Barack Obama has a way with words. They trip lightly from his tongue; in fact, some onlookers have swooned during his oratory. No one doubts his speechmaking ability. When opining off-the-cuff, however, he can get into trouble. Case in point: At a recent fundraiser among wealthy donors in San Francisco, some in the audience were preparing to join the Pennsylvania campaign and wondered aloud what questions Pennsylvanians might ask them. In taped remarks, Mr. Obama rightly noted that Pennsylvania is quite diverse and dismissed racism as a barrier to his campaign. However, he offered this preparation for his volunteers:
But the truth is ... our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there's not evidence of that in their daily lives. 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 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. So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
Posted on the Huffington Post website, these comments brought quick criticism. Seeing an opening, opponents Hillary Clinton and John McCain pounced on Mr. Obama as elitist and “out of touch” with working folk in the heartland.
It is easy to see their point. Hovering around 4.5 percent, unemployment rates are relatively low in Pennsylvania. Thus, it is hard to sustain agreement that “nothing’s replaced” the departed jobs of 25 years ago. More useful to opponents McCain and Clinton was Mr. Obama’s analysis of the small-town psyche. Speaking to affluent San Franciscans, Mr. Obama endeavored to explain the traditions of the inhabitants of the “fly-over” territories, inscrutable to coastal elites. Mr. Obama took on the role of an anthropologist, speaking about small-town Pennsylvanians as Margaret Mead did about Pacific Islanders.
I can see heads nodding as Professor Obama describes the odd and outdated native customs of church-going and gun-toting. No doubt the “aha!” moments were many: “Oh, so that’s why they go to church! The poor folks just have nothing else to cling to.”
Barack Obama, cultural anthropologist.
I live in one of those small towns in Pennsylvania. Are we small-town dwellers, with our small minds and small hopes, supposed to swoon with joy that someone has now properly diagnosed our plight? We have the bitters, and Mr. Obama will come and do what religion, guns and xenophobia have been unable to do. If Mr. Obama is elected president, will church attendance and gun sales plummet?
No doubt, Mr. Obama wishes he could take it all back. In fact, according to the Washington Post, he said "I didn't say it as well as I could have." The question remains: what didn’t he say as well as he could have? Continue >>
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pad759 introduced the issue of race into this discussion. I don't think that race had anything to do with my oberservations about Senator Obama. That said, I probably do harbor fears that the Senator holds convictions similar to those of his Chiocago pastor. I will pray (and welcome any prayers from members of this community) that skin color has nothing to do with any voting decissions I make.
Why is it when a person dislike another person because of his race, nothing that person say or do will be good enough. Since I'm assuming that all of the panel are born again, spirit filled Christians they should know what the word of GOD speaks about regarding judging others For the member "timothybrown01" to say that he didn't think Senator Obama was not a Christian is a little far-fetched to me. Being a Christian is not about being perfect. So to the panel member who made that comment, I suggest you really examine your heart, because I sense a little bias from toward Senator Obama. WHAT IS A CHRISTIAN? Remember GOD he is no respecter of persons. Regarding of what some Christains think, it's not about GOD bless and love my race only.
At the Compassion Forum, Obama said, his "entire trajectory...has been to talk about how Democrats need to get in church." Apparently for him, itisn't about living in faith, it's about finding a way to reach out to those who live in faith. He appears to be one of those "big-city elites" who think small town people's religious beliefs and lives are stupid, something they "cling to" instead of moving forward and embracing change, and he said as much in that California fundraiser when talking with those left coast elites. His effort to get democrats talking about religion has certainly worked, but perhaps not in his favor.
So it's not surprising then that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. A lack of bread in all your places; Yet you have not returned to Me," says the Lord.
I withheld rain from you, when there were still three months to the harvest. I made it rain on one city, I withheld rain from another city. One part was rained upon, and where it did not rain te the part withered. So two or three cities wandered to another city to drink water. But they were not satisfied; Yet you have not returned to Me," says the Lord.
I blasted you with blight and mildew. When your gardens increased, your vineyards, your fig trees, and your olive trees, the locus devoured them; Yet you have not returned to Me, says the Lord.
I sent among you a plague after the manner of Egypt; your young men I killed with a sword, along with your captive horses; I made the stench of your camps come up into your nostrils; Yet you have not returned to Me, says the Lord.
I overthrew some of you, As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, And you were like a firebrand plucked from the burning; Yet you have not retruned to Me, says the Lord.
When Sen. Obama was questioned about his belief, he said " he believes that God created
the univserse but also believes in evolution". Does he believe that his great grandfather was
not a human being but some kind of a living organism!. As I hear more from all these
presidential candidates, they are opening their mind and we are quite surprised with the
mindset they have. Indeed, we are living at the end days because if the President of America
of any political party is doube-minded, that can be a deadly combination.
Timothy, I couldn't disagree more. I think Hillary said all the right words during the Compassion Forum, but the order and tone in which they came out of her mouth didn't sit well with me. She had previously claimed she had felt the holy spirit guiding her in her life, but when asked to give a situation or example, she seemed to draw a blank. She just said all the time. When asked earlier in the week when the last time she had been to church was, she snapped that that was none of that reporter's business. I don't view her win-at-any-cost, scorched-earth politics is very Christian, either.
Barack's statement about small town America was poor. We'll see if some darker, true meaning comes out during the general election with McCain. According to Obama, what he didn't say as well as he meant to was:
(http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1116676020080412?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&rpc=22&sp=true)
"The underlying truth of what I said remains, which is simply that people who have seen their way of life upended because of economic distress are frustrated and rightfully so."
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vsp0-OkTWHY)
During the compassion forum, he also responded and clarified his position very eloquently:
Dr. Throckmorton, I'd imagine you could have found those rather easily since the sources had been published over a week ago. I'd hate to think you'd put that ominous "What did he really mean?" question out there to scare people without also putting Barack's own follow-up statements out there just to scare us small town folk. Sure, you can say you don't believe that he means what he says in the follow ups and was just trying to get out of his statement. I hope you would at least mention his clarifications if you were cognizant of them, however.
Though I will likely vote for Senator McCain in the upcoming presidential election, I was impressed by Hillary Clinton in the recent "values" debate. She talked the language of a Christian. She was either very well prepped, or is a true believer who has been personally touched the Holy Spirit. Senator Obama stated he was a Christian but said nothing about his relationship with God. He may attend Chuch, he may believe God exists, but I do not believe he is a Christian.