(Author's note: I am Tommy Christopher, excerpting my own work. My contract prevents me from reprinting the article in full. After the jump, some additional commentary)
Sure, what else could Barack Obama have possibly meant by this?
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. 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.
Far be it from me to criticize my colleagues. In fact, I do no such thing. Individually, there's not a thing wrong with our coverage of this gaffe. However, this will be the 5th story we've done on this in less than 24 hours, and I have yet to see a fair analysis of what Barack was actually saying, here or elsewhere.
Without a doubt, these words are tough to hear, but I find it unimaginable that his meaning isn't clear to anyone with more than a passing interest in politics. I know for a fact it's clear to Hillary Clinton, but she is expected to blow this up. Members of the media know better, but they fret about "what voters will think of this" while they're telling them what to think. Gaffes make for easy headlines, easy ratings.
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Here is some additional commentary on this.
This is getting ridiculous play, and it's going to hurt Barack because it paints him as anti-religion, which plays into the Rev. Wright and bogus Muslim narratives. You can't mess with people's voodoo.
If Grover Norquist is right, and this ends up costing Barack Obama this election, I might have to rush the stage at McCain's inauguration and go all Howard Beale.
The fact is, Barack can't say it, but we all know it. This country is populated with far too many apathetic idiots who make up the 10% undecided vote that swings every election, and who get scared of wolves and daisies and black parolees and black ministers and being gay enough to windsurf. Somebody needs to take these people aside on election day and give them a balloon to play with, or something.