Elitist? Obama Says Nah - He's Got "Street Cred as a Down to Earth Guy"

[RamboLiberal]

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It's not every day that a candidate's fashion sense makes its way into a press availability, but today in Indianapolis, Indiana, Barack Obama had to defend his wardrobe choices, making the case that he is not an elitist.

The question came from a local reporter, who said he's been looking like the "GQ candidate." And in the wake of the "bitter" controversy, which prompted his opponents to label him an elitist, the timing of the question was particularly poignant.

Obama launched into a long diatribe listing all of the things that he believes place him in the common man category, rather than the elitist side.

"I think this is a fairly standard suit here," he explained, "I haven't changed my approach to dressing too much. . . I basically buy five of the same suit, and then I patch them up and wear them repeatedly."

"I have four pairs of shoes," Obama added.

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"I have committed to practicing bowling so that I'm better. Although I do have to say the fact that you guys reported that as if I had actually bowled ten frames… You know how there was only seven frames and two of them were bowled by a ten year old… I can’t excuse away the first two gutter balls."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/04/elitist-obama-s.html

Hah, I didn't know a 10-year old had bowled two of the frames. Was that the kid he was high-fiving? I think he's smacking back again the media idiocy! Hope so!

[chill_wind]

1. "GQ candidate" meme-- the stenographer ripped that from Scarborough

Joe must be so proud all his important talking points are getting around. He and Matthews make quite a pair.

:sarcasm:

[RamboLiberal]

7. Ed Schultz called Joe Scarborough a Northern FL racist today

I just wish Ed had been on MSNBC at the time!

[chill_wind]

10. He and his pol pal PAT have become ugly caricatures of themselves.

They are really twisted up and very obviously nasty UNHAPPY that Obama is probably going to wrap this one up.

And just as obnoxious, Scarborough's chauvinistic interactions with liberal women commentators, like his ones with Rachel Maddow a few nights ago, make me GAG!!

[Cha]

19. GQ and mini gq..

[chill_wind]

29. Awesome photo. Someone grabbed a great shot. n/t

[Cha]

41. Alex Brandon..Awesome photographer for

the Obama campaign.

[tokenlib]

2. Such shoddy reporting..can't even get a bowling alley visit correct...

..Barack had fun toying with the reporters today!

[lumberjack_jeff]

3. That's a good response. n/t

[monmouth]

4. Barack has a unique talent for letting people know they're full of sh$*(

then smiling so they'll feel good anyway. His responses are always "on the money" as they say...

[cornermouse]

5. Cool.......

Was it 9 or 10 tennis courts at that private school that Obama attended?

[SammyWinstonJack]

11. ...

:evilgrin:

[Name removed]

14. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[cornermouse]

15. The one he attended because his grandmother paid his way.

And I did it without calling you any names or throwing accusations... Fancy that.

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[tabasco]

18. By the way - - why are you lying about Obama's scholarship?

It was the 1970s and Obama was one of the few black students on campus. The son of a white mother and black father, he attended Punahou on a scholarship starting in the fifth grade.

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/story?id=3082803&page=1

[cali]

23. bzzzt. His grandmother did not pay his way at Punahao

his grandparents did NOT have that kind of money. They didn't even own their own home.

Kindly stop lying about this. thanks ever so.

[cornermouse]

24. They were not poor. Kindly stop pretending about this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madelyn_Dunham
"In Seattle, Stanley worked in a bigger furniture store (Standard-Grunbaum Furniture) while Madelyn eventually became vice-president of a local bank"....

..."Madelyn and Stanley then moved to Hawaii where he found a better furniture store opportunity. Madelyn started working at the Bank of Hawaii in 1960 and was promoted to be one of the first bank female vice presidents in 1970"

And diverting from the subject at hand but pertinent and related concerning issues about his honesty and his comments about his grandma.

"In a CNN interview, when Larry King asked him to clarify the "typical white person" remark, Obama said:

Well, what I meant really was that some of the fears of street crime and some of the stereotypes that go along with that were responses that I think many people feel. She's not extraordinary in that regard. She is somebody that I love as much as anybody. I mean, she has literally helped to raise me. But those are fears that are embedded in our culture, and embedded in our society, and even within our own families, even within a family like mine that is diverse.

Madelyn Dunham apparently did not express these views in public. Dennis Ching, who worked with her for more than forty years "never heard her say anything like that. I never heard her say anything negative about anything. And she never swore." Hawaiian State Senator Sam Slom, who worked with her at the Bank of Hawaii, said "I never heard Madelyn say anything disparaging about people of African ancestry or Asian ancestry or anybody's ancestry."

[cali]

32. The Dunhams were middle class- and NOT high up in that hierarchy

mouse. He was a furniture salesman. wow. she EVENTUALLY worked her way up to a bank vp. stop lying. please. it's disgusting. And his mother was poor at the time Barack started attending Punahao. I never said the Dunhams were poor. YOU are putting words in my mouth. How hillarian of you, mousie. And stop trying to divert from your blatant misrepresentations and prevarications. This is about whether the Dunhams paid for his education- which you FALSELY claimed. Pathetic. Completely and utterly.

[cornermouse]

35. Grandpa Dunham alternated between managing furniture stores

and being a salesman. Ann, his mother, had a Ph.D. If she was poor, it was because she wasn't trying. By the way, how do you feel about Obama not attending his mother's deathbed because he was running for election?

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

In 1994 Ann Dunham was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and uterine cancer; she moved back to Hawaii to live near her widowed mother. <2> She died in 1995 at the age of 52. Her son, starting his first campaign for public office, was not present at the time of her death.


Sort of cold, don't you think?

[cali]

36. More pathetic cdiversions. I don't engage in your kind of filthy

speculation on others' private lives. I don't speculate about the Clintons' marriage, because I don't have any personal knowledge about it. Just as you don't about Obama and his mother. I wasn't present at the deathbed of someone very close to for reasons that are, of course, none of your business. I loved him dearly. He'd been in the hospital dying for some time. I dare you to judge me as you just judged Obama.

Disturbing behavior on your part. And that's being kind

[cornermouse]

37. It was his mother, cali.

And he knew she was dying.

I think that being informed means that you look at both the good and the bad of the candidates. I would point out that you aren't running for any office that I will be voting for, so I really don't care what you do in your private life. I do think that it's odd and rather telling that Obama wrote a book about his father with whom he had little contact, meanwhile claiming the grandmother who raised him engaged in behavior that is not only not documented but rather strongly denied by her co-workers and not leaving his campaign long enough to be with his mother at the time of her death. I see a possible lack of respect for the women in his life.

I also don't think I've ever engaged in the personal attacks or name calling tactics that you appear to be in the process of adopting. I used to think better of you than this.

[cali]

38. it was my father, mouse.

how dare you judge someone on something so personal that you know nothing about? It's just wrong. I certainly believe at looking at both the good and the bad in the candidates. I've criticized Obama on a number of things, from McClurkin to policy proposals and his lack of clear condemnation for JJ jr. But I don't criticize the candidates on personal affairs that I'm not privy to. it's a reprehensible thing to do.

Don't bother replying. I'm quite done with you.

[cornermouse]

39. Good.

[ruby slippers]

27. he got a scholarship, didn't he? probably for low income....

[cali]

22. you mean the school where he attended on scholarship?

do you have a problem with kids who can't afford to pay tuition getting scholarships? Sounds very... elitest of you.

[stellanoir]

6. And his interview on ESPN was scrubbed when he exuded phenomenal basketball skill.

That wasn't mentioned once on the corporate media.

Thankfully he's playing 3 on 3 this weekend in Indiana.

[kwenu]

8. A non-story. He dresses like a professional. Elitist is just another word for "uppity Black."

"Elitist" has become racist code. Hillary is from a well to do background but isn't elitist. McCain is from a well to do background but isn't elitist. Black people from hard backgrounds who succeed are suddenly elitist? Such bullshit.

Shame.

[chill_wind]

12. Absolutely. Excellent observation. It cannot be argued! nt

[butterfly77]

9. They just hate the fact that...

he looks better...

[tabasco]

13. Here comes the metrosexual smear.

Kerry should have destroyed the republicans when they labeled him a "metrosexual elitist."

Kerry put too much faith in the people to respect his accomplishments and disregard scurrilous personal attacks.

Obama responds quickly and strongly to stupid name-calling.

[bicentennial_baby]

17. Snobama blames a child for his shortcomings....typical

;)

[tammywammy]

20. He has to blame someone

I'm surprised he didn't say it's because he's black and we all know only white people bowl.


;)

[TahitiNut]

31. I hear they don't float.

Bowling balls, that is. :hide:



:silly: :dunce:

[EFerrari]

21. He played the 10 year old card.

lol

[TheDoorbellRang]

26. That he would stoop so low!

Playing the ten year old card! :rofl:

Good one :thumbsup:

[MattNC]

25. God forbid

a presidential candidate dresses nice.

[chill_wind]

30. Yep. Like Hillary shows up at all her events in baggy sweats.

They both know they need to dress the part. Matthews and Scarborough are dogs.

[GoesTo11]

28. The first I ever heard of him being elitist was HRC pushing bittergate.

[rug]

33. He explained those bowling results the way he explained the Pensylvania results.

[BeyondGeography]

34. ABC fucks it up anyway...Obama doesn't say he has street cred

He mocks the very concept. From their own story:

"I don't want to go out of my way to sort of prove my street cred as a down to earth guy," the presidential candidate concluded.

[Orsino]

40. Well, sort of.

If he'd commit the time he's proposing to spend at bowling to defunding the war he professes to oppose, we'd be out of Iraq by November. He has the power (or his share of it), but is being very, very careful not to look like a peacenik--because Americans love war, even useless, mismanaged, unaffordable war.