Saying Obama is "elitist" or "out of touch" is not merely a lie. It is a Big Lie.

[beachmom]

In 2004, John Kerry lost to two lies: the Iraq War and the lies told about him personally. In 2008 everyone knows that the Iraq War was based on a lie (well except the hopeless 30% who will never face the truth). That's the good news. The bad news is that a dark alliance between the Right and the Clinton wing of the Democratic party are at the old Karl Rove tricks, and are trying to brand Obama as "elitist" and "out of touch".

We know all the themes now. Wright, Michelle Obama's remarks about being proud to be American, and bittergate, not to mention right wing whispering campaigns of Obama being a Muslim and "proof" that he is not a patriotic American, like the false pledge of allegiance story. In short, they are working on perfecting The Big Lie about Barack Obama, which boils down to "he's not one of us". Bill Moyers once said that the blackest of lies are half truths. They are the most insidious and propagandistic. Back in 2004, they would take micro-facts (like a piece of Kerry's testimony to the Senate SFRC in 1971 that buried its true meaning) and weave a story line to suit their purposes. Back in 2004 we called it Swiftboating. But a better term for today, and one I am taking from a reader to Andrew Sullivan's blog, is The Big Lie.

Let's not beat around the bush: powerful forces don't want Obama to be president. He is dangerous to their interests. Just yesterday, he said that he would investigate Bush crimes. He is considered the most likely of the three candidates to temper executive power and honor the Constitution. He has a proven record of being a reformer of ethics and curtailing lobbyists' influence. He has 1 million donors which have put him in the #1 slot for fundraising which has diluted Big Money's influence. Do you think powerful interests are going to sit back and let him waltz into the Oval Office? Since he has about as squeaky clean a record as one is going to get from a politician, he needs to be attacked with a phantom record that is not his. That's where The Big Lie comes in.

The only way to stop the Big Lie is to talk about it for what it is: Powerful interests using propaganda to sink a candidate who will actually do the people's business. We must do everything we can to get out the truth: that most of the flagrantly negative things said about Obama are all part of the Big Lie to keep the Real Elite comfortably in the seat of power.

[virtualobserver]

1. they are trying, but Barack always seems to reframe the issue each time..great post!

[roguevalley]

24. here's something cute from Barack Obama :-D

HBO's Real Sports: Obama's Got Game
by Jacki Schechner · 4/16/2008 12:15:00 PM ET · Link
Discuss this post here: Make a comment · reddit · FARK ·· Digg It!


Bryant Gumbel: "You can't go to your right, can you?"
Obama: "No."
Gumbel (chuckling): "On anything?"
Obama (smiling): "Don't tell anyone."

Watch it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CmvDQK3k2w&eurl=http://www.americablog.com/

[Fredda Weinberg]

2. How rich the irony ... using fascist techniques decrying fascist techniques

for a candidate in whom you supposedly possess confidence.

Kerry wasn't a leader in 2004 ... he may have been in Vietnam, but he didn't risk a bullet for us. I'll choose whom I follow, without concern for your disdain.

[BlooInBloo]

5. Um, I don't think that word means what you think it means.

[Fredda Weinberg]

29. My father survived Hitler w/o a tatoo. Any questions? n/t

[beachmom]

7. I don't support the Bush/Clinton dynasty. If you want to debate

who will end the Bush era, I would be happy to show the endless collusion between the Bush and Clinton family. Maybe a long time ago, the Clintons believed in helping people, but those days are long gone. They are now part of the Elite, and are perpetuating The Big Lie to seize power again.

[Terran]

12. "fascist techniques"?

"Getting out the truth" is a fascist technique? Nice. One of the loonier posts I've seen today.

[Fredda Weinberg]

30. They used gangs of thugs - organized violence in pursuit of political aims

Loony? Hell, no ... works every time. And all it takes is for people of good will to remain silent.

[blm]

14. He risked plenty of bullets when he uncovered IranContra, BCCI and CIA Drugrunning and testified

for gays to serve openly in the military.

You really don't know what has gone on in our country. YOU support those Democrats who COWARDLY GAVE IN to the powerful elite and do the bidding of GHWBush and his cronies.

[elehhhhna]

3. If people had any idea about the Chicago neighborhood he worked in & for...

they would be appalled that such poverty even EXISTS in the US. Seriously.

That versus Walmart board member multi-millionaire or 9-house-owning wife-dumping doper-marrying old-fogie multi-super-millionaire. Hmmm. Decisions.

[sandnsea]

8. Been to Arkansas?

The poverty that existed there was pretty stark too. Bill's solution was to cut Medicaid prescription benefits and make people work for food stamps. Oh, and bust the unions in the north by opening Arkansas up to all sorts of industry who quickly cut wages to the minimum.

[jasmine621]

22. Did Hillary say Obama was an elitest or that his comments were?

Just asking. McCain says Obama's comments were elitest. I have seen a few posts on DU that accuse the Clintons of being elitest so what is all the fuss about? Neither the Obamas or Clintons are elitest although some of their words may come out that way. And to any poor person, many statments by middle class folks are even elitest.

[babylonsister]

4. Rec'd! Thanks, beachmom. I agree with everything you said. nt

[H2O Man]

6. Likewise.

Nominated and appreciated.

[Usrename]

9. They try and project their own shortcomings onto the opponent.

Gore is a liar and Kerry is a coward. In reality, Bush's major weakness is that he is a lying coward.

Hillary is cleaving to the entire right-wing message, trying to project some of her own deficiencies onto the Obama campaign.

[beachmom]

10. That is so wise. And I would argue the Powerful Elite of this country

are "not one of us".

[MBS]

15. wow, this is a wonderful insight. thanks.

And thanks also, beachmom, for this post.

[Usrename]

26. Thanks, but it isn't my idea. Many folks have written about this.

Although the psychological term is projection, where a person's guilt may cause them to project their own faults or actions or beliefs onto others, many people believe that KKKarl Rove has made a career out of using this same sort of phenomenon as a political tool. I think it's his most powerful tactic.

Like the way that the right-wing charges of voter fraud (claiming that the public is being hurt by criminals voting in elections that the have no right to vote in) are used to cover up or disguise the real criminal conduct on their side (criminal conspiracy involving the full-scale stealing of elections).

This tactic works so well that it's scary.

Accuse those folks who oppose torture of being un-American, even though torture has NEVER been tolerated in this country, and any discussion of it's use is undeniably un-American.

[EFerrari]

11. Oh, you KNOW it.

Let's push back!

K&R

[blm]

13. EXACTLY - Call it what it is - THE BIG LIE. THAT should be what WE call it EVERY TIME.

Forget the 'swiftboating' because that in itself doesn't accurately nail it down for what ALL OF IT IS - the Big Lie.

The Big Lie gets told by those who TRULY DISRESPECT the intelligence of their audiences.

[cbayer]

16. Point taken.

Very well written and logical in it's conclusion. The only part I do not agree with is that there is a dark alliance between the right wing and the Clintons. Both parties have a vested interest in beating Obama, that is true. However, I reject the notion that there is an alliance between them to do so. They are both currently using the same ammunition to achieve the same goal, but it is another Big Lie to paint them as allies.

[blm]

17. Think again. Historian Douglas Brinkley commented on Clintons' backstabbing in April2004

and Woodward witnessed Carville's phonecall to Matalin at the WH on election night.

Gore's camp has their stories of being undermined, too.

April2004:
http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=13354

Bill's summer book tour repeatedly defending Bush and ignoring Kerry in 2004:
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/06/19/clinton.iraq/

Carville calls WH on election night:
http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/coffeehouse/2006/oct/07/did_carville_tip_bush_off_to_kerry_strategy_woodward


Hillary 'Tonya Harding' Clinton in 2006:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk1k0nUWEQg

Alliance with BushInc? ABSOLUTELY. For a LONG time.
http://consortiumnews.com/2006/111106.html

[cbayer]

25. I opened and read what I could.

The DePauw piece mentions the Clintons stabbing Kerry in the back, but gives no information on how he thinks this happened.

The TPM piece is about Carville and Matalin and says nothing about the Clintons. It is also just speculative.

The consortiumnews piece is opinion and long on conjecture. It speaks to Bill Clinton's not taking a harder stand, which he attributes to feeling that the pursuit of bi-partianship in order to achieve domestic goals took priority. Then he goes on to make what is, IMO, a real stretch regarding Hillary Clinton.

At any rate, I know that a lot of people see this differently and I appreciate your taking the time to give me the links. These are complex issues which means there are many perspectives that one can take.

My perspective remains that there is no alliance and I will continue to reject the idea that Clinton is really a Republican operative.

I can't open the cnn piece or the you tube - I have a really, really slow connection in my current location.

[blm]

28. Well, you may think it's coincidence that Jackson Stephens bankrolled Bill's career and

was the man who brought BCCI into this country and escaped accountability along with his longtime friend and ally GHWBush when BCCI's outstanding matters were deep-sixed throughout the 90s, but I do not.

[knixphan]

18. amen again

[dana_b]

19. This is something I've been really nervous about. If he does

receive the nomination, besides "The Big Lie", will the votes be rigged (again)?
I love your last paragraph. I talk to people I know all the time about what I've read and I'd say 80% of the time I get a "oh really? Send me a link!". So I do. Three converts so far. ;-)

[blm]

21. The big difference is that Dean has strengthened party INFRASTRUCTURE in the states usually targeted

for election fraud.

Terry McAuliffe sat on his hands for four years after 2000s theft and LET the RNC spend their four years gaining control of every level of the election process where the votes are allowed, cast and counted.

Dean's stewardship of the DNC, more watchful Dem Sec of States, and a more aware Dem electorate and even some media will make the difference in November.

[Bonobo]

20. K&R

[Two Americas]

23. there is some truth to it and it need not hurt us

Denying this - that there is an *appearance* of elitism with Gore, Kerry and Obama and with many activists and spokespeople, and that this needlessly cripples us with the general public - gets us exactly nowhere.

I say Obama is an elite and we are all elites, and so what? So were FDR and RFK. That has nothing to do with anything. It is not about a person's background, it is about the attitudes we hold and express toward and about others. Whether Obama actually meant to be arrogant and condescending is also irrelevant. There is a danger that it would *appear* that way.

I am glad that Obama said what he said, because is has sparked one of the most important and powerful discussions within the party in years.

Elite:

1. selected as the best; "an elect circle of artists"; "elite colleges"
2. a group or class of persons enjoying superior intellectual or social or economic status
3. a relatively small dominant group within a larger society, which enjoys a privileged status which is upheld by individuals of lower social status

That is who we are. That doesn't matter. What matters is what we do with our relative privilege and status. Lord it over those "stupid fundy redneck knuckle dragging mouth breathing gun nut assholes?" Be honest. Most of us have at least been tempted to see the public that way in moments of frustration. Let's stop bullshitting each other about this.

This can be overcome - we must overcome it, it is our responsibility to overcome it. Denying it doesn't overcome it - in fact, it makes us sound like arrogant, self-righteous, condescending elites.

Disclaimer - Clinton's no better and maybe worse, Clinton's no better and maybe worse, Clinton's no better and maybe worse. I say that three times since some seem unable to read it - "criticizing Obama? Why you shrillbot idiot you!!"

[politicasista]

27. K&R

:kick:

[malletgirl02]

31. What I find funny

What I find funny about all the up roar is what Obama said is true. there are a lot of people who are angry, because they don't think the government listens to them, and they have a right to be angry, because they are right.

[guruoo]

32. I've witnessed the RW whisper campaigns you refer to -and worse.

on edit: Changed my mind. I think it better not to go into the 'worst' part on here.

[myrna minx]

33. K&R.

:kick:

[Cleita]

34. Yep! Calling Obama an elitist is simply disingenuous and amounts to

swiftboating him. It's the same as calling John Kerry's medals bandaids. It's terrible it's coming from our side. Calling liberals elitists goes back several decades. It was the way Republicans got poor people to vote against their own best interests back when Reagan arrived on the scene by claiming they were elitists. I remember the first time I was called an elitist because I spouted some liberal truths once to a bunch of rednecks in a bar. I nearly choked on my beer. I was living with DH in a trailer then on his Social Security. It was then I realized that these people had been brainwashed somewhere, probably in church and they weren't looking at reality. Democrats should not be using the same method against one of their own. It will only fuel the Republicans even more when our candidate is nominated be it Obama or Clinton.

[liberaldem4ever]

35. kick