The Bitter End?

I was dismayed yesterday when I arrived at work and began catching up on the Obama's "bitter" remarks he made on Friday. My initial reaction was of anger... at Obama! What the crap, man? You're on the path to the nomination. All you have to do is toe the line until June and wait for the tidalwave of calls for Hillary to get out for the sake of the party. I was even starting to hope for a miraculous near win in Pennsylvania, possibly the big splash that could get that wave rolling. I wondered, has Obama finally let us down in the way his detractors are always warning he will?

I'm not so sure anymore. In reading the fallout from what is now officially Bittergate, I get the sense that Obama's comments weren't terribly offensive to the people that he was supposedly insulting.

The outrage, so far, has come from the "chattering class" taking umbridge on behalf of the small towners Obama talked about. Andrew Sullivan links to a hilarious example here. Just looking at his picture, you can tell this guy has his finger on the pulse of the working class.

This piece is also interesting in that the writer essentially validates Obama's point, but insists that for him to make it is belittling. Indeed, I haven't seen many writings that really disagree with what Obama said. Of course, that depends on what you take his statement to mean. This clips from 2004 looks to me like the point he was trying to make.



The fault is on Obama for restating this in a way that could be so effortlessly misconstrued.

On the flip side, the evidence (again, SO FAR!) indicates that working class people agree with Obama that yes, they are bitter.



From Fox News no less.

And here's Clinton trying to connect with voters over the comment.



Falls pretty flat. Kind of reminds me of another failed attempt to needle Obama.

While I was writing this, a few polls came out that show no major movements away from Obama. I'm sure we'll be hearing about this one for a long time to come, though it seems that Obama hasn't hit an iceberg here. I think we'll see an even better gauge of how this has played out in tomorrow night's debate. There's no question that Clinton's gonna push it as far as she can. And Obama's got a great opportunity to turn this thing around. He was able to parlay the Wright scandal into almost a plus, as it showcased his ability to grapple with incredibly complex deep-rooted American issues. By touching on God and guns in his comment, he'll certainly be walking a path that requires nuanced thought and astute understanding. Let's hope he can thread that needle.

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