Kirk: Dems Don’t Win Working-Class White Voters Anyway
Sen. Hillary Clinton has everyone’s knickers in a twist today after commenting that she alone–not Sen. Barack Obama–can win the presidential votes of all those “hardworking…white Americans”–i.e., Reagan Democrats. But in an interview here last week, Obama’s pal and adviser Ron Kirk, the former Dallas mayor, scoffed at Hillary’s perceived popularity with the white working class, saying, “We haven’t won their votes in years.” So, does that mean the Obama camp has written those folks off already?
17 Comments to “Kirk: Dems Don’t Win Working-Class White Voters Anyway”
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I doubt that..he’s just thinking about recent history.
But, there has been a small firestorm on various nationally known blogs about her tone and comments over the past weeks.
I’m gonna go out on a huge limb here and guess no.
I wouldn’t say that it’s “writing off voters” but it would be foolish to expect a 180 degree switch from a group that has traditionally spurned anything to do with minorities to all of a sudden vote for a minority.
not to say that he won’t try that seems to be what he is all about trying to get people to change their minds on things that have traditionally been totally non-negotiable
Chad,
The point is not that working class people spurn minorities — it’s that working class people spurn Democrats. It’s not about skin color — it’s about the damage that liberal policies would do to people who work for a living.
No, BLM. It isn’t.
Wow. Great argument, Gwyon. I, for one, am convinced.
Thanks!
BLM is exactly right. And, no less an expert than Paul Begala warned this week that the Democrats can’t win in November with a coalition consisting mainly of “eggheads and African-Americans.” But, that seems to be just where things are headed.
No; it just means that Ron Kirk continues to see life through racially-tinted glasses.
BLM: it’s *amazing* to me that You People continue to vote AGAINST YOUR BEST INTERESTS, year after year after year.
Honestly, if you were ever forced to sit down and think through the issues themselves, instead of listening to Talk Radio (100% Radical Right Wing), maybe you’d think differently. The fact that your input comes from one source SHOULD bother you.
If you have access to MSNBC (cable TV), listen to Countdown for a couple nights; it seems pretty Fair And Balanced, and is a LOT different than what you’ll hear on the Fox Noise Channel.
C’mon Glenn — you’re only telling the half of the story you want to be true. You forgot Donna Brazile’s smackdown of pretty-faced, smiling Paul, right back at his Clinton-90’s washed up mug.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/w.....index.html
BLM, so these past eight years of conservative policies have been helpful to people who work for a living?
Remind us all again, what was the dollars valuation during the working-class-oppressive Clinton years?
Countdown is 100% in the tank for Obama, and it has been for months. In no way can it be described as fair or balanced.
P.S. Obama and his supporters have been sending signals of that message for a while. Now that they feel they have this thing all sewn up, they’re getting braver about saying it public, for example Donna Brazile’s comments to Begala and this guy:
“So, unless Obama somewhat surprisingly does not become the next President of the United States, the Democratic Party will experience its first changing of the guard since the late 1980’s. What differences will be in store? Here are the three major changes I expect:
1. Cultural Shift: Out with Bubbas, up with Creatives: There should be a major cultural shift in the party, where the southern Dems and Liebercrat elite will be largely replaced by rising creative class types. Obama has all the markers of a creative class background, from his community organizing, to his Unitarianism, to being an academic, to living in Hyde Park to shopping at Whole Foods and drinking PBR. These will be the type of people running the Democratic Party now, and it will be a big cultural shift from the white working class focus of earlier decades. Given the demographics of the blogosphere, in all likelihood, this is a socioeconomic and cultural demographic into which you fit. Culturally, the Democratic Party will feel pretty normal to netroots types. It will consistently send out cultural signals designed to appeal primarily to the creative class instead of rich donors and the white working class.”
http://www.openleft.com/showDi.....aryId=5650
Nice, eh?
So Bubba, let me get this straight. If someone doesn’t agree with you 100%, if they don’t think exactly like you do, then they must be brainwashed by listening to AM radio and Fox News? You don’t see the irony in your comments at all, do you?
Jason,
The policies of the last seven years have been anything but Conservative. Bush’s fiscal policy has been the most liberal of any President since Carter.