You have to give Obama credit: he acted quickly to try to defuse the anger over his condescending remarks towards rural voters in Pennsylvania. But he’s not going to be able to get past this as long as he refuses to apologize. Let’s look at what Obama said that got him into such hot water. Boil it down, and this is the key phrase:
You can agree or disagree with his argument that rural Pennsylvanians have gotten the short end of the stick, but the only thing to get offended over is the cavalier and patronizing comments about the things they do to get through their miserable days. Now look at his ‘apology:’
When Obama takes a second shot at it, he pretty accurately restates what he said in San Francisco — except he recasts his insult without explaining or apologizing. But that’s the only offensive thing he said — the only part he needs to apologize for. Doesn’t he understand he compounds the offense by trying to paper it over? This formulation is sure to leave it festering — like Jeremiah Wright is now festering, waiting to come back and haunt his campaign. It’s probably premature to say the campaign is over; the media is likely to help him out quite a bit on this. But he’s starting to look like just another rich and arrogant liberal. Exit question: Is this what Obama meant when he said that Michelle would be packing if she lived in a rural area?
