As many who consume political news online know, the only reason to watch political news on television is to see how political events are playing "on the street." For instance, I read Barack Obama's comments about the frustrations of small town voters in context last weekend and formed my own opinion. Then, over the course of watching television, I learned that I was supposed to be more outraged and/or concerned than I actually was.
In short, I believe Obama was right about everything he said at that fundraiser (except for one phrase, "clinging to guns or religion," which is the part I'm sure he specifically regrets right now). Clinton is a metaphorical shark, swimming to stay alive, so her reaction was more comical to me than it was political impressive. ("I used to go shootin' with my pappy," et al.) But what I heard on "Good Morning America" as I left for work this morning from political analyst George Stephanopoulos was truly amazing. I paraphrase:
GS: Hillary Clinton may have gone too far in her reaction, with her comments about using guns and "doing those boilermakers in Indiana."
It's 2008. A leading candidate for the Democratic nomination made a valid point about the real frustrations of rural voters and his opponent's reaction was to do boilermakers and tell everyone that she's "just folks like you." What a country! I'm not exactly objective in this debate -- I like Obama a lot -- but
his response seems to be spot on.
I was talking to a friend this morning and have come to this conclusion. Obama in 2008 is a transition candidacy. The question is whether folks who are sick of all this crap can overcome those who are content to keep eating the crap for breakfast. I'd say it's 50/50 at this point. That still doesn't mean we should eat the crap for breakfast, though.
I may, however, switch to boilermakers if this continues much longer.
UPDATE: Someone who was at the Obama fundraiser in San Francisco puts his widely reported comments in context and shows that this HUGE STORY is really just more distracting bullcrap that reflects more about Obama's opponents and the media than it does about Obama and his actual positions. While regular folks (including small town folks) are hungry for something different, the forces of the status quo are hungry to put their foot down on this skinny kid with a funny name.
As many who consume political news online know, the only reason to watch political news on television is to see how political events are playing "on the street." For instance, I read Barack Obama's comments about the frustrations of small town voters in context last weekend and formed my own opinion. Then, over the course of watching television, I learned that I was supposed to be more outraged and/or concerned than I actually was.
