Obama on Small TownAmerica: Accurate!

By Dan Jackson, Paris (Tenn.) Post-Intelligencer, April 16, 2008

(Submitted to The Rural Blog April 13)

The politics thing is wearing me out! That's why the last few weeks I took a time out from politics and instead took an in depth look at bikini and dancing girls, two wholesome American pastimes. That didn't go so well, so this week I'm back to politics!

Well our big three contenders never disappoint. As proof I give you this week's headlines where Obama says rural people are dumb hicks, Clinton does whiskey shots in a bar! And finally, McCain continues to be old.

So Obama is getting hammered from both sides, from the geriatric and the female as well as from the right and left. Why? Because Obama this week made the mistake of saying the following:

"You go into some of 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," Obama said. "And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. 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."

A lot of people are upset about this quote. Mainly the disturbed are people from big cities, folks like John McCain and Hillary Clinton.

Both of these establishment cats have called Obama an elitist and out of touch with the American people!

Personally I am from rural America and currently reside there. And for the life of me I can't figure out where something in that paragraph is untrue.

Over the last 25 years how many manufacturing jobs have we lost in rural Tennessee never to see them return? How many have we lost in the last year? How are the cities of Nashville, Memphis and even Chattanooga doing? Not a lot of job loss there! As a matter of fact their unemployment levels have been at all time lows the last quarter century!

And what of the Clinton and Bush administrations? Did either of them implement any policy alleviating the burden on rural America? Did either of them structure any type of economic policy that might at least begin to ease the long term job losses in our small towns? I don't think so.

So why haven't they? Why is small town America ignored? Why have we continued to struggle while those in bigger population areas continue to succeed? Why? Because our voices are small and spread too thin. Why? Because Democrats listen to the cities and Republicans listen to corporations. Why? Because it's too complicated to understand and too difficult to fix.

So when Obama says it's not surprising we've become bitter and clung to issues we understand how is that demeaning? After all isn't this exactly what the Republicans and Democrats of our fine land have done as well?

Think about it. Did not Bill Clinton, who hailed from a small town, speak of hope? But did he deliver to small town America? Nope.

How did George W. Bush get re-elected? Was it because his economic plans for small towns were so successful or because corporations and oil companies thrived while Dick Cheney pushed the terror alert buttons? Yep.

For the first time in what seems like the never ending campaign for President 2008, one of the candidates has mentioned small town America. So when Obama says we are bitter isn't he correct?

I think as we watched an investment group from the big city systematically take apart Mohon we were bitter. I think as we endured ToledoOhio's sacrifice of our local Dana factories to northeastern labor unions we were bitter. I think as we watch Champion Homes move from HenryCounty to WeakleyCounty we become bitter still.

Tell me those same workers, displaced and distraught have not turned in time of crisis to issues they understand? For if the candidates, hell if the Presidents of these United States have not been able to understand the issue of job loss in small town America, how can Uncle Jimmy or Auntie Jo?

Can you blame these people for voting for President based on gun control? Can you blame these people for clinging to religion? Can you blame these people for a fear of Muslims?

Meanwhile we've got Hillary doing shots of whiskey in an Indiana bar. It was Crown Royal, that's a Canadian Whiskey! So I guess this shows she's in touch with us?

And what's McCain doing during all this? Drooling on himself I guess, because he has spoke zero about small town America. Zero!

I'll give it up. I'll be honest. McCain's my boy but neither he nor Ms. Clinton should criticize someone for at least attempting to understand the situation of the rural U.S. Who knows? This issue might be what I need to cross over and pull the lever for Barrack Obama. Maybe it's what we all need.

Dan Jackson is a self-employed Paris businessman. His e-mail address is .