Posted by
Drexel Kleber, Host, Kicking the Anthill on AM 930 KLUP on Monday, April 28, 2008 10:54:38 PM
Unless you are a bear emerging from hibernation for the
first time this spring, I suspect you are aware of the comments Democratic
Presidential Candidate Barrack Obama made prior to the Pennsylvania primary
last week. For you bears engaging
in such decidedly human behavior as reading blogs, here is a recap. Senator Obama, speaking to a group of
volunteers in San Francisco said that some voters have grown frustrated. “It’s not surprising, then, that they
get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t
like them or anti-immigrant sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
I’ve expressed my dismay with these comments in another post
(http://tinyurl.com/5hk8r3) but what
has escaped attention are Senator John McCain’s comments in response to Senator
Obama’s statement. Senator McCain
said, “ These are the people that produced a generation that made the world
safe for democracy. These are the
people that have fundamental cultural, spiritual and other values that in my
opinion have very little to do with their economic condition.”
“These people.” Really? Referring to “these people” demonstrates his lack of
understanding of the American electorate as much as Obama’s comments do. There is no “these people” as a subset
of American demographics. “These people” are Americans. It is Americans who are deeply
spiritual. It is Americans who believe in God. It is Americans who value the
right to gun ownership. “These people” are “We the people.” The founding fathers felt so strongly
about these two issues specifically that addressed them first in writing the
Bill of Rights.
I understand the point Senator McCain was trying to make and
he would have been absolutely correct had he also made the point that the
people who value religion and gun ownership are represented in every single
demographic in the Untied States.
Obama’s comments are demeaning in that they imply that the ONLY reason
people believe in God or own guns is as a coping mechanism for their lot in
life. This trivializes the
importance of these issues and it is an arrogant analysis of how he believes
people with less than he has OUGHT to feel.
McCain’s comments are equally repugnant. By labeling them
“these people” he, too, ties these issues to an underclass of Americans, as if
the wealthy don’t attend church or own guns. Additionally, he implies that it was this underclass that
made the world safe for democracy, when, in fact, every American demographic
has participated in the defense of our country and the spread of democracy.
Senator McCain missed an opportunity to unite Americans
through the oratorical follies of Senator Obama. Obama continues to be a
divisive candidate in this presidential election, not a unifier. But John McCain is doing no better,
even when Obama lobs him a softball.
Senator McCain’s comments demonstrate not just his being out of touch
with mainstream America and what we believe and why we believe it, but they
show him to be equally unable to unite the American electorate around a core
set of values. To Americans hunting
for a candidate they like, despite the finger pointing, Senator McCain often
does little to stand out.