Axelrod (Obama strategist) Writes Off The White Working Class

[BobbyVan]

Obama’s top strategist tries to downplay his candidate’s losses.

Tells NPR: “The white working class has gone to the Republican nominee for many elections, going back even to the Clinton years. This is not new that Democratic candidates don’t rely solely on those votes.”

Also says winning Pennsylvania was “an almost impossible task” and “a home game” for Clinton. “It hasn’t changed the fundamentals of the race.”

http://thepage.time.com/2008/04/23/axelrod-democrats-dont-win-the-white-working-class/

(Nice way to introduce yourself to Indiana and North Carolina voters!)

OK, for those of you who don't like my thread title, imagine the converse. Imagine if Hillary's top strategist said "Democratic candidates don't rely solely on black votes." Couldn't that Hillary strategist be justifiably accused of "writing off" the black vote???

More background on Axelrod: Indeed, ever since working on the re-election campaign of Chicago's Harold Washington in 1987, Axelrod has developed something of a novel niche for a political consultant: helping black politicians convince white voters to support them.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070219/hayes

Nice job David!

[anonymous171]

1. Haven't since Carter.

[IndianaJones]

2. typical white person. nt.

[Occam Bandage]

3. Rural uneducated whites do not, historically, go Democrat. Those that do seem to go Clinton,

but it's not a base we can rely on in the GE.

[bevoette]

44. what is the diff b/t rural uneducated whites in blue vs. red states?

i am curious

[Occam Bandage]

47. ...what?

[bevoette]

52. sorry...just following through w/ the thought...

what's the difference b/t those rural, uneducated white voters that voted for Clinton in 'blue' states (PA, OH, etc) and those that vote for (republican) in 'red' states?

probably rhetorical, i just wondered what people might answer

[PA Democrat]

62. Look at this map of PA in the 2004 presidential election

http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/img.php?year=2004&st=PA&type=map&off=0&fips=42&elect=0

That mass of red is the PA rural working class vote, which went to Bush. What turned PA into an overall win for Kerry was the cities and suburbs.

[RaleighNCDUer]

68. The difference is in who their daddy's voted for.

There are a lot of 'traditional' voters out there who may believe in everything the other party says but remain registered to the party they grew up with.

"My daddy voted Democrat, and his daddy, and his daddy, and I'm a democrat, too, and always will be, but I feel like my party has left me and I really LIKE Reagan..."

For a lot of people, being Democratic or Republican is the same as being Baptist or Methodist - it's what they grew up with, and wouldn't think of changing it.

That's why there are so many northeastern liberal republicans, decades after the republicans abandonded the principles they once stood for - and so many southern conservative Democrats, long after the democrats became the big tent party of Roosevelt.

[powergirl]

61. Bingo! Rachel Maddow dressed down Pat Buchannan with this one

She said that the Democrats have NEVER won that demographic since she has been alive. :bounce:

[Adelante]

4. Ain't that the truth

They will end up voting McCain in November.

[democrattotheend]

5. He's right. I've been saying that for weeks.

But it probably wasn't a smart thing for Axelrod to say.

[TragedyandHope]

6. He plagiarized that line from Hillary

"Screw 'em"

[bluestateguy]

7. Black voters have always been more loyal to the Democrats than the white working class

Having said that, Obama needs to up his numbers with these voters in the fall election to say, 45%.

Obama will produce a record shattering black voter turnout.

Obama will produce a record breaking turnout of young voters (he's already been doing this).

Obama will do better than Al Gore and John Kerry with affluent upper middle class white suburbanites.

[Connie_Corleone]

8. Some people seem to have a problem with others telling the truth.

Everything he said is true. What's the problem?

[JJH]

53. Damn straight! Now, just let me eat my waffle! You low income white rube!

[GarbagemanLB]

9. He's right. What exactly makes what he said worthy of a thread?

[uponit7771]

16. They're bored, they don't have anything else to do.

[Armstead]

10. And he is incorrect how?

[sandnsea]

11. 65% of white men vote Republican

Why isn't that racial tidbit ever analyzed.

[Occam Bandage]

12. Your headline was more accurate before the edit. He isn't "writing off" anyone;

he's simply saying that they are not the GE bellwether Clinton is pretending they are.

[The_Casual_Observer]

13. A fine insult from a bastard. Fuck you axlerod! Sore ass loser.

[Occam Bandage]

17. Loser? He's beating the biggest, most entrenched Democratic machine in decades, if not in history.

[The_Casual_Observer]

20. Spends 100's of millions & can't win a real election.

[anonymous171]

22. Spent 9 million is PA.

[Occam Bandage]

24. Yeah, Hillary sure wasted that war chest, didn't she? Too bad she can't raise money any more.

[The_Casual_Observer]

26. I'll bet it breaks your heart.

[Occam Bandage]

30. I laugh with sadness every time I think of it. Do you know that no candidate has *ever*

blown a nationwide polling lead that large, that late? What was it, twenty points nationwide before Iowa? Her candidacy was historic indeed.

[BobbyVan]

67. Except for the fact that she's won the battleground states and leads in the popular vote!

[oasis]

14. Translation:Those bitter assholes have their God and guns. (eom)

[uponit7771]

15. It was a home game for her AND she had the DNC insiders locked for a single digit win!

[PVnRT]

18. Where did he "write them off"?

Writing people off means ignoring them, which is not what he said. Stop posting threads with misleading headlines.

[ErinBerin84]

19. so in your mind...

Democratic candidates don’t rely solely on those votes.” = " writes off white working class"?

[kwenu]

21. He should write them off if they won't vote for a Black man because he's Black.

[Romulox]

23. This is a HUGE part of why Obama didn't want Mich. to vote. nt

[anonymous171]

28. No. Obama is polling ahead in MI.

[Occam Bandage]

31. What're you smoking? Obama's leading the polls in Michigan.

[Romulox]

34. He had a Pa sized deficit when he decided to pull out of Michigan.

[Occam Bandage]

46. So? He had that deficit *everywhere.* He pulled out because MI broke the rules.

[Romulox]

56. No, he pulled out of Michigan because he was polling way behind

The "broke the rules" issue was a convenient pretext for that decision. Recent poll numbers don't speak to his motivations in December 2007, at any rate.

[BobbyVan]

57. Obama won't be able to cherry pick in the GE - this is a serious issue

[BigDDem]

25. typical bitter white people

[SeaLyons]

29. ...

:thumbsup:

[leftstreet]

27. Your thread title is a lie. But then you know that

The article doesn't say "writes them off."

:eyes:

Oh that reminds me, I need to pick up a pack of socks.

[barack the house]

32. Obama has never written off anyone. Cehck his crowds. He won't target folks who are unreachable...

clearly. Certain folks are entrenched but still welcome to go to his rallies.

[napi21]

33. What is "the white working class"?

IMO there ISN'T such a thing. During MY lifetime, our earnings have been all over the map. I admit I've never been wealthy, but before I was forced to retire because of a physical illness, together my husband & I were earning $140,000. That was 10 years ago, and within reason, we could buy pretty much anything we really wanted or needed. I still considered myself a member of the white working class. Since then, our income has dropped to $30,000 and I still say we are a member of the WWC. I've ALWAYS been a Dem! BTW, we're both practicing Catholics and never voted on the "family values" BS that the Pubs have put forth.

[Mags]

40. this is BO's thing, throwing working class under the bus.

He is toast .

[anonymous171]

41. 37% of them vote dem. The rest vote for repugs.

[Mags]

45. no problem do with out us.

[anonymous171]

50. Screw 'em.

[Mags]

51. got ya. thanks.

[napi21]

55. I'm still asking what is "the working class"?

I think what's missing in discussions like this is that there are a variety of reasons why people vote Pub or Dem. Some are single issue voters that vote against abortion rights or gay rights, and that is THEIR deciding factor. It doesn't matter how much $ they make or if they are rich, poor or somewhere in between. Some vote a Party Line because that's what their family did and still does. Some still believe any Dem is going to take their guns away. Some consider their financial situation and vote against the incumbant. Some look at a broader picture and vote based on a lot of different issues.

If the phrase "working class" is anyone who gets a paycheck, that's much too broad a catagory to mean anything at all!

[RaleighNCDUer]

35. Since when is telling the truth 'writing them off'?

"This is not new that Democratic candidates don’t rely solely on those votes."

Key word, SOLELY.

The republicans have two base demographics - the very small very rich demographic, and the white blue collar demographic. The democrats have always had a much broader coalition and do not depend soley upon any of it. We include in it white working class, but it is one of many.

So where is Axlerod wrong?

[Dr Fate]

36. I have an even more "contorversial" fact to add to that.

News break- they generally dont donate to or lift a finger for the DEM party.

There are exceptions, but that is not the demographic that gets really fired up and involved in DEM activism.

Another news break- if Hillary/Media can bait them with race and elitism, then they can EASILY be swayed by McCain/media- it works both ways. They dont call 'em "swing voters" for nothin.

For Hillary's sake- should she be handed the nom- I hope all the rural folks & working class folks decide to ring door bells and pick up signs for her, but I have a hard time seeing it- especially in the Southern states w/ little or virtually no Union organiizational presense.

[graycem]

37. Well it's true..

White males overwhelmingly vote Republican. Rachel M. did a rundown of this about a week ago, and I think about 37% was the most any democratic nominee ever got. What's wrong with accepting facts? You are correct that it isn't a good idea coming from his mouth, but someone has to stand up to the spin.

[RBInMaine]

38. Just where is saying that he is "writing them off." Just saying we don't rely entirely on them, NOT

that Obama shouldn't work to get them at all. He is talking about broadening the electorate into other constituencies(i.e. young voters, Hispanics, upper income and higher educated voters, I's, etc.) and not just relying on one base. You are reading an awful lot into this.

[FrenchieCat]

39. You are as bad as those Republicans who led us into war.......

by omitting and twisting and bending the truth. You are not what we have been waiting for. Propaganda is not what we deserve in this or any other elections.

Hillary Clinton On Southern Working Class Whites In 1995: "Screw 'Em"

In January 1995, as the Clintons were licking their wounds from the 1994 congressional elections, a debate emerged at a retreat at Camp David. Should the administration make overtures to working class white southerners who had all but forsaken the Democratic Party? The then-first lady took a less than inclusive approach.

"Screw 'em," she told her husband. "You don't owe them a thing, Bill. They're doing nothing for you; you don't have to do anything for them."

The statement -- which author Benjamin Barber witnessed and wrote about in his book, "The Truth of Power: Intellectual Affairs in the Clinton White House" -- was prompted by another speaker raising the difficulties of reaching "Reagan Democrats." It stands in stark contrast to the attitude the New York Democrat has recently taken on the campaign trail, in which she has presented herself as the one candidate who understands the working-class needs.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/16/hillary-clinton-on-workin_n_97017.html

Clinton on Working-Class Southerners, circa 1995: "Screw 'em"

April 16, 2008 5:44 PM

Some readers have noted the fact that The Huffington Post is going all to town about an anecdote I reported back in October -- from Sally Bedell Smith's book "For Love of Politics: Bill and Hillary Clinton: The White House Years" -- that Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, during a 1995 retreat called the "Camp David Seminar on the Future of Democracy had some interesting comments about working-class white Southerners who had left the Democratic party:

"'Screw 'em,' she said, 'you don't owe them a thing, Bill, they're doing nothing for you.' Bill rose to their defense, 'as if rehearsing an old but honorable debate he had been having with his wife for decades,'" as one attendee recalled.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/clinton-on-work.html

[Doctor_J]

42. "don't rely solely on them" = "Write them off"?

Turn off Fox News. Your leap of logic makes Hannity watchers look sane by comparison.

[Terran]

43. Explain how that's a write-off.

He's making a truthful observation. I seriouasly doubt the Obama campaign will just cease to go after these voters, just because of one loss. Get real.

[BobbyVan]

54. No, but he's dissing working class whites to the superdelegates.

Just imagine if Hillary's campaign did the same thing to black voters? That's a "write off" folks.

[Terran]

60. How is he "dissing" them?

Show your work or stop wasting time.

[kmsarvis]

48. How does......

"we don't rely soley on those votes" = "writing off the white working class"?

[bowens43]

49. spin spin spin.......

[question everything]

58. I think that he got it backwards

Poor working whites have been the backbone of the Democratic party. They were the target of FDR New Deal - that some think we have betrayed while running "elitists" like Adlai Stevenson, Michael Dukakis, John Kerry and now Obama.

Most of the votes for Obama came from Independents and Republicans. Is Axelord so sure that they will be there in November, or in 2012?

What does he care. Once this campaign is over, he move for the next black politician (this, apparently, is his specialty).

[BobbyVan]

59. exactly n/t

[redstate_democrat]

63. Stupid OP

reading comprehension is obviously not your strong suit.

[JoFerret]

64. Good spin

but not this time.

[NashVegas]

65. You Can't Be Like Reagan If You Can't Court Those Reagan Democrats

HC understood one thing very well, and I heard her use it in a New Hampshire speech, way back when.

She stated that BO was the candidate for people who didn't really *need* good government, because they were doing very well already.

It's not spoken of, but the assetless class does understand that good government is much more important to their vitality than any Wall St. analyst.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

66. He's right. And, just stating the obvious.

It has been the white working class who have abandoned the Democratic Party when they felt threatened by the "too liberal" wing, minorities, or women.

The republicans have been very successful in promoting "the silent majority", "real Americans", "patriotism", "traditional family values", and similar tripe to the white working class.

The Clintons and the DLC introduced "triangulation" and the "Third way" which pandered to those fears and is now being seeing for what it is. The politics of ambition, pandering, and playing to fear.