Obama, Dems, Media, In Denial: Wright and "Bitter" Flap Did Have Impact On White Voters

RFFM.org Commentary by Daniel T. Zanoza, Executive Director

While watching politics for most of my adult life, I never cease to be amazed at how dumb the two major political Parties can be.  And this year may top them all for absurdity.

Heading into the primary season, the Democrats had everything going their way.  George Bush's favorability ratings hovered somewhere around 30%, the Democrats just came off of winning back both Houses of Congress in 2006 and, in general, during the last decade the Republican Party was doing its best imitation of how to govern like Democrats.

 

Hillary Clinton herself had high disapproval numbers, but a faltering economy, an unpopular war and uncontrolled spending was sure to mean Bill would be, once again, frolicking around the White House while his wife was away.  Republicans seemed to make it worse, if that's possible, when they nominated Sen. John McCain to be their presidential candidate--a man who many said agreed more often with the opposition than his own Party.

 

A funny thing happened along the way to November's election.  Out of Illinois came Barack Obama to challenge the former First Lady for the Democratic presidential nod.  Obama was the heart throb of the far Left and the mainstream media loved him.  In fact, calling it love might be an understatement, but since I write a column meant to be read by the entire family, I'll leave it at that.

 

Obama's first big win came in Iowa.  Perhaps the most surprising result of his triumph in the Iowa caucuses was how many white middle-class voters bought his act.  From that moment on, Hillary Clinton was playing catch-up.  Even though she won in New Hampshire--some say with the help of more than a few visitors from New York and Massachusetts--Obama had the momentum.

 

However, suddenly the Rev. Jeremiah Wright popped his head out of a church on the south side of Chicago and he has been reluctant to let go of the limelight ever since.  Unfortunately for Obama, Wright rubbed a lot of people the wrong way.  Wright damned America.  Wright said the United States was responsible for intentionally infecting blacks with AIDS.  This guy was a disaster which went off in the midst of Obama's political run like a bomb shell.  But Obama didn't help himself either.  During a speech in San Francisco, in front of some very wealthy left-wing Democrats, Obama said, "You go into these small towns in ... And 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."

 

Now if I didn't know better, I would think Obama was trying to throw the race for the presidency.  Perhaps the heat in the kitchen was getting to him and an escape out the back door seemed like a good idea.

 

The only problem for the Democrats was they were committed.  Obama had a small, but big enough lead over Hillary to simply run out the clock and he would be the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee.  However, since the Pennsylvania primary, Obama's candidacy has hardly looked like a juggernaut.  In fact, Hillary Clinton beat him by 40 percentage points in West Virginia and followed up with another impressive performance in Kentucky.  Plus, exit polling seemed to indicate white middle-class voters had changed their opinion about Obama's message of "hope and change, change and hope."

 

What started out as a friendly competition between fellow Senators has turned into a knock-down, drag-out alley fight with allegations including charges of racism, sexism and any other "ism" that would stick to the wall.  Yet the dominant media, which can't see the forest because those doggone trees keep getting in the way, doesn't seem to understand the predicament the Democrats are in.  Perhaps they don't want to understand would be a more accurate statement.

 

The mainstream press keeps on talking about how well Obama did in Iowa and in some western states where Democrats haven't fared well in recent years.  The only problem is Obama won many of these primaries before the Wright controversy and his comments about "bitter" Americans surfaced.  The political picture has changed drastically since the American people unwrapped the Obama package and found out what the surprise was inside.  For the Democrats and the media to deny things have changed regarding sentiments about Obama is akin to playing Russian roulette with a fully-loaded revolver.  EDITOR'S NOTE:  No ill intent meant by the use of above metaphor.

 

So, what's the resolution for the Democrats?  The Party can decide Hillary would be the best candidate by convincing some people called Super Delegates that Obama could never win the general election in November.  Please don't ask me more about Super Delegates.  All I know is these are people chosen by the Party, which claims to represent the common man, but whose vote carries more weight than theirs.  Does that make sense?  Well, it doesn't to me either, but I'm not a Democrat.  If Clinton were given the nomination with the help of these Super Delegates, there literally could be rioting in the streets by African-Americans and, at the very least, blacks wouldn't vote for Hillary in November, so that's out.

 

Maybe the media does recognize the fix the Democrats are in because there is a lot of fantasizing going on about the possibility of Obama choosing Mrs. Clinton for his vice-presidential running mate.  Folks, that ain't gonna happen either.  Could you imagine Obama wondering what Bill was up to, if Hillary indeed became vice-president?  The truth is Hillary Clinton has a better chance of being John McCain's running mate.

 

Yes, the Democrats have managed to paint themselves into a political corner in a year where the door to the White House seemed like it would be closed for many years to come for Republicans.

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Comments

[Rev. L. Dowell]

Who couldn't understand that scenario and then walk not run to the nearest polling place? Only problem is what do they do once they get there? Election 2008? Did you know that our God has a sense of humor? It's definitely praying time!