It’s Time To Eat The Press
Yes, that’s an intended Easter tip of the hat to HuffPo
After watching today’s Meet The Press episode I’m left wondering if it’s our politicians who are honestly out of touch with every day Americans, or just the journalists covering them?
The second half of MTP today was what I can only describe as a journalistic circle-jerk. I say that not with the intention of personally offending or insulting any of the panel members, but as a whole the segment and their representation of journalists left me feeling like these folks have no clue what’s going on in people’s lives. Aren’t they supposed to have their fingers on the pulse of America?
The worst example was at the very end of the show where they all seemed to agree that if Clinton won the nomination she would lose a lot of Obama’s supporters from the General Election–but Obama on the other hand would be able to pick up all of Clinton’s supporters in the General Election if he wins the primary.
I don’t know about other states, but here in Pennsylvania, at-least among the core democrats I’ve talked with (those in the 25 and older range who make up the vast majority of overall voters in Pennsylvania) there seems to be a real sense of concern that Pennsylvania could go red in this General Election if it’s McCain vs. Obama.
I understand that concern. I’ve written here in detail why my personal choices are in order, Clinton, then McCain and then Obama for president–and it appears that I’m fairly typical of my peers in our Commonwealth.
The majority of Pennsylvanians are hard working, blue collar (many retired) and union proud democrats. But we’re also conservative on many issues, for example we love our guns and hunting season.
When you put Obama against McCain to this crowd it isn’t hard to imagine McCain winning by a narrow margin.
However, that same race with McCain vs. Clinton and there’s probably a double digit lead for Clinton after the votes are all counted.
Now, I can’t speak for the rest of the country, and maybe the journalists on MTP know better than I do. Maybe they’re right and Obama would pick up Clinton’s supporters everywhere else.
But I don’t see it happening in Pennsylvania. Not based on what I’ve seen and heard among my fellow democrats recently. And I have to wonder how this would play out among Florida voters, where the demographics of an older population are fairly similar to Pennsylvania’s.
And how about Ohio, where you’ve almost got a mirror image of Pennsylvania in terms of economics, and where people come from and stand on many issues.
Could a democrat lose 2 of those states and still win the White House? I don’t see how, and I can very easily see McCain taking 2, or possibly all 3 of them against Obama in November.
If, as I’ve heard time and again, the Super Delegates are looking at the big picture in November when making their choices on who to support, I sure hope they’ve got a good sense of where core democrats in these key states will go.
Obama is an exciting politician and speaker. He’s bringing a lot of new, younger life into the party. I don’t argue with any of that. But those folks aren’t going to sway states like Pennsylvania, Ohio or Florida. They just don’t make up enough of the voting population here. It’s the middle aged and senior voters in these states who will decide the outcome, and from what I’ve witnessed around here, Obama hasn’t grabbed their support by any means so far.
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