Haro on Barack Obama

Published in La Monde Diplomatique
(France) on April 20 2008
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Shannon Monroe. Edited by .

A priori, there is nothing more banal than the declarations of Mr. Barack Obama’s estimate, last April 6th, that the bitterness of middle-class Americans who are victims of unemployment or the fall of purchasing power has sometimes led them to, “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment”. (1) If Mrs. Hillary Clinton had decided on attempting to pull out, in Pennsylvania this April 22nd, a (improbable) designation for the democratic candidate, would it really have been considered “elitist” to make such an analysis? A democratic candidate however had developed it since 1992, well before Obama made himself known. His name William Jefferson Clinton…
Until recently, the Republicans, Nixon to George W. Bush via Ronald Reagan, took offense whenever a Democrat unveiled their strategy. Which is it? Since at least 1968, they employ themselves to divert all social discontent into resentment against the intellectuals, the experts, the officials, the atheists, the ecologists, and the destroyers of the moral order. This strategy, detailed by Thomas Frank in, Why the Poor Ones Vote Right (Insults, 2008), has, one knows it, been implemented elsewhere than the United States, recently again in France with Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy and in Italy with Mr. Silvio Berlusconi. Until Mrs. Clinton compares the cause of this political technique to a “defiance of class,” there will be conservatives who argue that any analysis (or observation) of their conduct amounts to scorn for the beliefs and the legitimate attachments of the popular electorate, to even be antipatriotic.
As if it were scandalous to suggest that, sometimes, the victims of the social order can be mistaken in anger.
(1) the quotation (remarks in an abstract way at a fund raising meeting in California): “In these small towns of Pennsylvania, as in a number of other small cities of Midwest, employment has volatilized for twenty-five years now, and nothings replaced it. They continued to decrease under the administrations Clinton and Bush, and each one of these administrations, one after the other, affirmed that these communities were going to regenerate themselves, but it is not what has occurred. It is thus not surprising that these people are angry, that they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment “original version.

A priori, there is nothing more banal than the declarations of Mr. Barack Obama’s estimate, last April 6th, that the bitterness of middle-class Americans who are victims of unemployment or the fall of purchasing power has sometimes led them to, “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment”. (1) If Mrs. Hillary Clinton had decided on attempting to pull out, in Pennsylvania this April 22nd, a (improbable) designation for the democratic candidate, would it really have been considered “elitist” to make such an analysis? A democratic candidate however had developed it since 1992, well before Obama made himself known. His name William Jefferson Clinton…
Until recently, the Republicans, Nixon to George W. Bush via Ronald Reagan, took offense whenever a Democrat unveiled their strategy. Which is it? Since at least 1968, they employ themselves to divert all social discontent into resentment against the intellectuals, the experts, the officials, the atheists, the ecologists, and the destroyers of the moral order. This strategy, detailed by Thomas Frank in, Why the Poor Ones Vote Right (Insults, 2008), has, one knows it, been implemented elsewhere than the United States, recently again in France with Mr. Nicolas Sarkozy and in Italy with Mr. Silvio Berlusconi. Until Mrs. Clinton compares the cause of this political technique to a "defiance of class," there will be conservatives who argue that any analysis (or observation) of their conduct amounts to scorn for the beliefs and the legitimate attachments of the popular electorate, to even be antipatriotic.
As if it were scandalous to suggest that, sometimes, the victims of the social order can be mistaken in anger.
(1) the quotation (remarks in an abstract way at a fund raising meeting in California): "In these small towns of Pennsylvania, as in a number of other small cities of Midwest, employment has volatilized for twenty-five years now, and nothings replaced it. They continued to decrease under the administrations Clinton and Bush, and each one of these administrations, one after the other, affirmed that these communities were going to regenerate themselves, but it is not what has occurred. It is thus not surprising that these people are angry, that they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment "original version.


dimanche 20 avril 2008
Haro sur Barack Obama

A priori, rien de plus banal que les déclarations de M. Barack Obama estimant, le 6 avril dernier, que l’amertume des Américains des milieux populaires victimes du chômage ou de la baisse de leur pouvoir d’achat les avait parfois conduits à « s’accrocher aux armes à feu ou à la religion, à développer de l’antipathie pour ceux qui ne sont pas comme eux, de l’hostilité envers les immigrés ou le commerce international (1) ». Si Mme Hillary Clinton n’avait pas décidé de tout tenter pour arracher, et d’abord en Pennsylvanie le 22 avril prochain, une (improbable) désignation à la candidature démocrate, aurait-elle vraiment jugé « élitiste » une telle analyse ? Un candidat démocrate l’avait pourtant développée dès 1992, c’est-à-dire bien avant que M. Obama se fasse connaître. Son nom : William Jefferson Clinton…

Jusqu’à une date récente, les républicains, de Nixon à George W. Bush en passant par Ronald Reagan, s’offusquaient chaque fois qu’un démocrate dévoilait leur stratégie. Quelle est-elle ? Depuis 1968 au moins, ils s’emploient à détourner tout mécontentement social en ressentiment contre les intellectuels, les experts, les fonctionnaires, les athées, les écologistes, les pourfendeurs de l’ordre moral. Ce stratagème, détaillé par Thomas Frank dans Pourquoi les pauvres votent à droite (Agone, 2008), a, on le sait, été mis en œuvre ailleurs qu’aux Etats-Unis, récemment encore en France avec M. Nicolas Sarkozy et en Italie avec M. Silvio Berlusconi. Jusqu’à ce que Mme Clinton assimile la mise en cause de cette technique politique à un « mépris de classe », c’étaient cependant plutôt les conservateurs qui prétendaient que toute analyse (ou toute observation) de leur comportement revenait à dédaigner les croyances et les attachements légitimes de l’électorat populaire, voire à se montrer antipatriotique.

Comme s’il était scandaleux de suggérer que, parfois, les victimes de l’ordre social puissent se tromper de colère.

(1) La citation (propos tenus de manière informelle lors d’une réunion de collecte de fonds en Californie) : « Dans ces petites villes de Pennsylvanie, comme dans nombre d’autres petites villes du Midwest, les emplois se sont volatilisés depuis maintenant vingt-cinq ans, et rien ne les a remplacés. Ils ont continué à diminuer sous les administrations Clinton et Bush, et chacune de ces administrations, l’une après l’autre, a affirmé que ces communautés allaient se régénérer, mais ce n’est pas ce qui s’est produit. Il n’est donc pas surprenant que ces gens soient en colère, qu’ils s’accrochent aux armes, ou à la religion, qu’ils développent une hostilité envers ceux qui ne sont pas comme eux, ou qu’ils accusent les immigrés, ou le commerce international, afin de donner un sens à leurs frustrations. » Version originale à écouter par exemple ici.
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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