Disconnected from Bush’€™s America: In Response to the Washington Post

Disconnected From Obama’s America is the headline of a Washington Post article today. Its adorned with a picture of a burly man wearing a mustache, some chest hair, and a camouflage cap hiding a gray head of hair standing in front of a wall of mounted deer heads. The article is about this rural ‘€œDemocrat’€ fearing a Barack Obama administration because ‘€œhe’€™s not gonna understand the rural way of life.’€NOT GONNA UNDERSTAND THE RURAL WAY OF LIFE! We heard this story nine years ago when the Worst President Ever was elected because he was the guy people could have a beer with. Give me a good-goddamned-break. The conservative agenda is what is disconnected from the rural way of life. I spent most of my life in rural Wisconsin; I know it as good as anyone. Viola, Wisc. lost 60 manufacturing jobs last summer, Viroqua just lost 90-plus jobs last week.

Rural Americans losing jobs has been the status quo for the last eight years that George W. Bush has been in office and Obama in Illinois.

So this guy Wayne Loewer says he’€™s a Democrat but decided to vote McCain after Obama’€™s remark about rural folk clinging to ‘€œguns and religion.’€ Loewer said it was ‘€œfrightening.’€ But the unintentional punchline comes when Loewerlater says, ‘€œWhen Obama got elected, I went out and bought a rifle and pistol shells for every weapon I own’€¦ I bought $400 worth of ammo’€ after taking a cue from the Republican-financed NRA. Well OK, so I guess he’€™s not clinging to religion.

The Washington Post and the conservative talking heads are back to its old game: get people concerned about guns and religion so they completely forget the conservative policies that have cost too many Americans’€™ jobs and health care. But what frustrates me most about this Washington Post article is that it’€™s still hanging on to the nine-year-old portrait of a red-rural, blue-urban America. Though Loewer is represents the stereotype of the rural American, many rural folk last year knew the conservative agenda had failed miserably and were ready for real change.

# # #

As A Project Of A Better Wisconsin Together, We're Fighting For A Wisconsin With Equal Economic Opportunity For All