"at best simplistic"
Why yes I agree, which is why I'm basing
my real opinion on the full context of the quote as well as various
interviews and even his first book -- in which he pretty much justifies
resentment to the powers that be because of their unreliability in
regards to economic issues and praises the community that the church
and other community-based institutions structure the lives of people in
the absence of coherent political organization. This is the same line
of reasoning he presented in his speech on race, decrying both black
and white anger on identity issues based on competition for resources.
As
for the "voting", Penn hasn't voted yet. He was answering a question
about "messaging" --at which point he is merely repeating points that
have been mentioned ad infinitum since the 2004 elections revealed that
people were voting on "values" -- namely, values defined by
conservatives. Gay marriage amendments were struck down in eleven
states that year, following that we've had people try and pass laws
drastically limiting abortion rights like in South Dakota, we had the
whole Terry Schaivo fiasco, and most recently the conflict over the
latest attempt at immigration reform. We have 24 hour news asking "will
conservative voters like this? will the religious right support this?"
AND NOT "does this address the concerns of the working class?" "What
are the concerns of the working class?"
[And you know what, liberals played
right along, talking about redneck this and bigoted people that, and
blah blah blah blah instead of trying to understand the sources of
those opinions or even offering much of a counter-narrative. These
forums are chock-full of that.]
So suddenly a politician makes
a half-assed attempt to try and analyze the source of these stereotypes
-- based on the way electoral politics has been conducted/messages used
by both parties over recent years and he's to be pilloried? When have
the msm ever contributed evidence that "conservatives" or "liberals"
have opinions that they do because of more than just random positioning
for an upcoming election. When do they analyze the causes of opinions?
Or
are you just angry that someone dared publicly imply that there's no
such thing as ideological purity? That we often base our opinions on
outside sources and not our own enlightened choices? That, in fact,
one's most cherished values are being manipulated by those in power to
provide support for policies that end up being detrimental to our well
being?
I'm not even saying that he's completely right. I am
saying however, that it was an entirely fair point to make based on
recent history and based on the language that both the media and the
two parties use to speak about voters. Regardless of what Obama really
thinks about "working class people" or the reality thereof, his
statement was reflection of the messaging that has been used by both
parties to appeal to them.
