Obama avoids "bitter . . cling" comment, popularity increasingly grows with rural and small town vot

I think a general problem that Obama had was he had trouble articulating to the American people just why his policies were necessary and how they were working. . .
This is a big reason Obama should have directly and openly talk about the New Deal. Just say, Look, we face a lot of the same problems, and we’re going to use a lot of the same remedies.

For crying out loud, play the FDR card!

As well as point out that Obamacare is a lot like Romneycare.
 
Well, meet one person at least. I have voted Republican in every Presidential race since I could vote in '92. I voted in primaries, donated money, went to rallies etc, voted the straight ticket, and even went to Lincoln Day Dinners.

That 47% comment (and the doubling down of picking Paul "let's kill Social Security" Ryan) so infuriated me that not only voted for Obama, I campaigned and donated to that campaign. I am still furious about it.

By the same token, the 2016 "basket of Deplorables" comment pissed not only me but about everyone I knew off. I have a friend that owns a t-shirt shop in Gatlinburg, TN. One of his best selling shirts to this day says "if you're deployable, you're deplorable"

As far as the Obama comment? Honestly, not a big deal, it just was a confirmation to those of us he was referring to what we already figured he thought about us. Out of the 3 comments I think that his was the least harmful, Romney's the most harmful.
Thank you for an excellent post, which includes both your personal experience and your thinking. I very much like these kinds of posts. :)

I do want to challenge you about why people may have liked the saying, “if you’re deployable, you’re deplorable.” Trump attacked John McCain. Okay, Sen. McCain was a big boy well able to take care of himself. Then, when Mr. and Mrs. Khan spoke at the Democratic National Convention, Trump took it as a personal attack rather than policy, and he attacked back in his normal dirty, overblown manner.

Then last Spring, Trump nominated Ronny Jackson to head the VA. He’s a first-rate doctor, and a stand up individual, but he has no experience running large organizations. I really think Sec. of State Clinton would have been steady eddie and middle-of-the-road on veterans’ issues.

===

PS I have not served. I respect those who have.
 
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Thank you for an excellent post, which includes both your personal experience and your thinking. I very much like these kinds of posts. :)

I do want to challenge you about why people may have liked the saying, “if you’re deployable, you’re deplorable.” Trump attacked John McCain. Okay, Sen. McCain was a big boy well able to take care of himself. Then, when Mr. and Mrs. Khan spoke at the Democratic National Convention, Trump took it as a personal attack rather than policy, and he attacked back in his normal dirty, overblown manner.

Then last Spring, Trump nominated Ronny Jackson to head the VA. He’s a first-rate doctor, and a stand up individual, but he has no experience running large organizations. I really think Sec. of State Clinton would have been steady eddie and middle-of-the-road on veterans’ issues.

===

PS I have not served. I respect those who have.
To be blunt I didn't vote for Trump or Clinton. I would not vote for Trump and could not vote for Clinton. I am not a single issue voter (veterans issues.) I know that it's just a movie but in the "American President" Michael Douglas playing President Andrew Shepherd says "I can tell you being President, is all about character."

Truer words were never spoken. I am not voting for someone because they are my party's nominee. Now, after saying that I am not a single issue voter, I didn't vote for Trump for 4: reasons. To keep this out of chat here are 2.

Senator McCain is/was a personal hero of mine. I 100% know that I would not be able to withstand his confinment, nor would be able to keep"the code" the way he did. When Trump said that about McCain it made my blood pressure go through the roof. John McCain deserved the CMH for his actions while in captivity.

Captain Kahn was a typical American boy, who happened to be of a different religion than the vast majority of his countrymen. Except he wasn't. Humayan Khan was born in the UAE to parents of Pakistani origin. He was 4 years younger than I am. No one told him he had to take ROTC training in college. But, he did. He went to Iraq and was killed in action. Oh wait, that makes him a very American boy.

Insulting his honorable service, what ever his parents said (out of grief or conviction), he purchased their right to say it. Sure what his Father did with the copy of the Constitution was over dramatic and probably scripted. But, insulting a gold star family is low, and implying his Mother could not speak for herself is low.

That's 2 of my 4 reasons not voting for him. To bring this back on topic, it's what canidate say when they don't think the cammer is on or they are unscripted tells the truth. When Romney said what he did he meant "yuck, poor people." Hillary meant "dumb white trash." I am not saying that you should just vote on a off the cuff comment, but it's a window into their thinking. It certainly impacts the way I vote and has impacted the way I voted the past 2 elections and effected my vote in the Texas Senate race.

Obama's comment probably didn't effect him that much because the people that it pissed off, were not voting for him to begin with.
 
https://www.fordlibrarymuseum.gov/grf/timeline.asp

August 19, 1974
Ford delivers a major speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Chicago, supporting earned clemency for Vietnam War draft evaders.
I think this is called counter-scheduling. Out of respect, a political leader first gives news to those most likely to disagree.

And maybe Sen. Obama could have done something similar by speaking before a gun rights organization. He might have said, It is not intellectually honest to say a person could have killed just as many persons with a knife because the track record shows that that’s not the case. What I want is remedies which will make a positive difference and which are supported, say, by a solidly 70% of gun rights advocates. Now that’s reasonable.
 
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