My Suggestion on how Obama digs himself out of this:

[woolldog]

After the debate I suggest an "Obama small town/rural PA "listening" Bus Tour", where he just goes from small town to small town (I mean real small towns) and just meets with voters informally and talks with them, does Q&A, has dinner every night with a different family. But above all really spends time meeting *real* people. No big speeches or rallies, but makes it seem as if he really cares about what they have to say and their culture.

He doesn't have to admit that what he said was wrong (you and I both know it wasn't) or offensive (it was). He just makes it seem as if he's open to being shown where he may have been wrong and admit that he's getting a better sense of what PA is like. Then at the end he can talk about it and how while there's bitterness, he's seen other things as well....you get the idea....

His focus should be on Western PA where they are more suspicious of him.

[Nitrogenica]

1. It......doesn't seem like a mess so much.

[woolldog]

17. edited (because everyone was being distracted by the term "mess")

[rug]

2. The problem is he made that stupid remark after a 6 day bus trip through Pennsylvania.

[Nitrogenica]

6. ooOOoo "6 day bus trip guy"

Hiya.

[woolldog]

8. This tour would focus exclusively on small towns.

And it would involve more listening and less on talking. And the focus would be on Western PA and rural PA. Having dinner every night at with a PA small town family etc...

[Nitrogenica]

10. He will definitely do that, I think.

[goldcanyonaz]

3. It will go away. Seriously, I wouldn't worry about it at all.

:grouphug:

[keep_it_real]

4. How about a tv ad explaining what he meant and a press conference?

A press conference to get the MSM's attention and a tv ad to get the people's attention about what he really meant about wedge issues.

[woolldog]

9. too clinical and detached....

which is the very criticism being leveled at him for these comments. It would play into and affirm those criticisms.

[MannyGoldstein]

5. What Makes You Think He's In A Mess?

I'm not seeing signs of it - to the contrary, I think it's a good thing:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5502830&mesg_id=5502830

[woolldog]

11. Do you think this has gained him voters or lost him voters?

It's lost him voters. It's not clear how many. Possibly not that many. But I think this would help bolster his numbers in PA regardless of whether this qualifies as a "mess."

It would also help him seize control of this story.

[MannyGoldstein]

13. I'll Bet He Gains Voters

The daily polls show him up a little - which may not means he's gained voters, but does tend to indicate that it's unlikely he lost voters.

I think this is resonating with standard-issue Americans - moreover, in going after Obama on this, The Clintons and McSame just look awful.

[tridim]

14. I think so too, the MSM is not the people.

Fortunately it's the people that get to vote (sometimes).

[Wickerman]

7. Blunder (perceived or not) aside - I'd love to see pols do that

all year long. Hell, if they would devote a night a week touching base with real live people I think they would learn a lot.

[TankLV]

12. umm - give up his FAILED campaign?!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

15. What mess?

He's holding his own in the polls and Hillary is getting no traction to speak of. He might as well move on and keep talking about why people are bitter about how their government (including the Clintons) have screwed them.

[RBInMaine]

16. GOOD IDEA. And, in addition, he talks A LOT about his own very modest upbringing, his work as a

community organizer helping laid off steel workers, how he has only recently paid off all his and his wife's student loans, and MOST OF ALL, he needs to talk from the GUT and not from the HEAD of a Harvard law professor. He needs to talk to these PA folks in very clear and concrete terms, with some emotion. He's the new guy. Hillary's job is to make folks doubt him and frame his as an out of touch elitist. There is something to be said for not channeling Mike Dukakis. So he needs to continue to clarify what he meant, but also to tell his own personal story and the story of him as a community organizer and all he has done for working people. He also needs to roll out ads with union supporters vouching for him, and he needs to use Bob Casey BIGTIME !!

[woolldog]

18. agree with all of that.

good points!