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Should Hillary be Proud?
In states like West Virginia, among people who are poor, poorly educated and older....and white, who don't get the fact that perhaps the elegant, well-educated mixed-race person shows the same understanding of their problems and might be able to push through solutions because he doesn't create enemies as he's trying to get his points across...should Hillary be proud of playing on their ignorance and prejudice, being a demagogue, NOT doing anything to temper their prejudices with some insight? Should she be proud of such victories?
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Comments (2)
It really doesn't do a lot of good to attack an entire state because they did as expected, not as you may have liked. Obama paid two visits to te state, both visits were to Charleston which is just one media market and neither appearance had more than several hundred participants.
If he had put forth an effort, things may have turned out differently, but he elected to half-heartedly compete, where he he could concentrate more on Oregon and because he made the choice, it's really no reason to attack the voters.
May 14, 2008 11:10 AM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, I'm not attacking the voters so much as saying Hillary Clinton played to their darker side. We all have darker sides. I think demographic characteristics in West Virginia are fairly widely shared, and they are not characteristics which make you prone to vote for an educated black (or half-black)man. In fact, I think group psychology plays a big role here, and it would be difficult to challenge community norms. I don't think Obama spent more time there because, especially since Hillary was playing to the lowest common denominator, it would have been very hard to come in and challenge her given the timing and the context. I do think, with more time, you might be able to.
May 14, 2008 2:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
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