Thank you Mayor John Fetterman of Braddock, PA

[ProSense]

Obama was responding to a question about why his campaign was having difficulty in Pennsylvania. He described small town voters there as bitter about economic disparities and skeptical about politicians who promise change, which is Obama’s central campaign theme.

In Indiana on Saturday, Obama said that he did not “say it as well as I should have,” but did not back away from his contention that voters are bitter.

Obama’s camp also held a conference call Saturday featuring Pennsylvania mayors. Lancaster Mayor Richard Gray said that he would use the word angry rather than bitter to describe small town moods. He also disagreed with Obama’s original statement which implied that rural Americans clung to their religion or their guns as a crutch. Clinton and her supporters honed in on that portion of the remarks in speeches and news events today, hoping for an opening that might allow the former first lady to close the gap to Obama.

Gray also said he believed Obama offered the chance to shift the focus to more pressing matters, and would more ably represent the needs of small town American than would Sen. Clinton. Gray called the responses to the remarks put forth by Clinton and Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, as more condescending than Obama’s original words were.

Braddock, Pa., Mayor John Fetterman said Obama’s remarks weren’t on the order of “fabricating sniper stories” or “imagining opposition to NAFTA,” a shot at Clinton.

link

[LaurenG]

1. ...

Good! :bounce:

[Scurrilous]

2. K & R

:thumbsup:

[azmouse]

3. He sounds like a good mayor.

And a good man.

[C_U_L8R]

4. Right back at ya Hillary

and thank you Mister Mayor

[RememberWellstone]

5. Obama campaign making phone calls

Yep..politics as usual.:eyes: Gauranteed someone called every freaking small town Mayor to respond, to "help" clarify his comments. I am sure the Mayor stood clinging to a bible and a gun when he said this...he also shook violently as he decried his personal bitterness. Right.:eyes:

[GarbagemanLB]

7. And I'm sure those 5 mayors who protested Obama's comments were uncoordinated...

:rofl:

[MethuenProgressive]

6. Elitist Harvard grads stick together.

No news here.

[GarbagemanLB]

9. How much is Clinton worth again? Who worked on the board of Wal Mart? Who worked to pass NAFTA?

I think it is clear who is 'elitist' here.

[Garbo 2004]

13. Yeah, like Yale is a working class school. n/t

[jedr]

19. I don't know if you are from the 'Burgh or not;

but if you know the town of Braddock, It's a place where an elitist wouldn't wait for a bus, or even drive through. Once a booming steel town with the legendary Edgar Thompson works of U.S. Steel, it is now nearly a ghost town with many of the main street buildings being bulldozed. The mayor of this town is a Harvard grad, but instead of making his killing in the business world he is helping a proud piece of history revitalize. No wine and brie here, Iron city and a lot of hard work that few of us have the capabilities to try. My hat is off to him .

[PA Democrat]

24. Very true. I remember reading about him and was very impressed.

http://www.popcitymedia.com/features/fetterman0425.aspx

<snip>

Knowing that education programs alone would not change Braddock, in’05 he ran for mayor – expecting to lose. Instead, he won -- by a single vote. Crediting a younger constituency for putting him in office, “it was a way to advance their agenda,” Fetterman says. “I wanted to bridge the gap between generations, between those viewed as thugs and those considered out-of-touch. I’m comfortable with either crowd.”


These days he’s everywhere, opening a playground and a basketball court, adding to the 200-odd kids he’s helped get GEDs, working such real estate ventures as a Braddock Avenue urban farm and transforming the eight-story Ohringer building into an artists colony.


Hm. All this hustle and flow, all this sweat equity, for two-thirds of a square mile, 13-by-five blocks, 2,900-odd souls – down from a 1950 high of 20,000, and declining every day. A borough with 300 vacant homes, a quarter of which are slated for demolition, Braddock’s “loss,” Fetterman says, “has been catastrophic.


“Anyone who thinks upgrading Braddock is going to be easy is deluding himself,” he adds. “I, for one, am well aware of the difficulties. Rose-colored glasses don’t work out here. This isn’t Mayberry. Braddock will never be what it once was.”

[jedr]

25. Thanks for the link:

I didn't enjoy seeing this man "dissed" by someone making a glib remark.

[Kool Kitty]

22. So now Dems are using one of the repigs' favorite

words to describe other dems? Elitist? That's the word that my repig Father-in-law uses to describe every Democrat.

[thevoiceofreason]

8. Amen

Better kill the bear Hillary, 'cause you don't want a pissed off bear.

[Bensthename]

10. Pass this out to McClinton supporters over the PA blue collar bitter comment

http://www.reliableplant.com/article.asp?pagetitle=Manufacturing%20job%20losses%20cripple%20growth%20in%20Pennsylvania&articleid=11398

[BumRushDaShow]

11. K&R

:kick:

[Cha]

12. Thanks for the article..another

day another pile of hilaryvilshit.

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

14. so this isn't pushing NAFTA, Tuzla, Columbia etc out of sight

although that is the intention.

[ProSense]

15. Imagine Hillary's campaign

actually believing (and hoping) this would effectively end Obama's campaign.

This isn't just desperation, it's friggin despicable.

[WillyT]

16. K & R !!!

:kick:

[Coexist]

17. knr

[uponit7771]

18. Pretty fair, ...I guess "bitter" sounds too sharp but "angry" puts peoples feeling more moderate....

...either way it was a balanced response from the Mayor

[SunsetDreams]

20. yeah right back at ya in a BIG way Hillary!

[donheld]

21. Yes indeed, thank you

[ProSense]

23. “imagining opposition to NAFTA”

People notice stuff like that.