New Day Dawning - Perspectives on "Bitter" Comment

OK, so yesterday after school I went out for a smoke break and to get some coffee before returning to do some grading.  While I was driving back I heard the MSM soundbite version of the "bitter" statement.

My worldview changed at that moment.  Because as soon as I heard it, I thought, "Oh my God.  He just kissed the Presidency good-bye."  Yes, at that moment my audacity sunk below the level sufficient to sustain hope.  The world immediately became a bleaker place, colors faded, and there didn't seem quite as much reason for doing anything as there had just a few minutes before.

Since then, my views of the situation have gone through additional fluctuations.  I don't flatter myself that many people are holding their breath waiting to hear my views, but below the fold I detail not only those views, but the media coverage and reasoning that prompted them, which may be of slightly more relevance.

I rushed back to school, fairly flung myself at my computer, and logged in to DKos.  I was jonesing in a major way for some perspective, and I knew this was the place to find it.  To my surprise and delight, I learned that Obama had responded -- forcefully, masterfully -- even managing to recruit a few Kossacks to the ranks of the cultists.  Then I saw the clip from CNN, sometimes known here as the Clinton News Network, in which Clinton's and McCain's critiques were ridiculed, and I saw the references to Howard Beale. My heart became more peaceful, and with so many here rejoicing that this could be the event that solidifies Obama's primary victory, I dared to hope.  But I knew the real "tell" would begin this morning - when the new polls come out, when the story would have been disseminated widely enough to begin discerning the CW.

So what has the new day brought?

RASMUSSEN:
Dems vs. McCain

M47, O43 (yesterday:  M47, O44)
M47, C43 (yesterday:  M48, C42)

Dems Head to Head

O46, C44 (yesterday: O47, C44)

All results worse, but not by any statistically significant amount.  Well within the typical day-to-day variations for that poll.

The other one I check regularly is Real Clear Politics, but there are no new results yet today.  No new results for Gallup either.  

In any case, today's polls will be less instructive than tomorrow's and Monday's, since it's quite possible that many people polled either haven't heard anything yet, haven't heard Obama's responses, or are still in the process of developing what their view of the situation will be.

On TV, I've had MSNBC on.  I expected this to be pretty good; on balance they seem to lean slightly more in the Obama direction than CNN.  

Nope.  

What I'm hearing:  This was a mistake on Obama's part.  It is consistent with the bowling and the OJ-vs-coffee incidents in revealing an arrogance and inability to connect with the very voters he is trying to reach in PA and IN.  He needs to explain and apologize.  There is some admiration for his sticking by his guns rather than scurrying to deny or distance himself from his words like a typical politician, but in his explanations he's concentrating on the "frustration and bitterness" part of what he said, and leaving out the "guns and God" part.  This gives Hillary lots of fodder, and it could be very damaging to him.

The little bit I've seen on CNN this morning has been pretty consistent with what was on yesterday.

The Indianapolis Star has a front-page article headlined "Obama Defends His 'Small-Town' Remarks."  It is reasonably balanced.  The online reader comments are pretty evenly divided.  There may be a few more anti-Obama comments than pro, but a huge percentage of those are the typical lunatic fringe raving about all the complaints of that population against Obama -- he and Michelle hate America, he was raised Muslim, he's a fraud, etc.  A new aspect of these old memes is that Michelle's alleged bitterness is now linked to Obama's use of the word bitterness.  Basically, most of these people are the ones who clearly would never have voted for Obama anyway.  

There are a handful who sound like rational people, whose opinion of Obama was worsened by the latest remarks.  The theme among them is that Obama is out of touch with their America.  There are two subcategories of "out of touch"-ness:  some focus on what they see as condescension, some on the specific issues of guns & relgion, mostly guns.

The pro-Obama letters are for the most part well-written.  Some of them could have been written by bloggers who headed there to do some campaign support by participating in the public dialogue.  Others sound very much like they were written by natives, who basically say, Obama's right!  That is how we feel!

So bottom line, at this point I'm feeling a little less audacious than I was last night, but better than in the initial minutes after hearing the radio report.  I think it will shake out better in the next couple of days.