Obama and the Bitter, Clingy Religious Folk
According to the blog of liberal news outlet the Huffington Post, here is what Barack Obama said at a fundraiser in San Francisco:
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 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. (Reuters)
If he said it in these exact words, then Obama has a lot to learn about small town people. Yes, small town life in the Midwest has suffered because of economic pressures. I hate to break it to him, but religion (and even guns) is an important part of Midwestern small town life and culture and was long before an economic downturn. And, to imply that religious faith is the fruit of bitterness is astounding. I’m sure some people, of all types, are bitter, but why the small town stereotype? To give Obama some benefit of the doubt, I’m sure he was trying to bring his usual message of hope (even though I think it’s a misguided one) by emphasizing that he will bring prosperity to areas of economic depression. Fair enough and I would welcome that. However, putting down the culture and core values of the people you are supposedly trying to help is not going to win votes and is condescending. It also reveals that he probably has little understanding of the average, non-urban, non-liberal American.
I thought I’d end with another man’s words who truly understands hope. Oh, and he happens to be in the USA right now too:
The right state of human affairs, the moral well-being of the world can never be guaranteed simply through structures alone, however good they are…Since man always remains free and since his freedom is always fragile, the kingdom of good will never be definitively established in this world. Anyone who promises the better world that is guaranteed to last for ever is making a false promise; he is overlooking human freedom.
The great hope can only be God, who encompasses the whole of reality and who can bestow upon us what we, by ourselves, cannot attain. The fact that it comes to us as a gift is actually part of hope. God is the foundation of hope: not any god, but the God who has a human face and who has loved us to the end, each one of us and humanity in its entirety. His Kingdom is not an imaginary hereafter, situated in a future that will never arrive; his Kingdom is present wherever he is loved and wherever his love reaches us. His love alone gives us the possibility of soberly persevering day by day, without ceasing to be spurred on by hope, in a world which by its very nature is imperfect. His love is at the same time our guarantee of the existence of what we only vaguely sense and which nevertheless, in our deepest self, we await: a life that is “truly” life.
From Spes Salvi, by the Holy Father Benedict XVI
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April 12, 2008 at 9:52 am
I see that same Obama arrogance in his supporters. Several have responded to
my comments saying they are an attorney or law student. They picked the wrong
person to pick on.
April 12, 2008 at 10:01 am
Can’t everyone see that this man hates us? If you are not one of his elite circle of friends, then you are pathetic, ignorant and probably a racist.
April 12, 2008 at 10:12 am
Great post, johnathon, great post!
April 12, 2008 at 10:49 am
Nice Obama-B16 contrast. I didn’t even think about it. Being a gun enthusiast from the rural parts of this fair land, maybe I’ll pistol-whip Obama and pray for forgiveness afterwards. (Just kidding Mr. NSA information-gathering program. I’m something of a pacifist at heart.)
April 12, 2008 at 11:04 am
Yes, Barak Obama should have been more sensitive. His comment about those “bitter” people in Western Pennsylvania who had lost their jobs will come back to haunt him. Nonetheless, what he said was true. It was their bloated union benefits and their continual demand for even more benefits that drove their employers to take their business elsewhere, first to right-to-work Southern States and later to China and other foreign countries. NAFTA and illegal immigrants had nothing to do with it. If those unemployed folks want to get back on their feet or, at least, avoid passing their misery on to their children, they need to stop scapegoating and face the truth. They might ponder the words of the 1950’s comic strip sage, Pogo, who said: “We have met the enemy, and they are us.”
April 14, 2008 at 10:02 am
I’m neither an attorney nor a law student. I am a retired lady Steelworker who worked in Pennsylvania. Like Pope Benedict, Senator Obama has been proclaiming a message of hope (”hope” being the theme selected both by the Pope for his visit this week and Senator Obama for his campaign). But implicit in the message of both of these men of bringing hope is the suggestion that hope is not sufficiently present already. Pope John Paul II in his address to the UN made reference to the bitterness which can hold back social advancement. The Lord tells us “Without hope, people perish.” We cannot truly bring hope unless we first recognize that hope is lacking to at least some degree and we need to recognize the underlying causes of hopelessness and bitterness. Further, as Christians, we simply cannot dismiss those with hopelessness and bitterness as victims of their own actions. We have to recognize that in our fallen world, there are those who are robbed of hope and left in bitterness.
I know the people of the small industrial towns of Pennsylvania quite well. Plants have closed or moved offshore, homes are worthless, and marriages are stressed. Some seek solace in good things — faith, family, the beauty of God’s nature. Some seek solace in bad things — drinking, anger, and social isolation.
The Pope and Senator Obama have merit in standing for hope without Pollyannaism.
April 14, 2008 at 11:11 am
I think many in small towns are suffering from recent economic developments, closing of factories, high fuel prices, high food prices, just like everyone else (and perhaps even more, since often one or two factories keep a rural area economically secure). I think that many of us small-towners are looking for some type of change because we feel that elites are in charge that are not looking out for the interests of the “common man.” However frustrated I am with our current leadership, and the direction of our country, I am very, very hesitant to put my trust in a man whose voting record is the most liberal in the senate.
I also find it very condescending to be talked to like this. We small-towners may like our guns and religion, and may be frustrated economically, but our towns are still pretty nice, and despite all the guns, crime is low and prices are pretty reasonable compared to many big cities. At seminary I often encountered folks who couldn’t wait to go into parishes in small towns and enlighten all the ignorant masses. I took the opposite view: maybe the small-town folks could teach the elitists a thing or two about life.
April 14, 2008 at 11:14 am
Please check out Obama.
He is a superb speaker. So was Adolf Hitler.
I promise you Obama is hiding something, but not for long.
Please do the research.