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Home Front: Politix
Obama Delegate Admits the Obvious: 'Bitter' Was Indeed a Big Deal
2008-04-25
Jim Geraghty, National Review's "Campaign Spot"

Reading the analysis of Dan Wofford (son of former Pennsylvania Senator Harris Wofford) on "What Went Wrong" for Obama in the last primary is a rather reassuring experience. When Obama offered that Rosetta Stone of Condescension at the San Francisco fundraiser, you (well, probably) and I thought that ought to be a big deal. The coverage suggested it could be a big deal. But Obama's cheerleaders in the press insisted it wasn't a big deal, and the polls didn't give us instant confirmation that it was a big deal. . . .

So it's reassuring to hear an Obama supporter — an Obama delegate, no less! — come out and say, "yup, it was a big deal." And to point out that elitism and snobbery are toxic in American politics, even in Democratic primaries...

You ask "what went wrong"... Here's my hangover-colored answer:

He visited San Fransisco [sic] two weeks ago. That's what happened.

* Message to all Democratic Candidates: Never to go San Fransicso [sic], unless incognito;

* Message to Barack: Don't think out loud at fundraisers in San Fransisco [sic] if you're stupid enough to go there.

* Message # 3: If someone in SF asks you about those "strange rural people in PA"...don't indulge their liberal, latte drinking bull [poop]...Just tell them if they want to understand rural and ethnic PA that they should get in the Prius's and drive down to Bakersfield or any of the other mid state towns in California where there are people who actually lead ordinary lives and care about God and own guns....

Bittergate hurt a lot — bc is slowed down and then with the poor debate performance stopped what was truly real closing momentum. No question had he not gone to SF or said those comments, we lose by 3-4 pts.

As somebody mentioned weeks ago, "if, as current polls predict, Barack Obama loses Pennsylvania by a double-digit margin on April 22, the truly ominous omen will not be the loss itself, but his campaignÂ’s catastrophic inability to tailor its message to vital demographics."
Posted by:Mike

#13  smn: Right now, there is One Big Thing--the war. Obama wants to lose it. He gets the One Big Thing wrong.

Hillary may want to win the war, but she's in a party dominated by people who want to lose it, and she's pandering to them. I don't think we can trust the second Clinton administration to be any less feckless than the first one was in confronting our enemies.

McCain, for all his flaws, gets the One Big Thing right. He wants to win it.

That makes the decision pretty easy.
Posted by: Mike   2008-04-25 23:33  

#12  *snore*
Posted by: Frank G   2008-04-25 22:57  

#11  Since I seem to represent the only opposing view to the Clinton-McCain 'Love-fest' on the Rantburg Site; let me make this clear...I am an Independent, I was supporting Hillary before Obama announced, and had a good feeling for Mike Huckabee, and Ron Paul, and wished either had done better with the percentages! My final nod in the fall will come down to how I feel Bill & Hillary treated Obama in the primaries...God forbid I don't think about Frank G at the moment of truth, I just might pull the lever for Clinton, or Bill Clinton and Carville and pull it for McCain...tough wrestling with my conscience, it's not my pocketbook this time...it's personal!
Posted by: smn   2008-04-25 22:54  

#10   The race card employed by uncle Bill and cousin Eddy polarized the 'bitter' feelings of some blue collar lunchpail' whites!

"lunchpail whites"? Just a tad condescending now, aren't we?

BTW, Hillary carried the white male vote in 12 states, Obama's carried it in 10. That Obama routinely has carried an overwhelming majority of the black vote somehow seems to get lost in the shuffling of that deck of race cards.

Obama is fighting against Hillary's run, Bill's run, and McCain's run. Pennsylvanians got what they deserved; a win for Hillary, and a retention to their bitterness...nothing to lose in my view!

Lessee... Obama's campaign in Pennsylvania didn't reach out to seniors, didn't have members of two major religious groups (Jews and Catholics, who are two of the major groups of Democrat Party supporters in the Northeast) on his in-state campaign staff, made a misstep in San Francisco and then both he and his staff proceeded to make matters worse...

Yep. It was all that bitterness that created a record voter turnout. Couldn't have been the smart-man condescension, or insulting their religion while talking to a bunch of San Francisco moneybags, or the subsequent pandering to their anti-trade concerns while he privately derided the same.

No - it's the voters' fault. Those stupid, racist, blue-collar, church-going, gun-shooting voters.

Oh, by the way - the same ones Obama's going to have to solicit a vote from if he gets the nomination...
Posted by: Pappy   2008-04-25 21:55  

#9  I'd like to see you go tell some regular guy in Altoona that voting for Hill meant he got "a retention to his bitterness." I'd think you'd be lucky to have a "retention" to all your teeth.
Posted by: Chinegum McGurque5166   2008-04-25 21:09  

#8  whoops, smn! "Gallup Daily: Obama and Clinton Tied at 48% to 47% ClintonÂ’s increased support has mainly come from undecided voters"
Posted by: Frank G   2008-04-25 19:14  

#7  Working class PA folks, esp those over 45, don't trust Obama.

Hey, I work for a living. Doesn't that make me working class?
Posted by: Raj   2008-04-25 18:54  

#6  so true, Dr. Steve. His victories have not come in large primary-voting states, by any means. He's dominated caucus states, and, heh heh, we don't seem to have that process in the General. I see a blowout, even with McCain. I predict libtard heads exploding soon. I'm buying plastic sheeting for protective cover ....kinda like an old Gallagher show
Posted by: Frank G   2008-04-25 18:26  

#5  Frank, I'll enlighten a little more.

1) BO can't keep his mouth shut.

2) BO has rabbit ears.

3) BO can't win purple states.

4) BO can only win the Democratic primaries in states (excepting Illinois) that are safely Red in the fall.

5) BO, as a child of privilege and plenty, has a basic contempt for people who are not like him.

6) BO, as a 'progressive' (hard left Dhimmicratic socialist) can't relate to the people he needs to win the election: God-fearing, gun-toting, rural/suburban working class people who might be inclined to listen to the Dhimmis.

If I were a senior McCain staffer, I'd be thinking about how I'm going to have my man hold each and every red/purple state GWB won in 2004, and go after 5 or 6 blue/purple states like Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Mexico and maybe even Pennsylvania, that Kerry won.
Posted by: Steve White   2008-04-25 18:20  

#4  OK - I'll enlighten you (somebody should, and it's not like it would be hard..). By exposing BHO's lack of juice with the MAJORITY of voters in the US - the non-academics/effete leftys/ blacks/college students - it showed the superdelegates that he isn't that saleable in the general election, and kept them from forcing her out. She gave herself more time to question his poorly-thought-out stances, his variety of connections to unlikeable characters, his money ties to same, his radical privately-held beliefs, his cowardice in refusing more debates, his thin-skinned self/wife/supporters, and, oh yes, that whiny nasty bitch of a wife will be given more time to shed her handlers and say something really stoopid and offensive. It was a matter of HRC staying alive. There? Learn something?
Posted by: Frank G   2008-04-25 17:45  

#3  So enlighten me, what good did all this do? The Clinton strategy of 'throwing the kitchen sink' at Obama, netted her 10 delegates. The race card employed by uncle Bill and cousin Eddy polarized the 'bitter' feelings of some blue collar lunchpail' whites! Obama is fighting against Hillary's run, Bill's run, and McCain's run. Pennsylvanians got what they deserved; a win for Hillary, and a retention to their bitterness...nothing to lose in my view!
Posted by: smn   2008-04-25 17:02  

#2  Actually, the other problems listed are more telling:

campaign perhaps wisely didn't invest time and strategy to win over seniors... we've just got to find a way to reach seniors...

Working class PA folks, esp those over 45, don't trust Obama...this is a problem and other than getting them to meet Obama retail style...don't know how we solve it, unless we can get him to do a quick tour of duty in Iraq...

Way to cautious in outreach to Jewish community...did not put enough assets out on the table...not enough Jewish folks involved....self perpetuating problem...Think the same is true for Catholics.....A friend close to the campaign said she was surprised to see how few Catholics and Jews there were on the campaign...

Those are some serious flaws for a campaign to have.
Posted by: Pappy   2008-04-25 16:45  

#1  "campaignÂ’s catastrophic inability to tailor its message to vital demographics hide its bigotry and self-absorption"

There - fixed.

Anyway, the internet is making it hard for any politician to "tailor a message to vital demographics" - otherwise known as say one thing in California and the polar opposite in Pennsylvania. Also known as LYING.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2008-04-25 16:24  

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