A Personal Perspective on the Obama Comments

Well, J... is there ANYTHING he could do that would make you not vote for him? He basically pissed on your ancestors and all it did was give you pause?

Which again gets back to how exactly you think you are qualified to make a statement like that? Do you live in the part of the US that Obama was commenting on? Have you spent a significant amount of time in that area? If not, than how in the hell do you think you are even remotely qualified to make such statements?

When I say it has given me pause, it means that I'm on hold in considering his vote. Before, he had it. Now, it's up in the air unless he can honestly and truly explain his actions to me that I will accept. I'm not, however, in much of an accepting mood from him in that regard.

I'm not saying he's a bad person, but I am saying that this is a sign that he has no idea what I believe or whom I truly represent, and if he doesn't know that, how can he possibly represent me fairly?


J.

Personally I believe there is some truth in what Obama said. Having friends from Ohio and Michigan I know the hard times they are going through because I talk with them on a weekly basis. I think Obama's problem was that he tried to rationalize to some SFers why his message wasn't getting across in small town Pennsylvania. It's like, I'm a politician so these people won't trust me because they got so many raw deals in the past.

Unfortunately this hasn't really started a debate about how to revitalize the Midwest. It's like when McCain mentioned that maybe those jobs in Michigan won't come back. The guy got ripped a new one. No wonder the politicians stay away from straight talk and prefer to blow smoke.

Well, of that I am glad to hear.

Now even if you DO vote for him, I wouldn't have SUCH a problem with it.

The problem I DO have, is when idiots give him a pass on everything he says or does.

Yeah, because usually they just make fools of themselves if they're not speaking from prepared speeches.

Obama is no different.

Social problems?

More like a hell of a good night!

I didn't like his association with Wright, but I felt that his speech after that summed it up quite well, and I considered it understandable. Then there's the comments about small towns and how the people behave. Honestly, if you've ever been in a small town or grew up in one, you know better. And thanks to my great grandparents, grand parents and parents, I know what small town life is like. I remember when we'd be sitting on my grandfather's porch in Kentucky, and someone would drive down the gravel road. My grandpa would wave to them and they'd blow their horn and wave back. 9 times out of 10 he had never met them before, but it didn't matter. To him, folk were just folk. I never forgot that. So on this instance, Obama is absolutely wrong in his understanding of small town life and how people live and what they believe. He doesn't know what they need or how they think, so he's a poor representation of those folks.


J.

I like how Obama is now trying to distance himself from those comments by talking about how he grew up underprivileged and on food stamps.

As if someone with a background like that couldn't later hold elitist views.

If the man was really and truly about unity, how could he say something like that about anyone?

If nothing else, he shows himself to be completely out of touch with a large segment of the population he is submitting himself to lead. Not a promotional bell ringer.

It seems no matter what candidate you look at, we lose if they win.

In my opinion this has nothing to do with whether or not he is a good or bad person. It does have to do with first and foremost how honest is he being? I think he has crafted a persona for himself that up until recently hadn't been questioned all that stridently by our national news media. I think that the Clinton's have been correct in that respect. He has not been questioned in the same manner that Hillary has been. As to why that is happening, I don't know. But, I do think it has happened and only now is some pressure being put on him by the media because they simply can no longer ignore some of the stuff that he has done in the past versus what he is claiming now.

Finally at least for me, what I see him as having done in his the past and those he has chosen to associate himself with contrasts what he has attempted to present himself with his crafted persona. He claims to be a uniter, yet over the years and even now he associates with those who are clearly not uniters. He claims to love his country, yet he associates with people who are extremely anti-American. People like Jeremiah Wright and Bill Ayers.

These are serious issues in my opinion for someone who is trying to present himself as someone who loves his country and someone who is a uniter and interested in serving everyone in this country.

How could that be though? Didn't he grow up and live all around the world? Didn't he attend private schools? He certainly attended "ivy league" schools for college.

I kind of figured.

Poor, underprivileged Obama....what a dump he went to school at:

http://www.punahou.edu/page.cfm?p=1

Me and the edit post/quote buttons are not getting along today.

Someone just shoot me.

Devil's advocate for a moment, I'm inclined to think this is just a matter of Barack dropping into polspeak, of him playing up to the latte-sipping Sanfranciscans, that he just replied in a manner that he thought would ingratiate himself with the audience.

I.e., he wants to win, and is taking the low road. Like that bullshit about his secret support for NAFTA while he pandered to the 'rust-belt' voters, trashing free trade to establish his protectionist credentials. I'm not sure I think he's more elitist than I did yesterday (or that he genuinely favors free trade), his support has generally been seen as coming from higher-income voters than Hillary's (the real 'man of the people'). <heh>

Are you kidding? The working class is pandered too in every election. We're told how awesome we are who's responsible for all our problems (insert unions/corporations/liberal elitists/free trade/environmentalists here). Then whoever wins goes to Washington and ignores the issue until the next election cycle.

Apparently his buddy Jeremiah was correct about the plight of black people in the US. It sure looks like Barry had a horrible life there in Hawaii.

Whut

whut

whut

whut

Wow, and he's a flat out liar, too? All I've ever read and heard of this guy is how he went to private schools. Ya can't do that growing up on welfare.

Geez, he really can't keep his fucking mouth shut, can he?

Linky?

read all about it

Personally I think people from small towns smell bad and dress funny.

Right-wing oppressor.

There are slums and lower class housing in Hawaii. Do you know how many people are forced to live further than walking distance from the nearest golf course?

You talk like Hawaii is a coveted vacation destination or something.

Hawaii is a slum, Peter. Didn't ya know that?

Man, he is single-handily ruining his own campaign.

what a loser.

From Steve's link:

Oh, the hardship! Poor Obama had to scrape a windshield...this quote just shows even more how out of touch he is if he sees that as an example of "lesser means".

Well, he did mention in his biography how he didn't always have enough cash for coke and sometimes had to make do with pot.

How's life in the slum, Volpone?

My. God. Only a three bedroom house when you were a young couple?
Oh the tragedy! Here, you can stay in the house where we lived when I was a young teen. Watch your step, it's only 635 sq. ft. Or you can stay where I did as a child, sleeping in the back seat of a Chevrolet Citation while temperatures dropped below freezing outside!

J.

Which is exactly what Obama was saying...

Source

It's amazing that politicians preying on the things people rely on is not as offensive as saying that this is exactly how politics has been working lately...