To borrow a phrase from Bill Clinton: Give me a break!
The fact of the matter is, he's telling the truth. This sort of honesty is a bit brutal, and he probably could have phrased it better, but Obama's comments were spot on...and the Clintons know it. In fact, the former President said in his memoirs:
If [Republicans] could cut funding for Medicare, Medicaid, education, and the environment, middle-class Americans would see fewer benefits from their tax dollars, feel more resentful paying taxes, and become even more receptive to their appeals for tax cuts and their strategy of waging campaigns on divisive social and cultural issues like abortion, gay rights, and guns.For decades - DECADES! - lower middle class Americans have been ignored economically that they have stopped voting for their financial interests and instead cast their ballots based on the social-issue fear card played by the Republican-Fascists.
Even Jim Webb, the blue-dog conservative Democratic Senator from Virginia sees it:
Working Americans have been repeatedly seduced at the polls by emotional issues such as the predictable mantra of "God, guns, gays, abortion and the flag" while their way of life shifted ineluctably beneath their feet.All the talk on the blogosphere this weekend that Obama has provided a big opening for the Clinton campaign is a bit over done. As usual, Clinton overplayed her hand by touting her love of guns and her new favorite past time - hunting! Good God...it was all I could do to keep my breakfast down. It was as if Charlton Heston's spirit had taken a brief detour through Hillary Clinton's icy cold soul before heading down to his eternal home at the Beelzebub Retirement Center.
And then...AND THEN...Sen. Obama came out punching yesterday. You can't help but admire a guy who gets back up and immediately goes on the offensive after such a weekend. For the first time in a long, long time the Democrats have a candidate with rock solid cajones:
