Oy, what a tin ear. This kind of attempted "respect" which comes off as dumb condescension is exactly the kind of mistake he keeps making. What's the reaction in IA to these wincers?
Edwards isn't doing such crap.
Posted by euzoius at November 27, 2007 02:30 PMWell maybe overall-guy was asking about Burma Shave?
Ba dum bum!
Posted by iamcoyote at November 27, 2007 02:58 PMYes, Obama comes off as perhaps being a bit patronizing as "city folk" are wont to do, but the author of the piece comes off a bit defensive and insecure in response. I can guarantee that Obama never made any reference to in-breeding, while the author emotionally made several references to in-breeding for personal reasons one can only guess at.
I would agree that Obama should spend a little less time marveling at how people in rural communities keep up with world events, and more time asserting that much of rural america gets what needs to done going forward, why don't the supposed urban elites unless they are being bought by multi-national interests?
Posted by TClinton at November 27, 2007 03:43 PM"...Overall-Wearing Inbreds..."
Yeah, an attitude like this is guaranteed to get Leftist elected.
Putz...
Y'know, the more I think about this blogpost, the more it irritates me. Reading over it again, the author, Jeff Dinelli, seems to be indulging in hackery which seems more appropriate on Sean hannity's teleprompter than a "lefty" editorial blog. Has the author "gone native" being the campaign reporter/blogger covering the Hillary Clinton campaign for this site? One can only guess.
I recommend the author take a breather and get some perspective. The Obama pull-quotes the author provides do not support the level of name-calling and scolding that the author indulges in, nor does anything in my experience in keeping track of Obama. Obama isn't my first-choice candidate (for the record), but he also isn't the caricature that Jeff Dinelli sketches in this piece.
There's definitely a thought-provoking editorial to be had that critiques Obama's interaction and views of rural communities - this ain't it.
Posted by TClinton at November 27, 2007 04:24 PMThis shouldn't affect Obama much. Rural areas are mostly Republican territory anyway.
Posted by MarvyT at November 27, 2007 04:25 PMI don't know what Obama's attitude is about the midwest or it's country towns, but I do know that those outside of the midwest think we have straw between our toes.
Posted by Judith at November 27, 2007 04:56 PM"One of the great pleasures of running for president is to go to some tiny town in Iowa and you've got some guy in overalls and a seahat to say what do you think about the situation in Burma, and you're thinking that he's going to ask you about corn, and he asks you about Burma."
Jeff, yep, sounds pretty condescending to me too.
I spent three days in Ohio last year, in a small farming town called Tipp City. I can assure you the people there were very savvy politically. That kind of comment from Obama shows his ignorance. Hey Obama, the midwest gets tv, newspapers, and the internet, in case you weren't aware it.
Something tells me Hillary is going to hit him with that club.
Posted by Daryl at November 27, 2007 05:48 PMyou guys need to quit worrying about being called hicks.....two more American GI's got killed in Iraq today..worry about stopping that.
Posted by T2 at November 27, 2007 06:06 PMI'm with T2 and TClinton and even MarvyT on this one. You say you're Midwestern, Jeff? Then grow some thicker skin and don't be a whiner. Last I checked, Midwesterners we're supposed to be made of much sterner stuff than that, and I say that as one, at least technically speaking if not quite geographically.
Or feel free to slag Obama and be a whiner. But that's real ugly stuff, as someone else mentioned, just the kind of crap you'd expect from Hannity, not from a LeftCoaster regular.
Moreover, Obama spent a chunk of childhood in the Midwest and a lot of time in Chicago as an adult, and he's now one of Illinois' U.S. Senators. Listen to his voice for goodness' sake. That's Midwest all the way. If you don't think he knows how to talk to hayseeds or isn't a tiny bit hayseed himself, Jeff, then you're just wrong. You want to write things that don't have to do with issues of any import, if you want to feed the right ideas on how to slam a Dem, you go right ahead.
Posted by Brian Bell at November 27, 2007 07:55 PMGeez, take a chill pill ya'll. That's an incredibly hostile bit of journalism there. Only someone with a chip the size of a SILO on their shoulder would take something so mundane THAT seriously. Sheesh.
Posted by Kris at November 27, 2007 08:20 PMThis is something I've noticed on a lot of left-centered blogs; miscues coming out of the Obama camp get skewered, while similar mistakes, or poor decisions in other camps don't. I really don't understand it, nor do I think that the urban-bias in the Obama comments are worse than the standard politican fare.
Posted by Christopher at November 27, 2007 08:43 PMI wonder how he'll survive a state that's mostly rural with one big city in it dominating the vote, like Illinois.
Btw, I doubt that Obama is expressing bewilderment. He's being pretty direct about how stereotypes work. Put overalls on a guy in farm country and you're not likely to anticipate his issue's going to be Burma either.
It's not a knock on rural voters. Many rural voters, after all, have stereotypes about city slickers too. Would you expect an urban woman wearing Donna Karan to ask a question about the price of porkbellies?
Posted by Kevin Hayden at November 28, 2007 04:46 AMSo you are telling me that people in tiny rural towns don't resemble "Deliverence" cast members, and that they are not all related to the local sheriff, Bully Bob?
Stay on the freeway! They are a scary bunch of chainsaw weilding Godbots! Don't take my word for it, check the "Horror" section at Blockbuster.
Posted by TIKI AL at November 28, 2007 04:55 AM"Would you expect an urban woman wearing Donna Karan to ask a question about the price of porkbellies?"
Would you expect an urban man wearing Kennth Cole to ask a question about the price of porkbellies.?
Tiki and coyote were right.
Posted by JohnT at November 28, 2007 06:40 AMThis sounds just like Howard Dean who came across as an arrogant asshole.
Posted by JohnT at November 28, 2007 07:11 AMWhat the fuck is a seahat?
Posted by MaskedVigilante at November 28, 2007 08:07 AMWhat the fuck is a seahat?
You know, I thought the same thing when I read it, so I consulted the Great Gazoogle(tm) and got a bunch of arabic language sites, plus lots of references to Zelda Wind Waker (which I've beaten, btw!). So is Obama a gamer? Or (dun dun DUN!) is he a Muslim??? His middle name is Hussain, you know...
Posted by iamcoyote at November 28, 2007 08:57 AMObama is showing his "whiteness" and upper class here!
Sounds like the Kerry elite group!
Obama is a snob! a somewhat of a racist - oh yes!
Posted by mp at November 28, 2007 09:14 AM
"This sounds just like Howard Dean who came across as an arrogant asshole.
Posted by JohnT at November 28, 2007 07:11 AM"
There are worse things than sounding like Howard Dean, currently very successful as the head of the DNC. He had and still has more spine than most national Democratic office-holders. He ran in 2003/2004 on a platform that is essentially the same as much of what the Democratic frontrunners are using now, only he was shunned by the party machine and the media for being too liberal.
If being on the right side of almost every issue and being fearless when most Democrats were busy being scared little children afraid of offending government-hating Republicans is being an "arrogant asshole", then I'll take double helpings every day of the week. We can only hope that the Democratic candidates become more like Dean, not less.
Posted by TClinton at November 28, 2007 09:37 AMYou know, I thought the same thing when I read it, so I consulted the Great Gazoogle(tm) and got a bunch of arabic language sites
Oh shit!! Homeland Security's gonna be knocking on your door, Coyote!! Send us a postcard from Gitmo! 8)
I can't even find "seahat" on Wikipedia, so it must not exist.
Posted by MaskedVigilante at November 28, 2007 01:07 PMSo what the heck was Obama talking about, then? Curious...
But don't you worry about me, I'm not ascairt of them Homeland Security gu
Posted by iamcoyote at November 28, 2007 01:42 PM