Bitter-gate

The Politico, a comprehensive, well-reported news site that just started up last year, often drives the CW in Washington and around the country.

So it's troubling when they post a half dozen stories and blog posts about how damaging, worrisome, and controversial Obama's recent "bitter" remarks are.

Are they wrong?

No, they are not wrong, per se. There must be some blue-collar people who will be upset by this, and it is a somewhat poorly worded attempt at the Thomas Frank "What's the Matter with Kansas" argument. It was a gaffe, to be sure.

That being said, these writers are clearly beltway insiders overwhelmed with their own coverage of past elections and incapable of restraining themselves from repeating past narratives. They have suddenly started fear-mongering about Democrats, cultural issues (guns, gays, religion), and bring up the John Kerry gaffes of the 2004 campaign.

Their problem is not that these discussions are utterly inappropriate so much as simpleminded and, well, rather narrow-minded as well. These writers refuse to see things in a broader context, only relying on their short-term memories and what their knee-jerk reaction says will be the next big story. They cannot escape the Kerry, liberal elitist meme because it belongs to them--they have a vested interest in keeping their creation alive.

Another score for partisan media over the Beltway establishment on this one, I must say.

As for the substance of the question: will this hurt Obama?

My sense at this point is not really--it seems like it's being over-hyped because, for some awful reason, the media are determined that this Barack Hussein (OMG!) Obama guy is on the cusp of being president. Where are the angry, lower-middle class white backlash voters?! What the hell is going on, these reporters are thinking.

Every week they try and determine if Obama has finally shown his true, exotic, elitist colors so this dream can end and the real world--the Clintons as ultra-competent, John McCain as a pure reformer and maverick--can resume. Unfortunately for these folks, the latter is itself fictional. American anger, and yes, bitterness, is the most real thing going on right now in the United States. I suppose we will see what gets made of this. If Obama survives, it will be because Axelrod and Plouffe are running an efficient operation over there, and it will be despite a Beltway establishment anxious for this to become a story--anxious like school-kids waiting for popsicles in the summer time.


P.S - I haven't posted much lately. Been busy. Will resume in force, esp. as the summer is beginning for me over here at U-M.