Legal Commentary

What McCain Said Compared To What Obama Said

By Big Tent Democrat

By Big Tent Democrat

Speaking for me only

Oliver Willis compares this McCain statement to the Obama Gaffe:

It’s the influx of illegals into places where they’ve never seen a Hispanic influence before,” McCain told me. “You probably see more emotion in Iowa than you do in Arizona on this issue. I was in a town in Iowa, and twenty years ago there were no Hispanics in the town. Then a meatpacking facility was opened up. Now twenty per cent of their population is Hispanic. There were senior citizens there who were–’concerned’ is not the word. They see this as an assault on their culture, what they view as an impact on what have been their traditions in Iowa, in the small towns in Iowa. So you get questions like ‘Why do I have to punch 1 for English?’ ‘Why can’t they speak English?’ It’s become larger than just the fact that we need to enforce our borders.”

More . . .

Obama said:

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them... And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

(Emphasis mine.) From my perspective (the son of Hispanic immigrants), McCain's statement is much worse. Why? Because as I read it, McCain's seems to APPROVE of the anti-immigrant sentiments he is finding. The problem for Obama is that he said "they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." That seems to be signalling disapproval and disagreement and arguing that the basis for these feelings is wrong. It can be construed positively if you want, but that is not how politics works.

Personally, I can find ways to interpret Obama's statements so that they work for me. I find it hard to explain an interpretation that will be palatable to these actual voters.

As I have said, a pol's job is to get elected. That means capture votes from as many folks as possible. As a voter, I do not want pandering to xenophobes, racists, sexists, homophobes, etc. but I do not require useless antagonizing of voters. I love political courage - but political courage with a purpose.

Obama committed a gaffe. All the spin in the world won't change that.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on April 12, 2008 (boomark / email).