Politirazzi

This is the most ridiculous drivel I've heard yet. In this epic election after 8 years of debacle under W we have a chance to really make a difference and what you're worried about is an American flag pin!????? There are REAL issues at stake here - can we please foucs on those? I can't believe this was printed in your newspaper this morning - it really undermines the intelligence of many Americans!

Dontre,

You should understand that having your opinions printed in a publication with a substantial circulation in a major metropolitan area is a rare and special opportunity.

It is an opportunity to say something that is thought provoking and constructive, something that adds to our discourse…

“I was not only appalled at Barack's "bitter" comment, I was even more aghast at the incredulity of his arrogance, declaring that questions of his patriotism were not substantive, merely because they rested with his refusal to wear a flag pin. Whether Sen. Obama deems it consequential or not, there are some voters for whom the signifier of the the American flag means a lot.

This is a national symbol that we hoist at our most important functions and events, that defines our countries, and unifies us all; and for many voters, it means a lot. His supercilious remarks, belittling those who merely inquired, not only show that he's out of touch, but in conjunction with his "bitter" comments, shows that he's not the candidate to represent ALL Democrats, or even all Americans. Outside of his base of the affluent, the African-American populace, and youth voters, there's a whole populace that needs to be considered.”

This is amateur and lazy stuff.

Flag pins? Anyone who thinks this should in any way decide who is or isn’t patriotic or who they should or shouldn’t vote for is lost. Only little thinkers can be “belittled.”

“Appalled?” Really? The “bitter comment” wasn’t a comment at all. It was a small portion of a larger statement given by Obama in response to a naïve question about why white blue collar voters, sorry, those noble and pure Americans “outside of his base”
who are hesitant to vote for him.

He could have alluded to the sad reality that some people won’t vote for him simply because they are uncomfortable voting for a black man. Instead, he sympathized with them. He tried to be constructive. Had he not used the words “cling” and “bitter” you and countless others would have had to find something else to overreact to... to cling to or to be bitter about.

Have you read the speech in its entirety? I doubt it. That would require you to think and be analytical rather than simply regurgitate something that has been repeated endlessly. So I included it below for you:

“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.”

We live in dire times. Stop dwelling on petty nonsense and try to focus on what is important. Make an effort to criticize the candidates on substantive issues. Think more. Try harder. Stop wasting your opportunity.

BRAVO to Monika and Arik! I couldn't have said anything better. I clicked on the comment link to ask if you (Dontre) were purposefully being a devil's advocate? Like, seriously, are you intentionally pulling stuff out the gutter and flicking it into the air to see how many ways people will snap on you? Yeah, that was my first thought... I gave you the benefit of the doubt. He's joking; he can't be serious....