November 30, 2009 • Vol. 15, No. 11 Download Now! (pdf)

 

EDITORIAL
No Substitute for Victory
by William Kristol and Frederick W. Kagan

SCRAPBOOK
Media on Palin: 'War of the Worlds, II'

ARTICLES
Obamanomics 101
by Fred Barnes

Eric Holder's Horrible Hearing
by Mary Katharine Ham

Malign Neglect
by Stephen F. Hayes

Obama Blunders Through Asia
by Ross Terrill

German-Iranian Relations
by Benjamin Weinthal

Time for a Dose of Protectionism?
by Irwin M. Stelzer

Going Backwards in Beirut
by Peter Berkowitz

FEATURES
The Adventures of Low Impact Man
by Matt Labash

BOOKS & ARTS
Man with a Horn
by Ted Gioia

Prophet Disarmed
by Arch Puddington

Europe's Temblor
by Lawrence Klepp

The Yenta
by Joseph Epstein

Plus-Size Pathology
by John Podhoretz

CASUAL
The Turkey Vanishes
by Claudia Anderson

PARODY
Obama Chooses a Turkey to Pardon


« Helping Liberals Assuage their Guilt | Main

This Is What He Thinks?

As reported by the Politico's Ben Smith, Obama psychoanalyzes Pennsylvania's white voters:

You go into 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.

That's not going to go over terribly well in rural Pennsylvania, though it was probably a hit with the San Francisco audience that first heard it. Still, it isn't a gaffe, just a revealing slip of the tongue. Orthodox, secular liberals like Obama tend to explain religious fervor as a symptom of fear and bitterness. Likewise the irrational racism, xenophobia, and attachment to firearms of the "typical white person."

But it is strange that Obama would include anti-trade sentiment in this diatribe. Isn't Obama against every free trade deal this country has ever signed? Hot Air has the response from the McCain camp, no word yet from Hillary.

Update: Go read Ace's headline.

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