No doubt about it, Barack Obama made a mistake a few weeks back when said that voters in some small towns are "bitter" people who cling to guns and religion. In part, of course, he was wrong for exactly the reason that the critics stated, that it was a weak generalization and that many people go to church because of their affirmative love of God or own guns because of a rural passion for hunting.
But frankly, there's something else. He was also giving a few folks too much of a break in calling them "bitter" and trying to explain it away. Some American voters are not bitter -- but willfully and stubbornly ignorant. You want me to name names? OK, how about Leonard Simpson, a 67-year-old retired coalminer from Mingo County, West Va.:
“I heard that Obama is a Muslim and his wife’s an atheist,” said Mr Simpson, drawing on a cigarette outside the fire station in Williamson, a coalmining town of 3,400 people surrounded by lush wooded hillsides.
Mr. Simpson may be a perfectly good human being in other regards, but when it comes to this presidential election, in an age where information is readly available, even in rural West Virginia, he is willfully ignorant. You hear the words "personal responsibility" used in connection with issues like crime or the breakup of families, and I agree -- but aren't voters personally responsible for knowing facts?
So, too, with this man:
Josh Fry, a 24-year-old ambulance driver from Williamson, insisted he was not racist but said he would feel more comfortable with Mr McCain, the 71-year-old Vietnam war hero, in the White House. “I want someone who is a full-blooded American as president,” he said.
Tomorow night, Hillary Clinton is going to win a crushing victory in West Virginia, possibly by a margin as large as 70-30 percent. All the cable networks will give it wall-to-wall coverage, and you'll hear more blather about Obama's inability to "connect" with white working class voters -- and to suggest that lack of connectivity is somehow all Obama's fault. But when Clinton's vote total is swelled by the likes of people like this, do you honestly think there's something that Obama could be saying or doing that would get their support?
Look, whoever the next president is, he or she is going to need to fight for blue-collar, working class people, for retired coal miners and ambulance drivers who wants better access to health care. decent wages or job opportunities. I believe a candidate can win and then try to accomplish those things in 2008 -- to be a president for all Americans without pandering to the lowest instincts of some of them.
When the views of some voters like these are based on false conspiracy theories or just a distrust of an American solely because he doesn't look like them, we shouldn't criticize or blame that candidate for not getting their votes. In fact, it's a pretty powerful argument why America needs exactly the opposite -- a president with the ability to overcome such small mindedness, and unmask it for what it is.
Yes. They also teach spelling.
Thats why having Bush as president, someone who has amazingly managed to invoke the ire of fundamentalists along with the entire rest of the Muslim and Western world, has been so good for this country. Hey, Christine, have you taken the time to read up on how America's prestige has plummeted under the Bush administration?
Oh, and BTW, Christine, you might also read up a bit more on what the "Muslim world" thinks. 'Cause, you know, it might be possible that not all Muslims will want to burn Obama at the stake for being a Christian. Just sayin'
And what would the basis for your analysis? You make assumptions about the numbers of North Carolinians that are "morons." And the evidence for that assumption? Because 90% of the AA's in NC voted for Obama. Yet, undoubtedly, those so many "morons" have voted for white candidates numerous times. In fact, I'd venture a guess that your buddies Sharpton and Wright have both voted for white candidates in the past.
On the other hand, we have evidence that there are not an insignificant number of white voters who will not vote for Obama primarily because of his race, or idiotic rationale such as the idea that Obama is a Muslim.
Of course, I never said that ALL blacks who voted for Obama were morons. I pointed out that there are probably just as many black morons in NC who voted for Obama as there are white morons in WV voting for Clinton. And since you couldn't comprehend that, you're one of the morons.
There are LOTS of morons in the black community -- I mean, anyone who shows up for an Al Sharpton rally is automatically a moron. There are more than enough legitimate African American leaders in this country will very significant following of intelligent african americans. But Sharpton's followers are morons.
But if I was a Daily News blogger, and I went out and got some moron quotes from the Sharpton rally, and then used that as an excuse for why Hillary Clinton wasn't getting many votes in the black community, I'd get fired. And rightfully so.
To me, the question isn't about low information white voters. Its about 'high information' African-American race-p*mps like Donna Brazile, who will publicly and deliberately lie about something that Bill Clinton said in order to exploit the justifiable frustration of African Americans in order to benefit Barack Obama.
Yeah, I'm just a high-tech Bubba -- salt of the earth, but a total whack job when it comes to politics. ;-)
More "race-boating" (racial swift-boating) from Will Bunch. Lets put it this way -- I bet there are just as many completely stupid and ignorant African Americans in North Carolina as there are completely stupid and ignorant white people in West Virginia. On a percentage basis, there are probably a lot more complete morons in North Carolina's African American community, because 90% of them voted for Obama, and Clinton isn't going to get much more than 70% of the white vote in West Virginia.
But imagine if, during the PA primary season, someone had posted a map of North Philly with the headline "There are some headlines not worth getting" and provided a few quotes from people who sound like the unholy spawn of Al Sharpton and Jeremiah Wright, and then wrote "But when Obama's vote total is swelled by the likes of people like this, do you honestly think there's something that Clinton could be saying or doing that would get their support?" If Bunch had written that about Black Philadelphians, he wouldn't have a job today -- unless it was writing copy for the Grand Kleagel of the KKK.
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
E-mail Will by clicking here.
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