Response to Obama’s Comments on Pennsylvania
April 15, 2008 – 5:25 pm —
David Coleman, graduate of Yale and Harvard Law, commented on Obama’s recent speech in San Francisco in the Huffington Post yesterday. His defense of Obama may clear up some recent accusations his critics have been making… check it out through the link below.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-coleman/i-was-there-what-obama-re_b_96553.html
One Comment
This is a ridiculous op-ed article and provides absolutely no support for the conclusion that his remarks are not “relevant to his capacity to unite and lead this country.” There is every reason to believe that his remarks divide rather than unite.
There is a strange presumption in Sen. Obama’s remarks (made more artfully elsewhere) that the values that he stereotyped rural voters with are less important and less meaningful than traditional Democratic values. The failure of the Democrats to recognize that these values are just as real and important as healthcare to many people has been a failure for the party and has contributed greatly to the present red state-blue state divide Sen Obama’s candidacy hopes to bridge.
Only once we acknowledge the sincerity of those beliefs can we actual move past this divide. Keep in mind that: (1) Obama’s argument largely mimics the “What’s the Matter w/ Kansas” argument: that rural red state voters vote God/guns/gays against their economic interests; and (2) that it’s just acceptable for those voters to have their economic interests trumped by God/guns/gays as it is for us to have our economic interests trumped by healthcare, social security, welfare, etc. Until these values are considered equally valid, we cannot convince Republican voters to vote for our values first.