A number of commentators have attributed Obamas’s gaffe about small town white working class voters to a well known book from 2004 called What’s the Matter With Kansas ? that postulates a theory that middle class voters act against their own best interests by voting Republican. David Frum has an excellent column on the problems with that theory. It looks more and more that this book has led Obama and many other Democrats astray. It has also confirmed a bunch of rather obnoxious prejudices about small town working class whites. Part of their problem is that they don’t know why anyone else is upset at these characterizations. They think this stuff is really true.
Posts Tagged ‘pennsylvania’
Arianna doesn’t get it
Monday, April 14th, 2008UPDATE: Here is some more background on how this story came about.
And here is where Arianna was when she was trying to decide what to do with the story. 454 foot yachts are not the best place to consider the thoughts of small town working class voters.
Arianna Huffington shows her elitist blind spot in this hysterical piece about Obama’s “bitterness” gaffe. In it she uses the usual angry slurs at Republicans as she tries to defend Obama.
On the foreign policy front, we’ve been fed a steady diet of her RNC-patented attacks: No Democrat can be trusted with national security — except her.
Her, of course, being Hillary.
Then she really gets into her explanatory mode.
It has been an article of faith in the Democratic Party over the last twenty years that when small town, working class whites vote for Republicans they’re voting against their economic self-interest. And why do they do that? Because every four years the Republican Party comes into those small towns and, to distract folks from the worsening economic situation, trots out a bunch of divisive, hot button social issues: “Let’s not talk about why you don’t have a job, can’t afford health care, or can’t send your kids to college; let’s talk about gay marriage, school prayer, illegal immigration, and flag burning amendments.
So, Obama was right about all those bitter small town white working class dopes.
I see. That will be a big help. For more explanation, see above (the picture of the yacht of Obama supporter David Geffen).
Here’s a better explanation of his problem than any I’ve seen so far.