Former Georgia Congressman Bob Barr has joined in the criticism of Barack Obama’s recent remarks:
BURLINGTON, N.C. — The Founding Fathers “might have been bitter about being under the thumb of the British,” former Rep. Bob Barr said Saturday, after reading a transcript of Sen. Barack Obama’s statement suggesting that economic bitterness causes small-town voters to “cling to guns or religion.”
Obama’s analysis is “way off base, it’s awfully simplistic and very arrogant,” said Barr, a board member of the National Rifle Association. “I don’t think he understands people…. People get bitter, so that’s why they support the Second Amendment? Or that’s why they support the First Amendment? That’s what he seems to be saying.”(…)
Calling Obama’s remarks “absolute nonsense,” Barr said: “People in American don’t support the Second Amendment because they’re bitter. It’s because they love freedom and they understand freedom — apparently a lot better than Senator Obama does.”
To which I can only add a hearty — Amen, Brother.
H/T: Hot Air
April 12th, 2008 at 5:29 pm
No one becomes a Christian because they’re broke, but it’s nonsense to say that people don’t pray a little harder when they’re down on their luck.
Look, Obama isn’t saying that people support the Second Amendment because their bitter, but when your job is gone, and Washington has been directing empty promises your way every four years for the last 6 elections, it makes it pretty hard to have faith in your government to help you out, doesn’t it?
People need to feel like they have the power to improve their lifestyle and their community. And they’re frustrated, and their jaded by the neglect which the government has continually shown them.
All Obama has said is that in times of hardship, people direct their energy toward what they feel will improve their lifestyle and their communities the most– in this case it’s the preservation of the Second Amendment and various religious issues. He doesn’t suggest that these aren’t important, but because people are so invested in these emotionally charged issues, they become political points by which rural populations are continuously manipulated. This primary season has been rotten with political red herrings designed to portray candidates in poor light for issues which aren’t so important in the big picture. This is only possible because politicians can exploit the fears and frustrations of individuals who have long turned their attention away from interaction in economic issues. Obama wants rural America to have faith that American government CAN look out for them. That the energy that blue collar workers spend on having Washington hear their voices is not energy wasted.
April 12th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
It’s becoming very clear, very quickly that Barr has about 1000 times the political savvy of Ron Paul. The more he puts himself out there, the more I think he could be a significant problem for McCain, and maybe get enough support to get into the debates.