Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Economic Determinism, Arithmetic and America
I think Obama may have committed a terrible blunder, one more likely to undo his candidacy for President than any that he has yet committed. In some sense, he made an arithmetic error in delivering his now notorious San Francisco speech about small-town citizens' economic "bitterness" driving religiosity and gun ownership. Of course, there are other, more emotional problems with the content of his observation - it is an unfortunate stereotype at a minimum, and an ugly one. It is a form of bigotry certainly. And economic determinism is a largely Marxist formulation that the vast majority of Americans reject. So that is part of his arithmetic miss.
The problem with an overgeneralization based on economic "bitterness" in the US is that it has to presume sufficient true economic malaise to drive votes to him. Well, as a mathematical proposition, that is a loser. Layer onto that a falacious presumption that people of faith and hunters are unhappy and you have committed a dreadful error. Yes, you have made a crowd of embittered San Franciscans mostly lacking faith or gun interest feel good about themselves and validated them, but you have done so at a cost of the substantial majority of the country, most of whom are some combination of economically satisfied, happy, religious or hunters.
Super delegates understand that math. The reason why an optimistic vision of America wins elections is because most Americans are happy with America.
What might have been the origins of this important misunderstanding of small town America? If I had to guess, I would say Obama overlaid his sense of his Pastor's urban African American congregation on small town America. But of course, I would think even they would reject the notion that their faith was a product of their economic bitterness. His observation, made by Marx before him, insults all people of faith.
Bad math. Very bad.
13 Comments:
By 
, at
Wed Apr 16, 01:00:00 PM:
Very interesting that you bring up Marxism. I've had serious concerns about Obama and the communist ideology before. This seems to confirm them.
By , at
Wed Apr 16, 01:01:00 PM:
Obama's perception of the nation may have been formed by Wright's preaching over 20 years. To Wright, every black ill is based on the bitterness of slavery. Obama is simply projecting that concept to the whites in Pennsylvania. Obama is agreeing with Wright's teaching that the "bitterness" against today's problems is based on a previous event.
Obama has lied about not paying attention to what Wright was saying. In fact, he (and especially, his wife) were paying attention and what's more, both have learned Wright's evil lessons well.
By 
David M, at
Wed Apr 16, 01:14:00 PM:
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the - Web Reconnaissance for 04/16/2008 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.
By JPMcT, at
Wed Apr 16, 01:32:00 PM:
"Religious distress is at the same time the expression of real distress and the protest against real distress. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, just as it is the spirit of a spiritless situation. It is the opium of the people."
The above refers to Karl Marx's infamous view of religion. I don't think the Soviet union was too hot on gun ownership, either.
Mr. Obama's credentials, his associates, his wife and his "private" conversations all paint the picture of a man so far to the left as to cause trepidation for the Daily Kos Kooks.
I'm not really sure that Hiliary is the most "beatable" candidate. The more one get's to know Mr. Obama, the more it becomes a matter of necessity to vote against him.
By , at
Wed Apr 16, 01:46:00 PM:
I'm a Pennsylvanian. I've lived their almost my whole life (which is about a half century in duration). Last time I checked, 80% of all Pennsylvanians are from Pennsylvania -- the highest "stay" rate in the nation. Why? Because people like their lives in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania offers beautiful scenery, good recreation opportunities, a diversified economy, good schools, affordable housing and, above all, in most communities -- a very good sense of community, of being a good neighbor, and of overall contentment.
That's not to say, of course, that everyone is happy, that every neighborhood and school district is good one, and that the people are aligned on all issues. Overall, Pennsylvania is not a bitter, unhappy place, a place where people think that the system has injured them or owes them something. Yes, people hunt, fish, go to churches, synagogues and mosques, but they do so in good time and bad.
Why? Because those things, among other things, are what people who live in communities in the truest sense of the word do. We coach teams, we stand outside local places selling Girl Scout cookies, we help our kids with homework, we convene with our neighbors when shoveling snow or raking leaves, and we make the most of it and, in the proper context, enjoy the experiences that we have. Why? Because -- and perhaps the intellectual classes forget this -- we live in the present, and the day-to-day activities that we embark upon enrich our lives.
Bitterness? Isn't that really a choice for most of us? Most of Pennsylvania doesn't look at life -- or America -- through that lens.
The Centrist
By Christopher Chambers, at
Wed Apr 16, 03:08:00 PM:
So...being a racist, blissfully ignorant tool who blames liberals,"securalists", agitating blacks like Wright (hell, most people didn't even know who he was, now he's your favorite boogeyman...I would love to have my time machine now and see what you would have said about MLK, Frederick Douglass, etc., you pinheaded fool!)...all that equals being "happy with America." What it equals is desperation, tohold to a myth, and build walls ever higher so your tribe of white folks, your crew can stand smug and mighty? And it's a false, almost heroin-like high, isn't it? Based on smearing others, entitlement, an utter fear of what you cant control or understand? I see. Shoot. It's all a matter of drinking the Kool-Aid, then, and all will be right?
Well, they do say lobotomy patients do indeed have a more chipper view of the world.
As for "blacks"--and your endless whipping boy obsession Rev. Wright--optimism, hope is what has ensured our survival for 500 years on this continent in one for or another. It has been the only thing that has kept us from killing all of ourselves, or killing all of you (which, face it, has been the one thing that's united whites of both bountiful and limited means since the get-go, as John Adams so amazingly predicted). Don't you dare confuse that with bitterness, you ass. Don't you dare...
By , at
Wed Apr 16, 03:41:00 PM:
Parsed, Professor Chambers' comment says, "Do not confuse optimism with bitterness, or I will kill you."
Is that the best a Princeton education can produce?
By Cardinalpark, at
Wed Apr 16, 04:28:00 PM:
CC- I can't even decipher what you said. Did you call me a racist? An ass?
I don't have a whipping boy obsession with Rev. Wright. My observation of his sermons is that he is a bigot. I think that reflects poorly on Barack Obama.
Of course, you are a bigot as well. That's pretty clear form yuor commentary. I would also observe that you seem to hold the white men of today (women too?) responsible for the slavery of blacks in the US going back quite some time. Well, okay, then, how about some credit for the white men of the Union Army who died during the Civil War for the liberation of those slaves, eh? Or for the white folks who penned a pretty fabulous constitution, which trumped that of any other place and still does.
Your bitterness is pretty clear, but it need not be held by the majority of the electorate.
Go grab the meds.
By , at
Wed Apr 16, 04:35:00 PM:
Something like 600 thousand died in the Civil War ... most of the white guys.
As for Blacks ... the entitlements seem to point to the welfare state and affirmative action, which clearly discriminates against non-blacks in favor of blacks.
I don't think people are obsessed with Wright, by the way. Rather, we have an awareness that Blacks actually cling to a fantasy that the man is trying to hold them down, rather than the reality that they hold themselves down. I believe this has come as a great shock to even liberal Caucasian people.
I'd like "professor" Chambers to help me understand the vast contributions of the brown man to our culture and society. Talk to me about the gangs, and point me to the shining example of black greatness, say somewhere in Africa, where things are going well.
Obama is a lightweight, but a nice try. He's just not the right black guy to make a serious bid for the White House. I am amused at how the Clinton's have been exposed though, and hope that black voters are noticing too.
By Pax Federatica, at
Wed Apr 16, 07:04:00 PM:
Yes, you have made a crowd of embittered San Franciscans mostly lacking faith or gun interest feel good about themselves and validated them, but you have done so at a cost of the substantial majority of the country, most of whom are some combination of economically satisfied, happy, religious or hunters.
Seems to me this may not be so much a case of "bad math" as of old assumptions dying hard. In this case, the old assumption is that what he told that crowd of San Francisco liberals would stay in San Francisco.
In the pre-Internet era, a presidential candidate could have safely made that assumption. Those days are long gone. If Obama didn't realize that, his thinking is way behind the times and that alone, in my mind, would render him unfit for the White House.
By , at
Wed Apr 16, 07:52:00 PM:
Okay, so now everybody's saying there's no bitterness about NAFTA, immigration, and the teaching of evolution in the public schools? My, how your tune doth change!
Look, I don't mind people drawing their own conclusions, but be fair and make sure you understand how the remarks were made in context.
I would also request folks be a little more specific in criticizing the attitudes of Reverend Wright. I don't doubt there were incendiary things said, but not once (that I can tell) has TH or any commenter posted any of the remarks (in context or not) that they object to so strongly. He truly is a bogeyman to you guys, like Alibaba or something.
By , at
Wed Apr 16, 07:55:00 PM:
Sorry, that link should be:
Oliver Willis blog.
(www.oliverwillis.com/index.php/2008/04/11/media-for-mccain-full-context-of-obamas-comments-on-rural-life/)
By , at
Wed Apr 16, 09:48:00 PM:
Squealer, your linked blog offers little in the way of clarifying a seeming implication of Obama's that guns and religion are at least largely emblematic of bitterness.
I would also request folks be a little more specific in criticizing the attitudes of Reverend Wright. I don't doubt there were incendiary things said, but not once (that I can tell) has TH or any commenter posted any of the remarks (in context or not) that they object to so strongly. He truly is a bogeyman to you guys, like Alibaba or something.
Can you present any compelling context within which reverend Wright's words make him better than a bogeyman or a bigot?
