Do Obama's comments ring true?
Posted: Monday, April 21, 2008
Tomorrow the Pennsylvania primary will finally take place. It wasn’t too long ago that one of the biggest voting days left on the primary schedule was looking like it could be the beginning of the end for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Barack Obama appeared to be on the verge of a knockout blow. That is until his statement about embittered, small-town Americans who “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
Now, that may not be the way I would have worded it, especially if I were running for president, but that doesn’t mean that what Obama is saying here isn’t true. In times of crisis, it’s a lot easier to go with our knee-jerk reactions to things rather than thinking them through. Is that especially true of small-town Americans? That’s hard to say. But based on my experiences, I would say that there is some truth to what Obama is saying. Think back to the way the majority of people around here reacted when we went to war with Iraq in 2003. Rather than wait to find out if there really were weapons of mass destruction or if there was a credible link between Saddam Hussein and the attacks of 9/11, the collective attitude was “bring on the war.”
Five years ago, the small number of people who opposed the war from the start were ridiculed and called traitors. I know because I was one of those who had their patriotism questioned by the shoot-first, ask-questions-later, gun-loving crowd. There is a mentality among some in this country that handguns are a right that God himself bestowed upon Americans who often cite the Constitution. But does anyone ever bother to take into consideration why the Second Amendment was written the way it was and what it means?
“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The reason the right to bear arms is prefaced by the phrase “a well regulated militia” is that the Founding Fathers knew that in the event the British or another enemy tried to take over the country, American citizens would need to have ready access to weapons rather than having to get to a central location where they were stored. But these days with a multi-trillion dollar defense budget in place, this isn’t necessary.
Try telling that to someone who thinks Washingtonians ought to be walking around with handguns as though they were living in the old west or hunting with an AK-47 and just listen to the reaction you’ll get. And yes, this is largely a small-town mentality.
Does this make Obama “elitist, out of touch and, frankly, patronizing,” as Hillary Clinton put it? Well, consider the source of the criticism. It has become painfully clear by now that Hillary will say anything to get elected. That’s not to say that Obama’s comments don’t make him sound like he thinks he’s smarter than the rest of us. But I would certainly hope that a man running for president thinks he knows better than we do about certain things.
After soliciting feedback from some rural South Dakotans about Obama’s remarks, the reaction I got was that they were not offended by them. The overwhelming majority of the state’s population is made up of people from small towns and many of them are supporting Obama for president. How much impact their votes will have on the presidential race may well depend on tomorrow’s results in Pennsylvania. But something tells me that in the June 3 primary, South Dakotans will make a statement that vindicates Obama.
Paul Guggenheimer is a free-lance writer and radio and TV personality in Sioux City. You can write to him in care of the Journal or at lvrcomments@hotmail.com.
Now, that may not be the way I would have worded it, especially if I were running for president, but that doesn’t mean that what Obama is saying here isn’t true. In times of crisis, it’s a lot easier to go with our knee-jerk reactions to things rather than thinking them through. Is that especially true of small-town Americans? That’s hard to say. But based on my experiences, I would say that there is some truth to what Obama is saying. Think back to the way the majority of people around here reacted when we went to war with Iraq in 2003. Rather than wait to find out if there really were weapons of mass destruction or if there was a credible link between Saddam Hussein and the attacks of 9/11, the collective attitude was “bring on the war.”
Five years ago, the small number of people who opposed the war from the start were ridiculed and called traitors. I know because I was one of those who had their patriotism questioned by the shoot-first, ask-questions-later, gun-loving crowd. There is a mentality among some in this country that handguns are a right that God himself bestowed upon Americans who often cite the Constitution. But does anyone ever bother to take into consideration why the Second Amendment was written the way it was and what it means?
“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.” The reason the right to bear arms is prefaced by the phrase “a well regulated militia” is that the Founding Fathers knew that in the event the British or another enemy tried to take over the country, American citizens would need to have ready access to weapons rather than having to get to a central location where they were stored. But these days with a multi-trillion dollar defense budget in place, this isn’t necessary.
Try telling that to someone who thinks Washingtonians ought to be walking around with handguns as though they were living in the old west or hunting with an AK-47 and just listen to the reaction you’ll get. And yes, this is largely a small-town mentality.
Does this make Obama “elitist, out of touch and, frankly, patronizing,” as Hillary Clinton put it? Well, consider the source of the criticism. It has become painfully clear by now that Hillary will say anything to get elected. That’s not to say that Obama’s comments don’t make him sound like he thinks he’s smarter than the rest of us. But I would certainly hope that a man running for president thinks he knows better than we do about certain things.
After soliciting feedback from some rural South Dakotans about Obama’s remarks, the reaction I got was that they were not offended by them. The overwhelming majority of the state’s population is made up of people from small towns and many of them are supporting Obama for president. How much impact their votes will have on the presidential race may well depend on tomorrow’s results in Pennsylvania. But something tells me that in the June 3 primary, South Dakotans will make a statement that vindicates Obama.
Paul Guggenheimer is a free-lance writer and radio and TV personality in Sioux City. You can write to him in care of the Journal or at lvrcomments@hotmail.com.
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Joe wrote on Apr 24, 2008 9:45 AM:
FJ Stratford wrote on Apr 23, 2008 1:17 AM:
Me and my parents are not white or lower class; we only attend church service 5 times a year. BUT we work hard and we pray hard. In times of trials and tribulations, we pray harder and work even harder to fix things.
I take umbrage to ANY implication that our personal religious beliefs and practices are a sign that we are of a lower caliber compared to him and his friends.
"
James VB wrote on Apr 21, 2008 3:58 PM:
oldguy wrote on Apr 21, 2008 10:14 AM:
Keith wrote on Apr 21, 2008 8:15 AM: