You know, the Associated Press with this man-on-the-street article sums it up about right. Regardless of who was right and whether Obama messed up with his characterization of “bitter” small towners “clinging” to guns and religion, the slapfest that’s followed appears to be worse.
And this fracas may finally prompt Democratic Party leaders to say enough is enough and force an end to the campaign. No matter how hard Clinton hits Obama on this, it probably won’t be enough to sink for good his campaign unless he makes a similar gaffe down the trail.
As many pundits and journalists have noted, while Obama may have hit a foul ball with his comments made at a San Francisco fundraiser, he didn’t swing and miss either because there are a lot of hard feelings out there about the deterioration of a manufacturing economy, about illegal immigration, about attempts to regulate gun rights. And she was jeered during an event in Pittsburgh with labor voters today when she went attacked Obama.
Then Obama slams her for stopping at a bar to have a beer and a shot, as he suggests pretending she’s like average people. Clinton’s campaign responds with photos of Obama bowling, milking a calf at Penn State and buying a ham.
This has gotten nasty. As one person said to the AP, it’s the “silly season.”
Remember a little while back when a political scientist I interview frequently said the problem with the protracted Democratic primary was that both Clinton and Obama would run to the left while John McCain spends his time appealing to the vital centrists and independents? That’s what we might see happening. Obama’s “bitter” comment came in San Fran during a Democratic fundraiser; not exactly a bastion of conservative thought, right? Would he have said those exact words during a town hall meeting in Lewistown with conservative Democrats? Both he and Clinton have been running hard for union votes since they came to Pennsylvania, railing against free trade agreements, railing against CEO benefits and how the rich get more rich while John and Jane Doe have seen their buying power flatline. They’re on an populist stump. They’re catering to the labor wing of the Democratic Party, while John McCain and the Republicans subtly but noticeably run to the middle.
