Obama's Midwestern Economic Stimulus: Construction of a Gaffe Factory

Terre Haute, IN-- Illinois Senator Barack Obama made the following remarks at a rally on Friday, April 4 with respect to Pennsylvanians' reluctance to jump on-board the Obama bandwagon:

"People don't vote on economic issues because they don't expect anybody is going to help them," Obama told a crowd at a Terre Haute, Ind., high school Friday evening. "So people end up voting on issues like guns and are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. They take refuge in their faith and their community, and their family, and the things they can count on. But they don't believe they can count on Washington."

At a private fundraiser in San Francisco the following Sunday, Obama continued his high-brow condescension:

"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 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."

Madame Hillary's reply:

"Well, that's not my experience," Clinton told a Drexel University crowd, describing the state's residents as resilient, optimistic and hardworking.

"Pennsylvanians don't need a president who looks down on them," she said. "They need a president who stands up for them."

My question for Obama is: when will the insults stop and the realization start that his self-serving candidacy is hurting more than it's helping?



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Re: Obama's Midwestern Economic Stimulus: Construc (none / 0)

Obama said that?  I would have never known!  Thanks for shining the light of truth on this!


by mefck on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 02:17:28 PM EST

Construction of a Gaffe Factory (none / 0)

It's my experience that there is a lot of truth to what Obama said.  I don't think either candidate looks down on Small Town America either.


This administration is not sinking. This administration is soaring! If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg!
by venavena on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 02:26:36 PM EST

Good question (2.00 / 3)

but so far no one is looking at the question here.  All the obama people are doing is trying to spin his remarks, defend him, and yell at anyone who sees this as a problem.

you don't have to be a HRC supporter or a McCain supporter to view Obama's comments as condescending and arrogant, and a problem for him in the GE.

If he wanted to hand HRC a gift, and the supers a reason to not support him, he surely did that.  Add to this Wright comments and you've got the makings of a disaster for Obama.  


by 4justice on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 02:28:27 PM EST

look, (none / 0)

he made those remarks while running across the tarmac under sniper fire. So give him a break.


-- be excellent to each other
by kindthoughts on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 02:41:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: Obama's Midwestern Economic Stimulus: Construc (none / 0)

I think the diarist was satirizing the others on here heaping on diary after diary, looking for anything they can to bring Obama down with. He does a good job of it, too- comparing how true these statements are to how Senator Clinton, who's certainly had just a rough life. In the process, he shows how silly the people who write diaries like this look, especially to undecided voters.

Good job, dude, you make an excellent point!


Serious question- Is This Snark?
by ragekage on Sat Apr 12, 2008 at 04:35:12 PM EST


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