Obama refuses to apologize, elevates blunder to defining his worldview
Yesterday was a bad day for Barack Obama, (see preceding post below). The worst blunder to my mind was his comments calling "small-town" people bitter who, as a result of their bitterness, cling to guns or religion or anti-immigration, etc. Both Clinton and McCain pointed out the inappropriateness of the comments. Obama fired back last night that he is in touch and that Clinton and McCain are out of touch. Today, he reiterated that people are bitter, a clear signal that he will stand by yesterday's comments and not apologize. This elevates these comments from a campaign blunder to a defining feature of his worldview. This path, I believe, is going to cost him.
The comments were made at an upscale fundraising event in San Francisco, where the junior Illinois Senator, who is rated as having the most liberal voting record in the Senate, spoke to the elite in perhaps America's most liberal city. He stated, that people in small towns that have not been led well by Clinton or Bush "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."
Today, Obama reiterated when responding to the charge that he was out of touch and speaking in a condescending fashion:
"Out of touch? Out of touch? I mean, John McCain -- it took him three tries to finally figure out that the home foreclosure crisis was a problem and to come up with a plan for it, and he's saying I'm out of touch?
Senator Clinton voted for a credit card-sponsored bankruptcy bill that made it harder for people to get out of debt after taking money from the financial services companies, and she says I'm out of touch? No, I'm in touch. I know exactly what's going on. ... People are fed up. They're angry and they're frustrated and they're bitter."
Today he left off the part about people clinging 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, but he has stated in no uncertain terms he stands by what he said yesterday.
Looking for other hints of his worldview, these comments run in very poor tandem with those of his spiritual advisor/pastor, the Rev. Wright and his wife's comments on her view of America, which are also being charged as condescending, America-hating, prejudiced, and patronizing. Michelle Obama has stated that the American people as a country are “just downright mean,” we are “guided by fear,” we’re a nation of cynics, sloths, and complacents. “We have become a nation of struggling folks who are barely making it every day,” she said, as heads bobbed in the pews. “Folks are just jammed up, and it’s gotten worse over my lifetime."
In South Carolina, she further stated her belief that Americans are ignorant stereotypers as she stated:
We don't like being pushed outside of our comfort zones. ... Sometimes it is easier to hold on to your own stereotypes and misconceptions. It makes you feel justified in your ignorance. That's America.
This statement Michelle Obama sounds very similar to Obama's statement that started off his speech in San Francisco yesterday that, "Sometimes it is easier to hold on to your own stereotypes and misconceptions. It makes you feel justified in your ignorance."
His campaign adviser and spiritual advisor of 20 years, the Reverend Wright's sentiments that we live in the "KKK of America" and "God damn America!" seem to be far more consistent with what Obama seems to be thinking than not during comments like these. Nor do Obama's past comments about "typical white people" and his characterization of his white grandmother as a "typical white person" for being afraid of blacks on the street seem far off from his worldview that is being more clearly defined with such comments. Since he has made a foundation of his campaign that he wants to lead us into a "post-racial society" and his portrayal of himself as the leader of the next generation of the civil rights movement started by Martin Luther King Jr., all of these comments are rather telling. Renewed will be the charges then that he chose for 20 years to listen to Wright's hateful and bigoted sermons, had Wright marry him and his wife, baptize and preach to his daughters, invited him to be an adviser to his campaign, and his continued insistence that Wright helped bring him closer to God.
A few weeks back, I had observed that Obama had at that point managed to define his own candidacy in a positive light that helped shelter him from other criticisms. That there had been no negative "themes" attached to him. But I also observed that he was not as vetted by the public eye yet as Clinton or McCain and that such themes were likely to emerge. Well, here's the first one, and it is a big one that will not go away. Its too early to say if this will cost him the primary or the general election, but this type of implosion certainly will make a difference. The only question is how much of a difference. This could well be a turning point in the campaign.
