No, Obama

No one has yet bothered fisking the Obama quote. Too much like shooting fish in a punchbowl? Having already been gigged by a co-worker over it ("Well, isn't it the truth?" Um, no, but hey, enjoy the Kool-aide), I spose I might try:

...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.

"And it's not surprising then they get bitter,..." referring to the response of small-town American factory workers to hard times. So the Hope guy thinks "bitterness" rather than, I don't know, "hard work" or "moving on" is a proper response to hard times? --Look, when The Plant shuts down, you find other work. Or, hey, you starve. BTDT, lived on ramen and hot dogs, found another job.

"...they cling to..." Fascinating turn of phrase from a member of the board of the Joyce Foundation to disarm Americans; "Cling to" carries a very definite connotation of "just barely hanging on" and generally implies that loss of that which is being clung to is nearly inevitable and just about imminent. (Don't take my word, Google it and see) . So the list that follows are things he figures ought to be taken away:

"...cling to guns..." Funny, that: I always thought the Second Amendment was there telling Government to back off so I would not have to "cling" to my guns. Who would be trying to take them away? --Oh, right: Senator Obama's peers and pals at the Joyce Foundation. Them. While normally here in The Heartland we regard firearms as being high on the list of things you can reliably pawn when the rent comes due, as long as the Joyces are on the job, I'll be clingin'. Not 'cos times are bad but because they are a-grabbin'.

"...or religion..." First Amendment, Senator? Remember? It's part of those funny, musty old papers, the thoughts recorded upon which you swore an oath to "support and defend." Did you read them, sir? Do you believe it applies to any church other than the one to which you belong? Or have you simply internalized Marxist hostility to religion without stopping to apply it to your own life as well? --I'm pretty tone-deaf to religious sentiments but even I can appreciate their importance; one might think a U. S. Senator and proud church-goer would have an even better grasp. ...And about that church you attend:

"...or antipathy toward people who aren't like them..." Pot. Kettle. Goin' to services at a church where the preacher thunders out his loathing for "white America" and calls down the curses of his G-d on this nation (while the Senator pretends, with blinking innocence, not to have noticed) and you've got the gall to accuse small-town America of racism? It's 2008, Senator; we may not have stopped being suspicious of one another over skin color but the vast majority of people are willin' to make an effort as long as the other person is, too; and by and large, that's what we're all doin'. A quick smile and a "how do" goes a long way -- a lot farther than bloviating from the pulpit on what a horrrrrrible place the States are, especially if you are a person of color. (Quick, gang, here's a pop quiz: standard of living in the US vs. standard of living in Africa for persons of African descent in both places, which one is higher? Don't forget to include the better-off countries). There may be a log in my eye, Senator, but you'll have to get the one out of yours before you can go after it. At least I'm tryin'.

"...or anti-immigrant sentiment..." Orly? Srsly? Like my German g'grandparents faced? 'Cos they came into the country legally. That's what immigrants do. I do b'lieve you're using a codeword and actually referring to illegal entrants to the United States. See, those people in small towns, the mostly pale ones at whom you have sneered, their ancestors are not from here. They are the descendants of immigrants. Legal immigrants. Who learned the language of their adopted country. And they're kind of wondering why people who want to be called "immigrants" now can't be bothered to follow the law or learn the lingo. They're a bit resentful of that. Y'know, in sort of the same way as your preacher?

"...anti-trade sentiment..." You mean, like when they buy imported Chinese goods at the five and dime, or were you referring to the Japanese, Korean and European cars many of them buy? Or might you have meant the wholesale export of their jobs to other countries, thanks in large part to the excessive regulation and extraordinary empowerment of unions pushed by the Left? Karma's a stone beeyotch, ain't it?

Thanks for the blog-fodder, Senator, and thanks for unfurling your true flag: the politics of resentment and class-war. The politics of sneering elitism.

Y'know, the Democrats used to at least pretend to be in touch. It's not so much that the gloves are off as the mask has slipped.