Brit article: How Obama can win over poor whites

[mnhtnbb]

A rather interesting article developed by a visit with Joe Bageant.


From the Sunday Times:


A s election time approaches in America, Barack Obama’s historic candidacy holds much of the world in thrall. Yet there’s one significant sector of the US voting public that has so far proved resistant to the Democratic candidate’s charms. The great American redneck – that rifle-toting, Bible-thumping, truck-loving caricature devoted to beer and motor sports – has already tripped up Obama once, and he may do it again before November’s presidential poll.

So I have driven to Winchester, Virginia, to find out more about a class of voters who ought to be natural supporters of Obama – the would-be champion of the working man – yet who, in recent years, have turned their backs on the Democratic party and voted for George W Bush.

My guide to the mysteries of redneck culture is a shambling, garrulous, bourbon-loving writer named Joe Bageant. Raised in the backwoods of Appalachia, he returned to his roots after a 30-year absence and wrote one of those books that change the way you think of the US and the tarnished American dream. Joe, 61, is the author of Deer Hunting with Jesus, just published in Britain. It’s partly a scathing portrait of a small Virginia town divided by money, class and race; mostly it’s a lovesick and frequently hilarious rant about the poor, hopeless working-class Americans who “stay dumb and drink beer and vote Republican because no real liberal voice, the kind that speaks the rock-bottom, undeniable truth, ever enters their lives”.

Joe has a great deal to say about rednecks, God and guns, and the way that Democratic idols like Obama have failed to connect with what he calls “the white ghetto of the working poor”.

For the whole article:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article4428685.ece


Joe Bageant corrects one quote in the article:

"The story is pretty accurate," Joe says, "except for one transposition of quotes. I have never milked a cow in my life and certainly never walked four miles to school. That was 80-year-old Jim McCoy's quote."

http://www.joebageant.com/joe/2008/08/times-of-london.html

[NatBurner]

1. kick

bookmarked for later

[mnhtnbb]

2. Thanks. Hubby and I met Joe Bageant at a friend's house

a couple of years ago. I check in on his website every now and then and found this article. According
to the article, the Obama campaign has been in touch with him.

from the article:

Yet the issue is certain to return as he faces John McCain in the autumn, and it’s clear that Obama aides are still searching for the right tone of voice for a black intellectual candidate to use when addressing a dim-witted redneck. They even called Bageant for help.

[mnhtnbb]

3. I love the way the writer isn't reticent to refer to rednecks as rednecks!

Can you imagine MSM publishing this in the US?