Say it loud, I'm bitter and I'm proud

[likeawoman]

also, that shit Obama said? this:

So, it depends on where you are, but I think it’s fair to say that the places where we are going to have to do the most work are the places where people feel most cynical about government. The people are mis-appre…I think they’re misunderstanding why the demographics in our, in this contest have broken out as they are. Because everybody just ascribes it to ‘white working-class don’t wanna work — don’t wanna vote for the black guy.’ That’s…there were intimations of that in an article in the Sunday New York Times today - kind of implies that it’s sort of a race thing.

Here’s how it is: in a lot of these communities in big industrial states like Ohio and Pennsylvania, people have been beaten down so long, and they feel so betrayed by government, and when they hear a pitch that is premised on not being cynical about government, then a part of them just doesn’t buy it. And when it’s delivered by — it’s true that when it’s delivered by a 46-year-old black man named Barack Obama (laugher), then that adds another layer of skepticism (laughter).

But — so the questions you’re most likely to get about me, ‘Well, what is this guy going to do for me? What’s the concrete thing?’ What they wanna hear is — so, we’ll give you talking points about what we’re proposing — close tax loopholes, roll back, you know, the tax cuts for the top 1 percent. Obama’s gonna give tax breaks to middle-class folks and we’re gonna provide health care for every American. So we’ll go down a series of talking points.

But the truth is, is that, our challenge is to get people persuaded that we can make progress when there’s not evidence of that in their daily lives. You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So 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 or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Um, now these are in some communities, you know. I think what you’ll find is, is that people of every background — there are gonna be a mix of people, you can go in the toughest neighborhoods, you know working-class lunch-pail folks, you’ll find Obama enthusiasts. And you can go into places where you think I’d be very strong and people will just be skeptical. The important thing is that you show up and you’re doing what you’re doing.

is fucking truth.

I'm sorry if Hillary Clinton and Fox News thinks that working class people are so stupid, so out of step, so fucking dense that they don't even see themselves, but I can assure you, as a working class person, from a family of working class people, with plenty of working class friends who live in absurdly economically depressed places where, as Obama said in his response to the uproar, the jobs have been gone for 25 years, that this is fucking truth.

we are bitter. we are left behind. we are frustrated. we are afraid and out of hope.

and sometimes that bitterness and fear does translate into issues voting that doesn't always make sense in the larger sociological picture.

and why do Clinton and Fox and the GOP want to make this observation seem like blasphemy?

because they capitalize on that fear, that bitterness, that frustration. they harness it and exploit us for their own gain.

AND NOTHING FUCKING CHANGES HERE.

so if it comes down to one man saying what it really is and maybe offending some people who weren't gonna vote for him anyway, and the chance of SOME ACTUAL REAL CHANGE, or some condescending bullshit from Hillary Clinton or John McCain about how it's Obama who is the elitist, it is he who is out of touch, you know what I'm gonna go with.

we're not fucking stupid, you politics-as-usual assholes.

and if Obama wins, it will not be because he played it as you play it, as it has always been played.

it will be because he moved people who hadn't been moved in their entire franchised lives. who haven't felt hope surrounding an election in as long as they remembered.

Clinton may have her base. McCain may have his base.

what Obama has is the actual possibility of new voters, the possibility of moving people. the possibility, for once in my life time, even if only for this race, changing the way the game is played.

and if he doesn't win, I think we're out of hope. I think that this is our last best chance to save the U.S. by doing the right thing.

and the right thing starts with honesty.

so stop trying to convince me that it's him, and not you who thinks I'm so fucking simple and full of fear and inferiority and anger that I can be played like a fucking fiddle.

Hillary Clinton, daughter of wealthy parents, Ivy league scholar, former Young Republican, successful lawyer, former first lady, Senator, could not look at me, my education, my current state, my ability to think critically and speak eloquently, and see a working class woman with working class values.

she couldn't even identify working class values.

but she's lived in Arkansas, so I should trust her, right?

I think I'll stick with the guy who can see the nuance, who can speak the truth, who can break it down, and who could look at me and know that a sharp tongue and a quick wit are not mutually exclusive to the working class, and respect me enough to not sugar coat, not talk down to me, not blow smoke up my ass and not pretend like I need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

and I can only hope that Pennsylvania, a state very much like my own, can see clearly, past the fear mongers and the puppet masters and the manipulation and appeals to the most base elements of their being, and will vote for the man who had the sense and the integrity to finally stand up and say what everyone can see.

I hope Clinton gets fucking trounced in PA. I hope she finds out the hard way that we're not a bunch of rubes to be manipulated by her Dixiecrat bullshit. I hope that all of this hits home with her and that she is thoroughly humiliated by her own inability to manipulate the situation to her liking, for once.

I hope.

and that, in and of itself, is a fucking gift. thanks Obama. thanks for making me want a candidate, even a candidate I don't always agree with, instead of leaving me to settle, as I have in every vote I've cast since I turned 18 in 2000.

Comments

[cursedthesky.livejournal.com]

and I can only hope that Pennsylvania, a state very much like my own, can see clearly, past the fear mongers and the puppet masters and the manipulation and appeals to the most base elements of their being, and will vote for the man who had the sense and the integrity to finally stand up and say what everyone can see.

As a Pennsylvanian, so do I. So do I..

[vicfitz82.livejournal.com]

amen

[ahianna-nia.livejournal.com]

I wish this could be broadly published.

[likeawoman.livejournal.com]

thank you. it's a public post, so feel free to share the link. or even repost it. every once in a while I have a moment of lj clarity :)

[maerhys.livejournal.com]

Co-signed.

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[destroyer-24.livejournal.com]

I absolutely agree.

[stainedpaper.livejournal.com]

I didn't even have to hear what Obama said.. I just knew it was probably true and that he was probably spot on. There is something so much more honest and REAL about him than any other politician.

I also knew you'd post something about this, so thanks. :)

[amoreno.livejournal.com]

damnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn can I repost this?

I've been kind of staying out of the loop regarding electoral politics, but that shit is pretty tight...when did he say that? to what audience?

[likeawoman.livejournal.com]

it was at a private fundraiser in San Francisco (so likely a fancy, liberal crowd), but he's defended his statements since with no backtracking in terms of content. they can't seem to scare him with this one and frankly, were I him, I'd rather stand by this comment and lose than deny it, knowing the weight of it's truth, and win.

the best part is, my response is not the only one like it that I've seen. so apparently there are small town folks all over who can see themselves clearly. gives me a jolt of hope.

feel free to repost it wherever you want. it's a public post, so you can just link me as credit, or whatever.

[amoreno.livejournal.com]

word, about to do it.