Bredesen To Obama: Go To A Waffle Restaurant To Connect To Working Class Voters

6 Responses to “Bredesen To Obama: Go To A Waffle Restaurant To Connect To Working Class Voters”

1. Tom Paine writes
   July 1st, 2008 9:55 am

   Nice editorial snark, ACK, but you missed the point.

   Bredesen is suggesting that Obama go where those conservative white voters are frequently found and begin a dialogue with them. The voters might discover he’s not as scary as the demonizers at TNGOP make him out to be.

   And concerning Harold, Jr: Who says his efforts to reach out to conservative voters didn’t work? I’d hazard a guess that at the beginning of Jr’s campaign, you wouldn’t have given him half a chance to defeat Corker. For a black Democrat from Memphis with the Ford name to come so close and put such a scare into a GOP millionaire was a significant accomplishment. TNGOP knows it benefitted from a “diving save” in that election and they had to play the race card to do it. Congratulations, I’m sure their families are so proud.

2. Kleinheider writes
   July 1st, 2008 10:03 am

   Good point. Ford’s tactics did “work” but the inability to achieve success shows the limitations. Even with an overtly populist program and a brazen willingness to stand in front of Confederate flags, Ford still lost.

   Yes, he was a Ford from Memphis and thus cultural “alien” from the rest of Tennessee but Barack is even farther removed.

   He has no populist program. One does not see him visiting the places and winning the hearts and minds of crackers like Ford did.

   He is a black pol from Chicago with a funny name. Like it or not, most Tennesseans aren’t going to look much past that. Period.

3. LeftWingCracker writes
   July 1st, 2008 10:59 am

   Hell, I’m blacker than Harold Ford JUNIOR (as opposed to SENIOR), so that was not why he lost. Junior lost because he alienated his progressive base in memphis and refused to support Steve Cohen.

   Well, that, and Corker was smart enough to fire everyone in mid-stream and hire Tom Ingram!

   As to your last statement, I won’t challenge it except to say that it says more about rural Tennesseans than it does about Obama, and what it says is not flattering.

4. Wintermute writes
   July 1st, 2008 12:50 pm

   Can’t believe you called some people “crackers.”

   RE: the DLC, I am an imperfect student of history who does not recall FDR moving to the center. Some times call for leadership to MOVE the center.

5. dan t writes
   July 1st, 2008 3:51 pm

   It will be interesting to see what happens in some of these majority rural white cd districts in ‘10 if Obama gets elected. If Tanner retires, will Obama go to the rural white democrat areas in Weakley or Dyer counties or will he go to a black area like east Jackson to help Roy Herron? The Lincoln Davis seat is another example. Will he show up to campaign in Fred Thompsons hometown? Or will he act like Clinton did back in the 90’s and just not show up at all?

6. Donna Locke writes
   July 1st, 2008 10:04 pm

   he’s not as scary as the demonizers at TNGOP make him out to be. Yeah he is.

   Wintermute, yes, the center is not a constant. It creeps and shifts. That’s why some of us end up being viewed as extreme when in actuality we’re at the old center and never moved.