Obama’s ‘small town’ comments perpetuate liberal myth, says observer
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4232
Chad Groening
OneNewsNow
A former deputy assistant to President Bush says during a recent private fundraiser in California, Barack Obama demonstrated his http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4255.
Once again, the leading Democratic presidential candidate has become embroiled in controversy after a transcript of his remarks appeared at the HuffingtonPost.com. While discussing the challenge of winning over white, working-class voters in small-town America, Senator Obama said: “So it’s not surprising they that 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.”
Don Eberly is the founder of The Civil Society Project and resides in a small town in Pennsylvania himself. He says Obama is off-base. “His comments about the lack of hopefulness and the lack of http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=4230 in small-town America could not be more wrong — and especially for people who know what small-town life is like …,” he says.That particular voting demographic, he contends, is in fact just the opposite of Obama’s characterization. “t’s actually the Americans who are still relying on family and neighborhood and civic associations and the local place of worship to find their daily strength who are among the most hopeful and most resilient people,” he argues. “So it just doesn’t stack up.”
According to Eberly, “an ongoing myth of American liberalism” — and apparently perpetuated by the presidential hopeful — is that people who live in rural, isolated communities must somehow be confused and would choose another course of life if only they were in touch with progressive ideas and politicians who could lead them to a more hopeful future.
“And studies just show that that’s just not the case,” says Eberly. “Small-town residents are happy with their lives [and are generally hopeful about the future.”
Obama’s comments have drawn sharp criticism from both Senators Hillary Clinton (D-New York) and John McCain (R-Arizona), who also suggested that Obama was an elitist and out of touch with middle-class America.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Election2008/Default.aspx?id=76336