never look down on the small-town folk of Pennsylvania the way her "elitist" opponent had, forgetting, apparently, that the Clinton family's consigliere, James Carville, famously described the Keystone State as a kind of redneck sandwich with Pittsburgh and Philadelphia as the bread, and Alabama as the lunch meat in between."
Putative elitism aside, no one, with the exception of Kunstler, is acknowledging the obvious, which is, to repeat, that Obama was more on target than off. The pity rests in Obama's quick disavowal of his remarks, since his attempts to convince the gun loving, Nascar worshipping, religious wing nuts inhabiting large sections of the nation that he didn't really mean it, are unlikely to convince.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Yeah, I thought he was right too. But is "bitter" such a derogatory term that it needs to be apologized for?
No, it sure isn't. But people don't like to admit to being bitter, even if sometimes they have every right to have a bad taste in their mouth and few hard feelings.
and a few hard feelings.
Post a Comment