Comments on: Are Obama Supporters Too Elitist?

By: sam

sam — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 06:05:45 +0000

Other than being a blog reader I’m somone who fits squarely into the stereotype of the workiing class. I work with my hands. I don’t make a ton of money. We struggle. To me the whole working class divide is racisim pure and simple. With the exception of Iraq Hillary and Obama basically have the same voting record. Is Hillary a fancy lawyer/former first lady/Yalie/multi-millionaire an elitist? Of course. Is Obama a fancy lawyer/senator/former labor organizer an elitist. Yeah probably, but for my money less so than Hillary. Has Hilary been mistreated by the media. Yeah, but it sounds like she earned it by surrounding herself with assholes. How about Obama. Do you watch Fox news? Did you see that ABC debate? The differences between these candidates are mainly of style. If you’re young, black, or well educated you tend to support Obama. If you’re old, less well educated or a middle aged white woman you tend to support Hillary. Tell me which of those groups would tend to be more racist? I call tell you for sure that most of the guys I work with are racists. Not sheet wearing KKK racists, but the type or racists who don’t have black friends, tell racist jokes, and prefer to be with “their own kind”. Hence they vote for Hillary. How do I know this, well I’m a black guy who can pass as white, so they think I’m one of them and I hear it all the time. I’m not saying all Hillary supporters are racist. But with her campaign has effectively been speaking in the code that everyone I work with knows. These codes dice and slice the electorate. “Is Obama a Muslim” she was asked, “Not to my knowledge” she replied. That kind of stuff. It mght win her an election in the short term but in the long term it’s incredibly destructive. It is amazing to me that any true Democrat would say they would vote for McCain knowing his voting record, but that’s the depth to which the wedge has been driven in the Democratic party. That more Hillary supporters say they would not vote for Obama in the general election speaks volumes as to what kind of destructive, slanderous and occassionally racist campaign she has run.

By: lizriz

lizriz — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:50:11 +0000

OMG, I’m so glad I don’t have those twitter-peeps. As a Hillary supporter, I would never, ever, ever say anything like that about Obama, and I can not for the life of me understand why any Obama supporter thinks that’s OK.

And for the record, it was an awesome speech, loudly cheered, and it was very complimentary to Obama.

By: Nora

Nora — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:58:26 +0000

There was a, um, fracas recently on my blog in response to a post I made about Clinton voters who, when exit polled, said they’d vote McCain instead of Obama. I’m going to link to and (with full attribution) quote your post today. This is incredibly well said. Thanks for adding light and not heat to the discussion.

By: cruisin-mom

cruisin-mom — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 14:11:31 +0000

sorry to come here so late Neil…LOVE your post. Saturday Night Live has actually had some great skits about how the media treats Obama vs. Hilary. Elitism, ageism, sexism, and racism are all apart of this election…it will only continue to get uglier.

By: John

John — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 13:25:09 +0000

Great post, very well said.

By: Chag

Chag — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:52:43 +0000

This was brilliant, man. Brilliant.

By: Neil

Neil — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 00:12:48 +0000

Buzzgirl — elitism isn’t always about money. It is about attitude. There are plenty of poor snobs and well-off regular folk. Think of the grungy poet in the coffee shop and the successful plumber.

By: buzzgirl

buzzgirl — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:14:08 +0000

You know, it’s not often that I, an unemployed black woman, a single parent, am referred to as “elitist.” Maybe I should consider it a compliment.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:33:22 +0000

This is interesting, since I’m from Pennsylvania and very close to Philadelphia.
And I had the exact opposite of what you describe happen to me yesterday, and am still pissed off about it today. I’m an Obama supporter. I guess I am ‘white upper class’…well, raised that way. I’m fucking poor in reality, actually.

Anyway, a friend, who now that you mention it, was lower to middle class her whole life and now is upper-middle, is a violent Hilary supporter. And venomous. She made what I thought to be an incredibly arrogant comment on her blog. Instead of saying “I voted for Hilary, howabout you?” She said “I voted for the best, most qualified, etc” candidate.

I poked fun at her for stating something as fact that was just her opinion, and she rebutted with saying it WAS fact. She then responded to someone who asked her to explain her choice by bashing Obama and making a sweeping statement about anyone who would vote for Obama as being ‘idealist’ and believing in ‘nothing of substance’. Basically, she indirectly called me an idiot.

Then she directly called me one by saying “no offense, but you were never that big into politics”.

Damn, man. It isn’t only Obama people calling Hilary names. I’ve kept my mouth shut, but I was so fucking pissed off yesterday. Hence MY last Twitter message.

I plan on supporting whomever gets the Democratic nomination. So I’ll keep my mouth shut about Hilary because I might be supporting her later!!

I’m quiet about politics in general because I used to spend a LOT of time talking about it (before the web got popular) and it did nothing but fuel anger and animosity. Nobody’s minds get changed, in my experience. Much like trying to discuss religion.

It is unhealthy for me. That doesn’t mean I’m not interested or informed. I am thinking of writing a post to explain just what it is I like about Obama, but I guess I should have done it before the Pa. primary.

In the meantime, McCain sits back with the rest of the Republicans and enjoys seeing his Presidency become more and more certain.

The Democratic Party has really pissed me off over the years. This is driving me nuts.

Sorry so long, Neil, but thanks for the opportunity to vent.

By: Diane Mandy

Diane Mandy — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:13:26 +0000

I enjoyed your post, Neil. I am one of those latte drinking Dems and Obama supporter. It seems to me that too often Americans choose presidents based on who they’d rather have a beer with than who would represent the country better. It’s the only way I can understand why George W won two elections. And after embarrassing years, I think it would be a refreshing change to have someone who comes across just a little better than everybody else. Because shouldn’t a President be just a little better? The bottom line is that both Democratic candidates are well suited and so close on the issues. I hope that whoever the nominee is can unite the party. Either way, we’ll have a fight on our hands. As democrats, we need to save our energies for that!