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Why do SOME blue collar white voters refuse to vote for Obama? It is a question I've heard throughout the campaign. But it is another version of a question we Democrats deal with every election year, whether its for President, Governor, Congressman, Mayor or even the School Board. Why do some blue collar white voters vote for the white collar rich mans party?
Once again, its because we Democrats don't counterpunch effectively. Regardless of who receives our party's nomination, this is the challenge. Howard Dean was dead right in '03 and '04 when he pinpointed this issue and our challenge within it.
Memo to Obama supporters: Obama is a guilty of the wrong execution of the right idea. I question his choice of words, not his meaning.
We have to continue to remember, the Freeloader Class needs foot soldiers and they are ruthlessly using white working-class people to be those foot soldiers. Yes, he may have that rebel flag in his pickup truck, but lets not lose sight of the bigger issues. Issues such as poverty, outsourcing, education opportunity and the lassiez-faire-we-don't-care cavalier attitude of the greedy Freeloader Class and its political party. White blue-collar working people have gotten hit as harder or harder than anyone.
Yet, what has the Democratic response been? In many ways, it has been indifference, ridicule and a somewhat of a snootiness. As a midwesterner, even as a minority midwesterner I've heard this bicoastal arrogance among center-left and left in this country, and we cannot afford this arrogance in 2008. Remember, it is that very arrogance that helped give this country George W. Bush. We must be wise not to repeat those mistakes.
How can Barack Obama get those votes? Some of it has to do with him. He has the tools, he just need to keep finding the will and keep fighting. However, WE NEED TO HELP HIM IN THE FALL. That means, you and me have to work, organize and engage and not just these votes. We need to grab as much of the disaffected majority of people who aren't voting as we can. There is a whole lot of people who feel they have no stake in the country. If we get those folks on votes, the GOP is a guaranteed loser. They'll need a billion Diebold Machines and that won't be enough.
Its not about just candidate, and not just about a party. IT HAS TO BE ABOUT US! WE HAVE TO GO OUT AND WIN THIS ELECTION. ALL OF US. TOGETHER.
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