Is this really what they’re fighting about?
At issue are comments (Barack Obama) made privately at a fundraiser in San Francisco last Sunday. He was trying to explain his troubles winning over some working-class voters, saying they have become frustrated with economic conditions:
“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.”
The comments, posted Friday on The Huffington Post Web site, set off a blast of criticism from Clinton, Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain and other GOP officials, and drew attention to a potential Obama weakness — the image some have that the Harvard-trained lawyer is arrogant and aloof.
Of all the things to fight over we’re arguing about how “offensive” it is call people in rural America “bitter” because their jobs dried up and blew away, never to return.
This is pretty pathetic argument where it sees there is no “there” there, i.e. this is trumped up bullshit. My fellow brother in the struggle, The Field Negro, thinks this was a major gaffe by Obama, one that opened him up to a lot of criticism that could be parlayed into a little story that goes a lil’ sumpthin’ like, “Obama can’t buy a clue.”
I honestly was not going to blog about the “O” man until after the debates next Tuesday, but apparently the “O” man went and put his foot in his mouth while talking to a bunch of fundraisers. So here we go again. Just when it seemed like white A-merry-cans were ready to forget his preacher, he goes out and tell a bunch of fat cat fundraisers that small town A-merry-cans are bitter, and ( I am paraphrasing here) that they are preoccupied with things like guns and religion
I don’t think this is that big of deal. This is just piling on of a narrative that Obama is an “elitist” which is like Republican code for “I Heart Fudgepackers.” Sort of like “nigger lover” but that’s rather redundant when you’re talking about a black candidate.
While this is one of the most closely watched campaigns in recent memory I simply do not think the bulk of the American public are watching this damn close to notice that gaffe or for it to stick in some harmful way. Some might not even think it was a gaffe, like me. Others will forget about it because it’s not a very “sexy” faux pas.
Neither was the “3 a.m. call” affair. Neither was “the man (and woman) who could not bowl” and I didn’t even find “Bosnia Sniper Fire Commando” tall tale particularly interesting. And they’ve been running for so long now. I don’t have Clinton fatigue or Bush fatigue–I’ve got Election 2008 fatigue. End already! Why isn’t January 2009 yet? I can’t take anymore fake drama.
I couldn’t decide at first which song best described how I feel about the race for the Democratic nomination–Mary J. Blige’s “No more Drama” or No Doubt’s “End It On This” from the “Tragic Kingdom” album (back before Gwen Stefani started testing my nerves.)
I went with Gwen. Let’s end this shit, people. I’m not saying Hillary needs to drop out, but dude, it’s over. Stop stalking the nomination or the nomination will get a restraining order against you. If you don’t stop writing crazy notes to it saying how ya’ll belong together and she’s going to leave Bill to be with you and only you and about how no one could love the nomination like she can.
She’s gonna put that whip appeal* on it.
I’m like, that’s really charming, but saving Obama calling the white man the devil while wearing a ‘do rag and sippin’ on sizzurp with Ice T and Coco, the nomination is not going to give her the time of day.
Let’s end it on this!
*Side note: I forgot how good that video for “Whip Appeal” by Babyface was. I loved that video as a kid. I totally wanted a long pair of satin gloves and to be all glammed up dancing with Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds. And let’s be real. ‘Face was sexy in that all white suit. This video was proof that back in the day being a video girl could sometimes be classy. The women are basically a throwback to the Harlem Renaissance/Jazz Age of white-owned “black clubs” only hiring light, bright and almost white girls to be “tall, tan and teasing” on stage.
(See Francis Ford Coppola’s much maligned but not that awful “The Cotton Club” for more. Like “The Human Stain,” the film really should have focused on the racial issues because the better stories and actors lied there.)
Also, if you were loving 1990s love jams you loved Babyface. He knew his audience all too well. Nearly all his songs were about how great women were, how much he loved women, how the women got him whipped, how he will pay your rent, buy you clothes, and cook your dinner too as soon as he gets home from work. It got kind of comical by the time “For the Cool In You” came out. I know that he’s “women are my world” shtick didn’t always endear him to the menfolks, but he and Keith Sweat were running neck and neck for filling women’s heads with unrealistic expectations for romance.
Live Your Best Life. 
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