Trust me, I know how he feels.
Last weekend, in San Francisco, at a fundraiser that was supposedly closed to the press, Obama said
“But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can
make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go
into some of 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 to people who
aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to
explain their frustrations.”
For some reason, when the angry denunciations came from the Clinton and McCain campaigns, as well as the pundits, they only heard “guns and religion” and missed the rest of the thought.
Pretty standard for news bites.
In explaining his position, Obama said that he was sorry if he offended anyone, but he stood by the idea that people had become bitter. Here’s the actual link: http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGBWx9
Obama has been accused of being an “elitist”. And the implication is that somehow “elitist” is in a class with every other pejorative. (And you know the ones I mean).
The whole imbroglio brought up the question of “faith”, and led last night to the “Compassion Bowl” on CNN. I did not watch it, but I did look at the mini-polls. At this moment on CNN.com the poll question (open to anyone, currently 11,487 responses) is: “Is faith or religion important in your choice of presidential candidates?” 67% voted no, 33% voted yes. Over on MSNBC.com, the question was:
Is it appropriate for presidential candidates to attend a
forum on faith? * 4296 responses
Yes, it's important for voters to know where candidates stand on issues of spirituality and morality.53%
No, politics has become too infused with religion; the two should be kept
separate.42%
I'm not sure.5%
Welcome to America.
I have two comments: First, I think Obama was right. NOT in the way he said it: that was a political fiasco. But there IS bitterness in people who feel that the rug has been pulled out from under them. (The best speech on this is Michael Douglas’ end speech in the movie The American President.) I know some of these bitter people. We ALL do. They want their world back, and who wouldn’t be bitter if one’s industry was gone and one had no hope of ever again being able to make the money one once did?
And if you were one of the bitter people -- who would you blame? What would you look to for solace?
Second: I know someone who is an avowed atheist. He always told me that atheists are hated more than any other religion. (I’ve seen stats and I believe him to be correct.) While the First Amendment allows Freedom of Religion, and that “freedom” includes the freedom to practice NO religion, for some reason, people indicate that not having a religion is somehow “bad”.
The CNN and MSNBC polls indicate that Americans do care that their candidates are religious, although they don’t care WHICH religion one practices.
In invading and occupying Iraq, we caused a religious civil war. If you look at the history of war, there’s a lot of “religion” involved. Think the Crusades, any ethnic cleansing, Northern Ireland, the Middle East, Africa. And yet, when look at the ending of the draft during Vietnam, it was the atheists who brought the Supreme Court case which ceased the draft. Just a thought……
I find this whole topic to be incredibly (personally) painful. Because at base it IS an argument about “elitism” -- but not in the pejorative way people talk about it. We live in a country where actors and athletes are revered: face it -- the only people who make more money are “captains of industry”. They provide ENTERTAINMENT, and the tops in those fields make millions of dollars a year. (And as my old boss used to say “Money is how we keep score.”) Meanwhile, tops in their fields for things that MATTER like police, fire, teaching, nursing, etc., won’t top $100k, EVER.
As a society, we seem to revere gadgets, and cars and McMansions, and fancy vacations -- EVERYTHING but intelligence and truth. Obama spoke truth: in a smart and nuanced fashion. And he could easily go down for it. Many Americans have a "gimme" entitlement mind-set. And when that doesn't happen, they look for someone to blame, and something to which to cling tenaciously.
I go back to The American President speech: if you haven't seen the movie, Bob Rumson was the opposition candidate to Michael Douglas' incumbent President. Michael Douglas' character, Andrew Shepard said: (full link: http://www.americanrhetoric.com/MovieSpeeches/moviespeechtheamericanpresident.html)
"We have serious problems to solve, and we need serious people
to solve them. And whatever your particular problem is, I promise you Bob Rumson
is not the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things,
and two things only: making you afraid of it, and telling you who's to blame for
it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You gather a group of
middle age, middle class, middle income voters who remember with longing an
easier time, and you talk to them about family, and American values and
character, and you wave an old photo of the President's girlfriend and you
scream about patriotism. You tell them she's to blame for their lot in life. And
you go on television and you call her a whore."
You can exchange "Bob Rumson" for the candidate of your choice, and "the President's girlfriend" with "NAFTA" or "illegal immigrants" -- but the thought is the same --> take the truth, find a way to make people afraid of it, and find someone to blame for it.
The American economy is in shambles, the war is a disaster, and for the record, there are more private militias in Pennsylvania (both in raw number, and per capita) than any other state in the country. We can all scream "patriotism" and pander to divisiveness, or we can look for smart ways to solve the problems, expand the tent, and make this country work again.
For those of us in Pennsylvania, that choice is next Tuesday.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment