Progressive World Review

Time after time the right has succeeded in framing the debate, whatever the debate, on their own terms and in their own language.  Whether it’s accusations of being soft on defense, soft on crime, tax and spend, liberal elitists, the Republicans continue to put Democrats on the defensive regardless of whether there’s any truth to their charges.

This has become such an effective strategy for them that the Democrats are even doing it to themselves now.  After Obama made some remarks suggesting that middle class Americans are “bitter” over their economic circumstances and as a result, “cling” onto other, less relevant issues,

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.

Hillary Clinton seized on this and accused Obama as being an elitist and that he’s out of touch.  Exactly the kind of accusations the Republicans have so disingenuously hurled at Democrats over recent memory,

Now, like some of you may have been, I was taken aback by the demeaning remarks Senator Obama made about people in small town America. Senator Obama’s remarks are elitist and they are out of touch. They are not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans. Certainly not the Americans that I know – not the Americans I grew up with, not the Americans I lived with in Arkansas or represent in New York.

Of course Obama’s remarks are essentially correct.  It’s this reality that is precisely why Republicans focus on these issues in the first place.  In their quest for power, conservatives have nothing of any real value to offer working Americans.  For example, lowering taxes, only the rich see any real benefit from their tax plans, the piss on…err…trickle down theory was shown to be completely bogus when Reagan tried it, the only thing that everyday Americans get from the Republican’s endless quest for lower taxes are failing schools and collapsing bridges.  That’s why conservatives are constantly pushing the “god, guns and gays” issues, it’s their only actual hope of resonating with voters given that their real agenda is nothing more than to enrich and empower themselves, the true elite. 

Hillary Clinton should know this; after all she was the one talking about the “right wing conspiracy” when they tried using sex to bring down her husband’s presidency.  And if nothing else, that it failed should have given her a clue to the appropriateness of this kind of tactic. 

It comes as no surprise that McCain accused Obama of elitism, for Republicans that’s just par for the course, but Clinton should know better.

–Paul Wilden

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