De Jong’s column misses the point
Adam De Jong’s column “Who’s looking out for you? Not the right-wing media” (April 15) misses the point on why Obama’s comments in San Francisco were elitist. In his statement, Obama said that bitterness about the economy causes people to cling to religion, guns and “antipathy to people who aren’t like them.”
In other words, Obama thinks that the religious beliefs of small-town Midwesterners stem from the same unstable emotional condition as xenophobia. It is demeaning and elitist to be so dismissive of the way poor Midwesterners practice religion. It is fairly ironic and contradictory that De Jong not only agrees with Obama’s assessment but also uses the words of Jesus Christ to illustrate the point.
Apparently when people who know better, like De Jong and Obama, use the words of Jesus Christ, it is done in an intellectual manner. When poor people from the Midwest do so, it is used in the same manner that xenophobia is exercised. How is that not elitist? How is that not condemnable? Grossly oversimplifying and reframing Republicans’ position on Iraq, capital gains taxes and health-care reform do not change this and are nothing short of demagoguery.
Mischaracterizing William Kristol’s column that compares Obama’s remarks on religion to Marx’s belief that religion stems from personal suffering demonstrates the weakness in De Jong’s argument that criticism of Obama “holds no water.” There is very little, if anything, that suggests Obama’s remark was not reprehensible.
David J. Montoya III
UCLA law student