We never thought we'd say this, but The New Republic nails it on the head about Obama's controversial and dumb-as-rocks San Francisco speech.
As a reminder, here's what his raised such a fuss:
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.
What do you think of New Republic blogger Johnathan Chait's response:
But on their face they're not wrong, they simply make no sense at all. I can see how anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment is a way to explain your frustrations. But guns?
Obviously, people have not turned to religion or guns as a response to economic frustration.
I think he was trying, in extremely jumbled shorthand, to make a point about a politics that revolves around cultural division. Now, the incoherent wording of his remarks is an opportunity for his opponents to fill in their own meaning.
Whatever Obama's point was supposed to be, it was lost to most of the masses. And more importantly, to the state of Pennsylvania. One new poll shows a slight dip for the Illinois Senator in next Tuesday's matchup, while another shows it still locked at Hillary by 6. (However, some observers speculate his TV-ad saturation is what's causing the backlash in the state.)
Unless one candidate delivers a knockout blow next week, look for Hillary to carry on doing an excellent job of finding weak spots in her opponent's candidacy. In this case, she found out what we've known all along: Obama should stick to his script.
Read the rest of the New Republic blog entry here.