by Mark Silva
Sen. Barack Obama, who concedes he could have chosen his words better when he spoke about a bitterness among working class voters last week in a closed-door setting, is paying for those words with a weekend of public complaints from the Clinton campaign about his “condescending” attitude toward small-town America.
Yet, even in addressing the question again today, Obama’s more carefully chosen words have left him vulnerable to a cascade of complaints from Clinton campaign surrogates – the mayors of small-town Pennsylvania supporting Clinton’s candidacy – who spoke out today in a campaign-orchestrated chorus of scripted indignation.
It’s the word, it seems, that Obama cannot get around: “Bitter.”
“Condescending,” replies Tom Vilsack, ex-governor of Iowa and a Clinton-backer from a state where Obama had launched his successful campaign with a strunning caucus victory over the senator long perceived as the front-runner in the party.
Speaking Sunday at a closed-door fundraiser in San Francisco, Obama had said he understands why some working-class voters become frustrated and vote on single issues. “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,” he had said, in an address revealed in bits and pieces this week by The Huffington Post online, delivering the controversial words on Friday.
Yet speaking today, he didn’t say it all that differently — leaving the opposing campaign the same opening to take offense at a sweeping characterization of working class voters in small towns where Clinton and Obama are competing for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“I said something that everybody knows is true, which is that there are a whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana, in my hometown in Illinois, who are bitter,” Obama said today in Muncie, Ind. “They are angry. They feel like they’ve been left behind. They feel like nobody is paying attention to what they’re going through.
“So, I said, well you know, when you’re bitter, you turn to what you can count on,” Obama said today. “Some people, you know, they vote about guns, or they take comfort in their faith, and their family and their community. And they get mad about illegal immigrants who are coming over to this country, or they get frustrated about, you know, how things are changing.”
Vilsack, former governor of Iowa and an ex-mayor of his adopted hometown Mount Pleasant, grew up in Western Pennsylvania.
“I think I have a good understanding of the thoughts and feelings and motivations and beliefs of those who live in small communities, whether it be in Pennsylvania or in my state in Iowa or for that matter, across the United States,” Vilsack said in a conference call today organized by the Clinton campaign. “After reading and reviewing Sen. Obama’s comments, I have found them to be condescending and disappointing.”And they reflect in my view a very flawed reading and understanding of people who live in small towns in Pennsylvania and across the United States,” Vilsack said. “Folks who work everyday, play by the rules, and want to do right by their families and their communities.
“He suggests that people are bitter,” Vilsack said. “I think they are frustrated. I think they are anxious because eight years of the Bush economy has not done what it needs to do. What they want is not a pat on the head from a presidential candidate; they want a pat on the back… to be told that there is a plan which is a way to make things better, and leaders who are dedicated to making that happen.
“The most glaring misreading and misunderstanding of people in small towns were Sen. Obama’s comments about God and guns,” Vilsack said. “He suggests that in some way the faith of those who live in small towns is superficial. It’s used as a crutch in a time of need. That’s not what I know.
“What I know is that our faith is real and it is rooted. It is the foundation of our values system,” he said. “It is what defines how we live our lives, and most importantly of all, how we raise our families. It is true. It is genuine.
“His comment about guns suggests that they are an instrument that we use somehow to protect ourselves from the outside world, to isolate ourselves from the outside world. When in fact, guns are a reflection of what we do with our family and our friends. It’s how we pass on, through hunting, family traditions that are strong and how we form friendships that are lifelong.
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“I am deeply concerned about these comments because I think it’s difficult for a Democratic candidate to be successful in a general election if he misreads and misunderstands people who live in small communities, to the extent as reflected in his comments. If we are to be successful in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and Ohio and Missouri and Iowa and Colorado and other states around this country that are made up of a lot of small towns and a lot of people who believe in God and who enjoy hunting, we’re going to have to have someone at the top of our ticket who understands those folks.”
Chris Doherty, the mayor of Scranton, said: “I can tell you in Scranton and Northeast Pennsylvania, we’re optimistic. We’ve seen over 400,000 million invested in our city over the last seven years and we’re doing real well. It’s disappointing that Sen. Obama doesn’t realize that. He’s spent some time here and you could see the changes in our state and how well we are doing.
“As to people in our area turning to guns or to God or the perception that things are bad, the truth is what the governor said, people in Northeastern Pennsylvania like to hunt,” he said. “We worship our God regardless of our religion and that doesn’t happen in bad times necessarily, it happens as part of who we are, as people from Northeastern Pennsylvania. That tradition was passed down to us from our parents, from our grandparents, people in Pennsylvania have been here for three to four generations.
Robert Lucas, mayor of Sharon, Pa.: “The furthest thing from the truth is that we are bitter. To say that we cling to our religion and guns because of that – I can’t understand that. In this small city of 15,000, we have over 35 churches. Those churches weren’t built because we’re bitter and we don’t go to church because we are bitter.
“We don’t go up to the mountains to hunt because we are bitter. We’re concerned that seven years of Bush has really hurt us.”
John Callahan, mayor of Bethlehem, Pa.: “We have lost thousands of high-paying blue collar, family-sustaining jobs. But we’re still here and we’re still fighting to make our cities and our neighborhoods strong.
Tom Leighton, mayor of Wilkes-Barre, Pa.: “Today’s the first day of fishing, and fishing and hunting brings families together. It allows time for fathers to spend time with their children. On top of other things that go on, whether it’s soccer or going to church, the people of Wilkes-Barre and the surrounding community have a strong faith and attend mass and their congregation daily.
The people of Wilkes-Barre “are not bitter,” the mayor said. “They are very optimistic about the future… We need leadership that is going to help us improve things here, not put us down.
Steve Reed, mayor of Harrisburg, Pa.: “We happen to like our small town values. We think they’re the bedrock of the American values that have built this nation and the people of our towns embrace their religions out of faith, not out of bitterness or frustration. I have found our small town citizens to be decent. They are hardworking. They are friendly. They are giving. They are caring. They are patriotic.
“They don’t deserve to be categorized as they were in the remarks made out in California,” he said. “It’s a very unfortunate stereotype of the citizens of our towns in this state, and in every state across the nation, to have them unfairly categorized as they were. Frankly, the remarks of Sen. Obama lacked judgment. They lack understanding.
“Frankly the remarks are condescending, they are negative, they are hurtful.”