Hillary Clinton, Dems And White Working Class Voters

post from TalkLeft on 13 May 2008 12:45:00 PM. © TalkLeft

E.J. Dionne points out that while Barack Obama's problem with white working class voters is more acute than normal, this is a Democratic problem, not just an Obama problem:

Cartoonists and satirists mocked Hillary Clinton's incarnation as a fighter for blue-collar voters. Yet those who know her well think the fighting Hillary is closer to her self-image -- as someone who has had to overcome many blows in life -- than the inevitable nominee who wove a web of entitlement around herself and ran on experience, much of which was derivative of her husband's.

. . . Clinton did her party and Obama a favor by focusing on the Democrats' potential weaknesses among blue-collar whites. This problem is not unique to Obama. Both Al Gore and John Kerry underperformed with these voters, particularly among males. That Obama has been pushed off his oratorical pedestal and encouraged to connect with disaffected whites will save him trouble in the fall. Clinton, widely seen as the champion of older, well-educated feminist women, could be remembered as the politician who brought the party back to its working-class roots.

Of course, Dionne cannot completely break with his Media brethren so he has to take his shots at Clinton too. But this central point of Clinton's focus on working class concerns is the lesson Dems need to learn. If instead they choose to play Ostrich on this, then Dems could very well lose in November.

By Big Tent Democrat