13
Jul
2008
Are We ‘Whiners’ or Just ‘Bitter’?
Phil Gramm, former Senator from the great state of Texas, told the Washington Times that country was filled with “whiners” and the United States is merely in a “mental recession.” Senator Gramm is one of John McCain’s economic advisers.
If Senator Gramm’s comment on the economy is correct or not isn’t the point. Remember, politics is about perception.
This is quite difficult news for the millions of people across the country who are struggling with high gas prices and an increasingly difficult mortgage crisis.
However, on the other side, in April Senator Obama said many people in small-town America are “bitter” and “cling to guns or religion … as a way to explain their frustrations.”
Which also is a quite difficult comment for people to hear. Since April, this comment has created a perception by some on the right that Obama is a elitist snob, as seen in this mock-poster on the right. (More on this subject to come later)
Both comments make the average American feel looked down upon, naive, and a little stupid.
However, forget about what you think about each of these comments. What really matters in the long run is:
Which comment hurts the respective campaign’s chances at election more?
Some basic things to think about:
- Senator Phil Gramm said the ‘whiners’ comment, not Senator McCain.
- Senator Gramm has effectively been dismissed, discredited, disowned by the McCain campaign after his comment.
- The Obama comment happened in April, which is an eternity of ‘political-time’ from the November election.
- Obama survived the ‘bitter’ comment and went on to defeat Clinton in a tough and long primary.
- And if the economy is struggling and McCain is seen as out-of-touch, believing that people are just ‘whining,’ it is sure to hurt him.
- There is little that Americans cherish more, as a whole, than their religion. If people believe that Obama thinks religion is something you merely ‘cling’ to, it is sure to hurt him.
Over time people create caricatures of the candidates in their heads. Bill Clinton was suave, George W. Bush was down the earth and simple, Bob Dole was old, John Kerry was a flip-flopper, etc. Will the elitist snob label stick on Obama? Will the out-of-touch label stick to McCain? Or are the candidates getting labeled as something different?