A difference in class
There was an interesting exchange between Barack Obama and a young supporter at an event in Iowa yesterday. From Jonathan Stein’s transcript:
Young girl: “I just want to say that every time I see a commercial of Mitt Romney on TV I want to throw up.”
Barack Obama: “Haha. Okay. I feel you. What’s your question?”
Young girl: “I just want to say to anyone who is considering voting for Mitt Romney–”
Barack Obama: “Well, hold on, sweetie. I know you have an opinion on Mitt, but I want to use this forum for questions, not to dog Mitt Romney. Though he sometimes uses his town halls to dog me! So why don’t you ask a question.”
Young girl: “Uh, I guess I want to know your thoughts on Mitt Romney.”
Now, Obama tried to turn this into a light moment, and answered by commenting on Romney’s impressive hair. But Oliver Willis raised a really good point: “Compare this with John McCain’s chuckle at his supporter calling Sen. Clinton a ‘bitch.'”
Quite right. A month ago, McCain hosted a campaign event in South Carolina, in which one charming elderly voter stood up to ask, “How do we beat the bitch?” McCain, assuming the voter was referring to Hillary Clinton, responded, “That’s an excellent question.” It’s the polar opposite of how Obama handled a similar situation.
There just seems to be a difference in how the candidates deal with supporters attacking rival candidates. Obama heard a supporter attacking Romney, and he put a stop to it. John Edwards heard a supporter attacking Obama on racial grounds, and he refused to engage.
On the other side, McCain heard a supporter attacking Clinton, and he thought it was “excellent.” Mike Huckabee heard a supporter say she’s planning to support him because God won’t hear the prayers of a Mormon, and Huckabee responded, “I’m glad you’ve made your choice for me. I don’t care why. I’m just glad you did.”
It is me or is there just a basic difference of class between the Democratic candidates and the Republicans?
It is me or is there just a basic difference of class between the Democratic candidates and the Republicans?
The latter.
let’s not forget that republican ‘swiftboat’ tactics have won them the last two presidential elections. dirty politics is tried & true. as julia cameron once said, “it’s not crowded at the top, it’s crowded at the bottom.” and that seems to be where the majority of the votes are.
Hmmm…I am not sure how this question benefits anyone. I agree that Obama has shown a great deal of poise and class, and that others–including Democrats–have been less so, but doesn’t this type of question inevitably lead exactly where Obama’s example says not to go? We all hear and/or read the comments from the candidates and unless I am mistaken, we all have brains to assess the worth of those comments. Let’s refrain from badmouthing others, even when they have done so themselves.
I’ll give props to Obama, but I don’t think the Edwards one was that hard a call. African Americans are NOT an okay group to rip on in America. Mormons, however, are okay, as ridiculous as that may be to me. If people said the kind of mean things about Jews or even Muslims that have been said about mormons lately, they’d be skewered in the press. Huckabee gets a chuckle. I’m so irritated with him.
The McCain incident (though I’m not defending it) is something different. The Republican electorate is more drawn to the cowboy than the intellectual so it’s no surprise to me that McCain would try to look more “real” by not putting down the vulgarities he encounters on the trail. He would have put down racial comments, but anti-Hillary stuff is in bounds.
So Huckabee and McCain are idiots, but is it fair to paint with such a broad brush? Are Republicans as a group any more inclined to be politically incorrect than the Dems? Well, maybe, but I haven’t really seen Mitt or even the unbridled Rudy or Thompson do this kind of thing. Does anyone know otherwise???
I dont know that this is a clear a counter example as you suggest. A McCain supporter called Clinton a bitch; he chuckled. An Obama supporter says seeing Romney makes her want to throw up, and per your own transcript above, Obama chuckles. Yes, Obama beats McCain in that when the young woman tried to keep at it, he cut her off and steered her away from Romney-bashing, but his initial reaction was fairly similar to McCain’s.
At the end of the day, there aren’t a lot of politicians who will, on the spur of the moment, Sister Souljah one of their own supporters to that person’s face.
Young voter: “Mitt Romney makes me want to throw up.”
Classy candidate: “Could you phrase that in the form of a question?”
Young voter: “Okay. How much does Mitt Romney make you want to throw up?”
Young girl: “I just want to say that every time I see a commercial of Mitt Romney on TV I want to throw up.”
Barack Obama: “Haha. Okay. I feel you. What’s your question?”
The question the rightwingers have is, “Why does Obama admit to ‘feeling’ young girls?
These candidates were all irrelevant a few months ago. They’ll all be irrelevant again soon.
Snark aside, Dale is close. Beck and Hannity and the rest will say something like “‘I feel you?’ What does that mean? It’s an endorsement! He’s saying ‘Yes, Mitt makes me throw up too!’ Oh, sure he THEN tries to change the subject, but it’s too late, Oba…I mean Osama, heh heh. You’re saying Romney makes you throw up, too!”
And then the headlines will read “Obama: Mitt makes me throw up,” and by the time the record is straight, we’re three more lies deep into the smear campaign.
Personally, I think the oddest part of the whole exchange was “Well, hold on, sweetie…” Seems a bit denigrating to young women.
The “sweetie” comment jumped out at me too. Seems condescending to me.
let’s not forget that republican ’swiftboat’ tactics have won them the last two presidential elections. dirty politics is tried & true. as julia cameron once said, “it’s not crowded at the top, it’s crowded at the bottom.” and that seems to be where the majority of the votes are.
That’s not true. There are things the Republicans do that make them look bad and cost them voters. They’d probably like us to ‘bite the bait’ and do the same thing. Also, they have a megaphone with the media right now, so if Obama or Edwards was to be stupid like McCain, they’d harp on it all over the place and use it to nullify the fact that McCain and others have done stuff like that (and it would work, too, because so many people have gotten into this “battered wife syndrome” with the Republicans– simply because the media repeats what the Republicans want told so much, people start to believe it– they need the blogosphere to counter it). Obama and Edwards were smart, smart.
Doubtful, how old was this kid? Because if she was younger than a teenager, she was definitely a child, and not a woman. And it can be nice when children are in the intimidating situation of facing the powerful to address them like a relative might. It’s a custom to talk to kids like that, although certainly some idiot morons use it with a different tone to lash out at kids. I’m 28, and I had an old woman call me sweetie or honey or something (I didn’t do anything to her, she just called me this because she has chip on her shoulder against young men or something) a little while ago, I’m a man, and it was pretty rude- so, of course, words like that have become gender neutral. Also, could be Obama saw the tar pit and used the word only because he felt he was getting an odd question, but isn’t that a lot better than John McCain’s calling a twelve year old boy a “little jerk”? The Republicans dodged out of that one by saying it was a joke. How many of you battered-wife-sufferers let them get away with that? If you happen to be a woman and felt entitled not to be called ‘sweetie’ by adults when you were a young girl, you had a pretty unusually high opinion of yourself for a kid. They should have made you Empress of America or something, if you were so great.
That would be a pretty country to live in if adults were never permitted to address young girls or boys as “sweetie.” Maybe we should start giving kids the right to vote and keys to our cars, eh?
I agree there appears to be a difference but I’m not sure it’s to the Democrats benefit. There’s no doubt that Rethugs lack tact and will stoop to anything to win but at the same time, they’ve gotten their way for a long time. This is exactly why I’m not sure Obama is the one we need. In order to put things in order and reverse many of the horrible things put in place by Rethugs, we may need to roll up our sleeves, put a clothes pin on our noses and stoop to their level. They will never give up any of their wins without someone’s jackboot firmly placed on the backs of their necks. Obama is too nice and inspiring to put on jackboots. Hillary has her own pair with stilletto heels for that extra pinch.
I guess I’m going to have to stop calling young men one third my age sweetie. I thought it was nicer than kicking them. And no, I don’t have a chip on my shoulder – my tolerance for stupidity has just dropped of late, regardless of age or gender.
I dont know that this is a clear a counter example as you suggest
CB is the spin master, his suggestions are a simply product of his political beliefs. Despite his claims of not having a favorite, If anyone hasn’t figured out his love for Obama, this post is a good example of it.
Nope. There’s no “there” there.
If you watch ALL the original video. McCain gave the obligatory uncomfortable pause before he moved on to the SUBSTANCE of her poorly worded “excellent” question.
He felt it was excellent because HRC’s overestimated juggernaut nature should be addressed by poor little old McCain running raggedly behind in the polls. The uncouth woman who used the term was well concerned about her champion’s chances at toppling the pretender. “Bitch” is actually a term reserved for women more worthy of respect than the nigh-freshman Senator and former first lady. “Bitches” (not a term I use, but applied to tough women) are forces to be reckoned with. Without the DLC’s puppet strings and a former two term president behind her and fueling multi-million dollars to her campaign, she wouldn’t have left double digits. The woman is balsa wood.
All that said, Obama did an admirable job trying to keep the campaign substantive. Kudos.
his initial reaction was fairly similar to McCain’s
I’m sorry, but laughing because a voter thinks a candidate is naseating is hardly comparable to laughing because a voter thinks a candidate is a bitch. The latter is a direct attack on the candidate while the former is just how the person makes you feel. This young voter was stopped before she ever got to the point of actually attacking Romney.
I disagree, VIncent: if someone came up to me and said “you’re a bitch!” or instead said “you make me sick!” I’m not sure I would feel a whole lot better about the second one. I’m pretty sure I’d feel about the same in each case.
Normally that is irrelevant because people call me much worse.
Swan: “That’s not true.”
sorry, beg to differ with you swan. Rove’s FUD tactics with Gore, Kerry and even their own (McCain) were extremely effective in planting doubt in the minds of voters. it’s been proven that fear gets the turnout, and that in heads-up elections many people are voting against a candidate, not for them. and it started early this campaign cycle when one of the republican talking heads started referring to obama as “barack HUSSEIN obama”. what’s really interesting is to witness hillary’s campaign taking pages straight out of the republican playbook, something she accused edwards of doing.