Obama appeals to working whites in Michigan
One day after an embarrassing rejection by West Virginia's blue-collar voters, Barack Obama on Wednesday plunged into the task of convincing working-class whites that he understands them and will do more to help them hold their jobs and pay their bills than Republican John McCain.
Perhaps no other task is more vital to his hopes of becoming the first black president, and only the second Democrat elected to the White House in four decades.
Obama has galvanized black voters, broken fundraising records and drawn hundreds of thousands of excited young adults to his campaign. But McCain still hopes to trump him by wooing so-called Reagan Democrats, those working-class voters who are wary of social liberals but anxious about their jobs, which are concentrated in a manufacturing sector long battered by imports and changing technologies.
They also happen to be overwhelmingly white, a challenge Obama is trying to confront indirectly by addressing their economic concerns without referring explicitly to race. Obama's efforts to win over these voters gained a boost Wednesday when he was endorsed by former Sen. John Edwards, who had challenged Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination before dropping from the race in January.
The symbolism of his first visit in months to Michigan, a battleground state in the fall, was clear to those who know the state's history. He made two stops in Macomb County, a northern suburb of Detroit to which thousands of white autoworkers fled during the urban riots in the late 1960s and court-ordered busing that integrated schools in the 1970s.
After touring a Chrysler plant, Obama told about 200 union members at a community college about his plans to create more manufacturing jobs and to help workers pay for homes, health care and college.
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Member Comments
Posted By: cowen123456 @ 05/15/2008 10:51:24 AM
Comment: People can label working class americans anything they want......but at the end of the day, this country is made up of working class blue collar voters. And it is the working class blue collar voters that will determine the next president of the US.
Posted By: cowen123456 @ 05/15/2008 10:48:01 AM
Comment: For all those who insist that Obama has the right supporters to win the general...please do your homework on three facts. 1) Hillary has always been ahead with working class voters, from the very first contest...check the numbers! These working class voters are reagan democrats...so who do you think they will likely support? an elitist out of touch democrate or a maverick, war hero liberal conservative? 2) RealClearPolitics has tracked general match ups with Hllary, Obama and Mccain in 32 states consistently and up to date, the polls showed Obama and HIllary has clear advantages over Mccain in 10 states each...what's interesting is that Obama's clear 10 state wins only has 2 big states (CA,NJ) where as Hillary's clear 10 state wins has 5 big states (PA,OH,NY,NJ,CA). 3) Obama has 2 strong support blocks...blacks and rich/educated voters. However, the lesson learned from the Mcgovern campaign is that these two voting blocks alone can not win you the general election.
The DNC likes to argue in order to justify their support for Obama by enticing the idea that Obama win re-write the electoral map for democrats.....the problem is? this is an old story and message that has never produced the right results.
Posted By: Huachuca @ 05/15/2008 10:45:39 AM
Comment: I'm sure Michigan Dems can make their minds up on Hussein. Don't count their primary votes, and weasel back in to try to dupe them for a vote in November? What an Idiot! It's funny Bush gets the blame for Detriots problems, when slick willie is the cause. And 60 % still voted for Billary.