Was Obama really talking about "wedge issues"?

[keep_it_real]

Some religious wedge issues are: abortion, prayer in schools, teaching intelligent design in schools, displaying the nativity at Christmas, saying merry Christmas opposed to happy holiday, etc.

Gun wedge issues: the right to carry hand guns in homes, street, college campuses, the right to defend ones self with a hand gun; the right to own assault rifles, etc.

Can you think of some economic wedge issues?

<snip>

"Let's not talk about why you don't have a job, can't afford health care, or can't send your kids to college; let's talk about gay marriage, school prayer, illegal immigration, and flag burning amendments."

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/04/hillary_is_doing_mccains_job_f.html

<snip>

"And so people don't vote on economic issues, because they don't expect any body's going to help them. People are voting on issues like guns, are they going to have the right to bear arms. They vote on issues like gay marriage. They take refuge in their faith and their community and their families and the things they can count on. But they don't believe they can count on Washington."

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/04/hillary_is_doing_mccains_job_f.html

A wedge issue is a social or political issue, often of a divisive or otherwise controversial nature, which splits apart or creates a "wedge" in the support base of one political group. Wedge issues can be advertised, publicly aired, and otherwise emphasized by an opposing political group, in an attempt to weaken the unity of the divided group, or to entice voters in the divided group to give their support to the opposing group. The use of wedge issues gives rise to wedge politics.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedge_issue

[MercutioATC]

1. Of course he was.

What's your point?

[keep_it_real]

4. My point is that some people have actually posted on this forum

That what Obama said was not about wedge issues (to my shock and surprise). I know he was speaking about wedge issues, you know he was talking about wedge issues, I just want to be sure and try to make sure we all understand he was talking about wedge issues.

Do you get my point?

[MercutioATC]

6. Your subject line threw me.

You asked if he was "really" talking about wedge issues and then posted a bunch of support that he was.

We agree on this...and I, too, would be surprised arguments to the contrary here....if I hadn't seen what misleading asses some here can be at times.

[keep_it_real]

7. My subject line was not to throw you but only get your attention

[JoFerret]

2. He's a clever fellow

and knows how to play identity politics well.


But what's with HIS faith.
Political expediency? or what?

[LSparkle]

3. Of course ... anything but to broach the subject of income inequality

otherwise known as "class warfare." These triangulators will do ANYTHING
to keep the lower 80% of us -- of all colors, ethnicities, regions, religions,
genders -- from banding together and taking our country back from the upper 20%.
They'd rather have us fighting each other over abortion, gun rights, gay
marriage, immigration policy ... Anything to keep us divided and distracted
from the REAL economic problems that have been growing since the Raygun era.

[backscatter712]

5. He's doing meta-wedge issue politics.

While Shrillary continues to play Annie Oakley in order to, yes, play on a wedge issue, Barack Obama gives the Beltway insiders their worst nightmare - a peek for the voters at the man behind the curtain. He's showing the people the real reason why they're getting screwed. He's showing how the corporatists are stacking the deck.

[smalll]

8. No he wasn't. Why did he include "ANTI-TRADE" in his litany of small-town faults?

Unfortunately for him, he was NOT making the wedge-issue point. He just wasn't talking about it at that point -- Republicans, elections and voting were not mentioned.

If he had said that the small-towners "cling" to just God, guns, racism and anti-immigrant sentiment, you might have a case. ALL of those are things around which Republicans build wedge-issue campaigns. Barack ALSO said that the small-towners cling to "anti-trade" sentiment as well. THE REPUBLICANS DON'T PUSH ANTI-TRADE! Obama and his campaign, in fact, seem to have tended to try to position themselves as slightly to the left of Hillary on that issue up until this point.

He wasn't talking about wedge-issues or voting patterns. He was talking about "those people" themselves and their culture. He roped up everything he finds in the small towns -- bad things (racism, xenophobia) -- good or neutral things (God, guns/hunting) -- and even a lefty thing ("anti-trade") -- and damned it. He was saying to the San Fransiscans that if those people out there had better jobs/more money, they'd be secular, non-gun-owning, racially-tolerant internationalists comfortable with globalism: in other words, they'd be latte liberals, just like the San Fransiscans.

[keep_it_real]

9. Anti-trade opposed to globalism un-fair trade which

Ships America jobs to other countries. Which is actually a just stance. Nothing wrong with opposing unfair trade. But there is something wrong with opposing fair-trade that does not ship America jobs abroad.