A bitter pill

Barack Obama has ignited a fiery debate about class

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Readers' comments



"A 20-point deficit is nothing to sneer at."And the polls have been so on target this election.

jeff watchman

This is propaganda by a press that is out of touch with reality and trying to tar and feather Obama. The English press wants the Clintons back and the American press wants to make sure Obama don't win. Example: ABC's tabloid debate last night in Philadelphia where the two commentators ganged up on Senator Obama with out dated news and no objectivety. One of the commentators had a conflict of interest. He previously worked for the Clintons as a gopher. Charles Gibson talked down to Senator Obama on more then one occation. I'm finished with the Disney Company and ABC for ever. They will never get my business again.

A.C. Hall

Mr. Torres, you are exactly right and Lexington is completely wrong on this issue.If there is "elite bashing" in middle America, this is not an example of it. Most people know that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are Ivy League-educated. It doesn't offend me at all that he goes to upscale grocery stores or that the Clintons go on vacation to Martha's Vineyard.Lexington has essentially turned this issue on it's head. Poor poor Barack Obama, those anti-elitists in middle America don't like him because he's wealthy. That's not the problem at all; if it were, then there would have been a similar reaction to his remarks about Whole Foods in Iowa. However, there was no "Arugala-gate." The problem with what Obama said is that he was bashing middle America. People aren't offended by the mere fact that Obama -- or anyone else -- has more money than they do or enjoy things they can't afford; they're offended when people who are better off think that they're better in general.


If Obama's comments were so insensitive, then why has it not hugely affected his poll numbers? Some people really are bitter...maybe bitter is not the best word. From the comments I saw, Clinton's supporters thought it was a terrible gaff and Obama supporters didn't think it was a big deal but just not quite the right word. The whole thing simply shows the desperation of the Clinton campaign. If this were war, Clinton would be heaving her jammed M-16 at her adversary as we speak.


What was missing in this brouhaha over the B-word is the fact that Obama's critics could not find a single rural American to go on the record to say they were offended. Asking guys ensconced in NY and DC about what goes on in rural America is nonsense. The closest we got to such a statement was when Fox News interviewed a PA local, who agreed with Obama's statement that people is small towns are bitter. The gentleman was a McCain supporter, but he said Obama was right. Just as the pundits assured us that Obama was first not black enough, then too black, now we have this non-scandal.

Torres F.J.

A nice bit of spin, sir.
Unfortuately, it neglects the heart of the matter.
The charge against Obama isn't that he's an "elite" but rather that he is *condesceding*. Americans prefer their leaders to at least pretend to be normal folks, which is why self-deprecation is the prefered humorous tool of a savvy politician.
Also ignored by Monsieur Lexington is the fact that the mischaracterization of the small town citizenry came, not in talk *to* them, but rather in a chat *about* them in that oh-so-popular bastion of liberalism, San Francisco, during a whine(sic) and cheese fundraiser with bankers and other monied powers.
The only way Obama could have made a bigger gaffe would have been to utter those words at an atheists' convention in the People's Republic of Berkeley.
Context matters, sir.
And make no mistake, Obama's condescencion will cost him.


April 17, 2008


Do not mistake stature in moral and character qualities as class differentiation.

If ever there was a time for America to embrace a person of Character now is the time. A harvard law school degree gives our crusader the tools to fight the opposition on their turf in Washington. Wake up and elect a warrior who has the tools to fight corruption, lobbyists and corrupt politicians. He may only last for a short time like John F. Kennedy but the results for American society will be profound.

Please listen to my call for supporting a man of courage and give back America a clean slate. The call is yours, the decision you mmake will effect a generation of young people and help rebuild America ti its former days of honor.


Bravo Lexington! W.E.B. DuBois said the problem of the 20th Century is the color line. The problem of the 21st Century will be the class line. I think a lot of Americans are starting to question their ability to live the “American Dream”. I am part of a generation (I am 30) that for the first time in history will by and large not live better than their parents. Parents (and students) are struggling to pay for college (often seen as a ticket to the middle class). People are being asked to assume more risk than ever (for retirement, unemployment, healthcare, etc.) and receiving less reward. Again, for the first time, real wages have decreased from one economic cycle to the next. I think we could be seeing a significant shift in American politics.



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