Bitter? Why Would Anybody Be Bitter?

Obama answers Hillary and McSame in Terre Haute IN

Have you been following the latest spin barrage being aimed at Obama by Team Clinton: The Dynasty, almost hand in hand with the GOP's assault? Oh, it was just so condescending of Barack to mention at a small fundraiser how folks in small town, Rust Belt and middle-class America might be feeling bitter about their lot in life. So bitter and cynical that they no longer believe the promises of politicos to bring them good-paying jobs, access to quality health care or level playing field justice.

So trampled in body and spirit that they turn insular and cling to their guns, religion, ethinicity or family -- or whatever else helps them feel more secure. And that this can make them vulnerable to the craven use of wedge issues by the right. And that they often end up voting against their own economic interests. Sound familiar? That analysis has been conventional wisdom for years but, to the Clintonista camp and its backers, the concept is suddenly scandalous and insulting. My, my.

What I like about Obama is that he -- unlike so many Dems -- doesn't run from gotcha spin that distorts what he says and what he believes in. Instead, he goes at the issue head on, confidently and clearly explaining how his words are being twisted, and why. Listen to what he says in the video above, to a crowd in Terre Haute, Indiana. Watch how they stand and cheer at the end. I call that connection. He doesn't cower. He clicks in. This is why he can win in November, with an electorate sick to death of the slick spinelessness that characterizes so many insider pols of all stripes.

Here's what Obama said:

“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 nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. 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.”

Clinton Campaign in Full Drudge Mode
The Clinton II campaign has seized on this, enlisted their big media buddies and instructed their operatives to spread the word that this statement shows that Obama is elitist, doesn't understand middle class Americans and would be a weak candidate. One quote:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has criticized the remarks with zeal, saying Mr. Obama is trying to divide the country between “those who are enlightened and those who are not.”

And how about :

... the Clinton campaign fueled the controversy in every place and every way it could, hoping charges that Obama is elitist and arrogant will resonate with the swing voters the candidates are vying for not only in Pennsylvania, but in upcoming primaries in Indiana and North Carolina as well.

... They handed out "I'm not bitter" stickers in North Carolina, and held a conference call of Pennsylvania mayors to denounce the Illinois senator. In Indiana, Clinton did the work herself, telling plant workers in Indianapolis that Obama's comments were "elitist and out of touch."

What Hillary and her cohorts are doing, once again, is using the kind of branding long used by Repubs against Dems -- and doing it against one of their own. We all know by now that Democrats are allegedly "elitist," and "out of touch" and "latte drinking Volvo drivers." You know the litany that's been used for years, uttered by right-wingers who really have been working for decades to create the present economic tragedy that's now building to a crescendo across America and the globe. We've all seen the deregulate everything, greed-market movement at work -- and how it's destroyed so much of the middle class while creating an investor class that's wealthy beyond belief, reason or merit.

I guess Hillary sees herself as one of them, using their favorite slurs to try and wring out votes and manage to stay in her unwinnable race by any means necessary -- no matter who or what she hurts in the process. Think about it. Isn't it "smart politics," from the Clinton point of view, to smear Obama and try to force him from the race? Or make sure he won't win in November? Why else would the messaging about this molehill coming from the Clinton camp be exactly the same as the messaging about it coming from the GOP and McCain?

As Jane Smiley puts it:

So now, Barack Obama tells the truth about conditions as we know them--that the countryside and the small towns are dying in many places in our country, and that the corporatocracy doesn't care enough to do a thing about it. He points out that immigrant-baiting, gay-baiting, gun-baiting, and religious pandering have helped to destroy those towns and that countryside, that those being destroyed have been cynically enlisted by their very own destroyers to provide the votes that help accomplish the destruction. And this is what Senator Hillary Clinton says about it: "Senator Obama's remarks were elitist and out of touch. They are not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans."

The Masks Fall Away
I submit that the last remaining threads of the "for the people" and "for the Party" masks that Bill and Hillary have long used to cover their special brand of political expediency and corporatist zeal have finally fallen away. What is revealed is an ugly truth about their amoral and immoral ambition. Shame on them. I don't understand how any real Democrat can support them any longer.
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PS: In need of some black humor hysterics after this dour post? Go read Hunter. I still haven't caught my breath after reading it ....

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