|
Has Clinton Written Off Working-Class White Men?
[REALCLEARPOLITICS] The Democratic convention in Philadelphia this week was a shrewdly planned, well-choreographed, star-studded celebration of diversity, inclusion and social justice. A party now dominated by progressives also tried reaching out to moderate or defecting Republicans with decorated veterans, some tough talk on national security and passionate displays of patriotism. But for the white working-class men drawn to Donald Trump ‐ the very voters who were for decades the foundation of the Democratic Party -- the message was clear: We've pretty much given up on you. The convention, which started on a divisive ...politicians call things divisivewhen when the other side sez something they don't like. Their own statements are never divisive,they're principled... and dramatic note with leaked emails showing the Democratic National Committee had favored the candidacy of  Hillary Clinton... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminenceand at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another James Baker... over Sen. Bernie Sanders ...The only openly Socialist member of the U.S. Senate. Sanders was Representative-for-Life from Vermont until moving to the Senate for the rest of his life in 2006, assuming the seat vacated by Jim Jeffords... all along, ended up, by most accounts, a great success. Yet it also illustrated what polling shows ‐ that the ascendant coalition in the Democratic Party of women, young voters and non-whites may no longer find common cause with blue-collar white men. From the multi-gender bathrooms to the initial speaker lineup Monday of Ivy League graduates to comedian Sarah Silverman referencing her therapist at the podium, the show at times had all the makings of a parody about an elitist party far too focused on identity politics and out of touch with the heartland. At one point there was applause at the mention of the word abortion, a staggering turn-around from the days when Bill Clinton ...former Democratic president of the U.S. Bill was the second U.S. president to be impeached, the first to deny that oral sex was sex, the first to have difficulty with the definition of is... insisted abortion should be safe, legal and rare. It didn't help that when asked by PBS, halfway through the convention, about Hillary Clinton's trouble attracting white working-class males, House Minority Leader  Nancy San Fran NanPelosi Congresswoman-for-Life from the San Francisco Bay Area, born into a family of professional politicians. Formerly Speaker of the House, but it's not her fault they lost. Really. Noted for her heavily botoxed grimace... said: "I think so many times white, non-college-educated white males have voted Republican. They voted against their own economic interest because of guns, because of gays, and because of God." The drift away from rural America, from gun owners and pro-life voters who once found a home with Democrats in spite of some cultural differences, didn't start with Hillary Clinton's candidacy. But a fissure that began with a new coalition then-Sen. Barack Obama I think when you spread the wealth around, it's good for everybody... built to win election and then re-election, appears in a Trump vs. Clinton race to be nearing a complete separation. Guns and abortion are no longer the flash points that trade policy and immigration have become for white men who believe Democratic policies are responsible for wage stagnation and job loss. Posted by: Fred 2016-07-31 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=463461 |