What Was Unartful About Obama’s Remarks
I have finally come to see what was unartful about Obama’s remarks. It is not that he said that voters were bitter. I don’t doubt that many of them are.
The unartful part was in appearing to some to blame the voters for the success of the Republican divide and conquer strategy.
Follow this link to his 2004 remarks that say what he means in a much better way.
In the 2004 remarks he focuses the blame on previous Democratic campaigns that were unable to counter what the Republicans were doing. These campaigns should have united voters on social and economic issues rather than let the Republicans divide them. This corrective action has been the focus of Obama’s campaign.
Despite this recent gaffe in explaining how the Republicans were distracting voters from very serious issues, I cling to my faith that Obama can recover from this mistake.
If the voters do not understand who are the real dividers and who are the real uniters, then the fault lies with Obama’s communication skills. I think his 2004 remarks demonstrate that he understands this.