Obama's remarks didn't go far enough

Barack Obama’s “bitter” remarks were stupid and brave. They were both of these things because he was trying to say something true that should never be said in a presidential campaign. He was criticizing voters for voting stupidly, against their own interests, and against the interests of the country as a whole. The part of me that just wants him to win wishes he hadn’t said it at all. But the part of me that is inspired by Obama’s candor wishes he had leveled his criticism more directly.

 

That I wish he hadn’t said it all requires little explanation. If you’re trying to win an election, you don’t criticize the voters you’re hoping to attract. 

 

That I wish he had been more direct bares some elaboration. I wish he had been more direct in 2 ways. First, I wish he had said this not in

San Francisco

, but it rural

Pennsylvania

. There is no getting around the fact that he was speaking critically of small town voters to an audience of urban liberals. It is by definition, speaking ill of people behind their back. Further, I don’t think it is rural voters alone who deserve to be criticized.

 

Second, I wish he had actually been more forceful and direct in his criticism. By saying they “cling” to guns, religion, racist or anti-immigrant views, he implies that he is criticizing cultural values. I think he was trying to temper his words to be non-confrontational, but in doing so, he utterly said something that (in my opinion) was not at all what he meant. I believe that what he was trying to say, and what he should have said, was that these voters have been making bad decisions at the voting booth, voting for candidates who are not representing their interests, but appealing to cultural biases and values that have an emotional resonance.

 

Even I am finding myself softening the tone of this absolutely necessary criticism. We Democrats must recognize that this criticism is justified. We blame the Republicans, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney, and George Bush for the ills of this country. But the blame belongs just as much to the American electorate. Roughly half of American voters elected George Bush. We say that the Republicans deceived them, that they cheated. But they didn’t deceive us. I believe the real elitism is in the condescension of not holding voters accountable for bad decisions.

 

What Obama should have said was: It is wrong to vote for bad candidates because they pay lip service to your religion. It is wrong to vote for bad candidates because they say they support gun rights. It is wrong to vote for bad candidates because they console your worst fears about people of different ethnicities or even illegal immigrants. He should say that religion is good, and so is separation of Church and state. That hunting is just fine, but that all illegal guns were once sold legally, and that there is no reason to make it easier to have a gun license than a driver’s license. That racism is wrong. That when facing recession and war, illegal immigration shouldn’t be a top priority, and that Republicans have demonstrated a clear interest in maintaining a steady flow of illegal workers, wanting to neither kick them out, nor allow them to work legally for wages that US citizens would demand.

 

The way Obama phrased his remarks was stupid, particularly so for someone who is regarded as a talented speaker. He tried to hedge is criticism in conciliatory language and in doing so was both condescending and timid. I hope the next time he tries to explain himself, he shows voters the respect to say, you have been wrong in your voting, and it would be better for you and everybody else if you would stop it. Or maybe I hope he just lets it all blow over.