Obsidian Wings (Free subscription) | 09/10/2008
by Eric Martin George Packer has a thought-provoking piece in the most recent installment of the New Yorker that deals with issues related to Obama's difficulties connecting to working-class white voters, as well as the underlying racial dynamic that is,...
Three Wise Men (Free subscription) | 08/10/2008
George Packer has an interesting article about the legendary " white working class " (as they exist in Ohio at least) and the central role this block of voters play in electing our presidents. The article was full of interesting anecdotes and quotes, but there are a couple that I think fairly encapsulate the piece: In Snodgrass’s shoes, it hardly made sense to draw a paycheck. “You’re...
The Plank (Free subscription) | 07/10/2008
George Packer has a lengthy piece in this week's New Yorker on Ohio's "disaffected" working class voters. Packer is such a good reporter, and has so many good anecdotes, that the article is much more engaging than one would expect. (It's much better than Peter Boyer's extremely dull story --from only a week ago(!)--that was about Virginia but covered very, very similar ground)....
The New Yorker (Free subscription) | 06/10/2008
Barbie Snodgrass had agreed to meet me at a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet, on a strip of fast-food restaurants and auto shops west of downtown Columbus, Ohio, but she didn’t have much time to talk. Her shift as a receptionist at a medical clinic, which got her out of . . .
Emdashes (Free subscription) | 06/10/2008
On Saturday afternoon the primary participants of The New Yorker 's delightful and addictive "Campaign Trail" podcast collected for a live version of same, sort of like when Monty Python did The Secret Policeman's Other Ball. Ably guided by moderator Dorothy Wickenden, Ryan Lizza, Hendrik Hertzberg, and George Packer engaged in a spirited and relatively unepigrammatic discussion about...
Jossip (Free subscription) | 10/10/2008
George Packer knows Bill Kristol only too well. In a recent article, Packer sets out the Republican analyst and NYT writer's agenda in this election in three easy steps: 1. Have McCain take credit for the imminent bailout legislation and promise more tough, decisive leadership. 2. Liberate Sarah Palin to be herself: a conservative attack dog. [...]
Peace Action Blog (Free subscription) | 10/10/2008
The disaffection of Ohio’s working class. by George Packer October 13, 2008 “You can’t make the assumption that because people are suffering economically,” a union official said, that “they’ll vote Democratic.” Barbie Snodgrass had agreed to meet me at a Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet, on a strip of fast-food restaurants and auto [...]
bastard.logic (Free subscription) | 09/10/2008
by matttbastard h/t Jonathan Martin, video courtesy blogger interrupted Related: George Packer on the challenge Obama faces in Ohio: Gabe Kramer, the S.E.I.U.’s chief of staff in Columbus, told me, “You talk to people about the issues and the issues resonate. But what you hear people talking about on the street and on TV and radio is the [...]
Have Coffee Will Writ (Free subscription) | 10/10/2008
George Packer wrote: [Barbie] Snodgrass, who has always voted Democratic, was paying close attention to the Presidential campaign—she had taped both candidates’ Convention speeches, and watched them when she had time—but her faith in politicians was somewhere close to zero. She wanted a leader who would watch out for people in the “middle class,” people like her [...]
BooMan Tribune (Free subscription) | 10/10/2008
A lot of Republican pundits are upset that there were no questions last night about abortion or gays or prayer in school or the war on Christmas. But, think about it. As George Packer asks: When will the class war ever finally drown out the culture war, if not in 2008? Under Republican rule in Washington, wages have stayed flat while income inequality has increased; the numbers of uninsured...
Firedoglake (Free subscription) | 10/10/2008
... class "Archie Bunker" voters? Is the "Bradley Effect" dead -- or just subsumed by economic fear? George Packer may have an answer: Recently, people in Ohio have told me that voters there have started to shift toward Obama. Gabe Kramer, of the S.E.I.U., said that, after the first Presidential debate and amid the financial crisis, union members seemed to find Obama’s ideas and manner...
The Huffington Post (Free subscription) | 09/10/2008
I attended the " Campaign Trail " panel at last weekend's New Yorker festival, with Rick Hertzberg, George Packer and Ryan Lizza , moderated by Dorothy Wickendon . I live-Twittered it then, and have collected those bullet points here for posterity. (Keep in mind that this was all typed on a blackberry with a 140-character limit.) The full podcast is here , in case my shorthand doesn't...
Crunchy Con (Free subscription) | 08/10/2008
George Packer reports on how this campaign is playing out in Ohio and environs. Heavy stuff. If these folks are having such a tough time now, God help them if we go into severe recession or depression. Excerpt: Barbie Snodgrass...
Brian Beutler (Free subscription) | 08/10/2008
While we're at the intersection of racism and politics, read George Packer's latest opus . It deals at equal lengths with both the contingent I touched upon in this post, as well as their foils in rust belt and southern states who are flummoxed by the prospect of a black presidential candidate, but, more to the point, they are exhausted by the ineptitude of the government. If you're...
Ross Douthat (Free subscription) | 08/10/2008
I can't believe Yglesias beat me to excerpting this snippet from George Packer's much-praised essay on the working class: "These days, you have to struggle," she said. "As a kid, I used to be able to go to the movies or to the zoo. Now you can't take your children to the zoo or go to the movies, because you've got to think how you're going to put food on the table." Snodgrass's parents...
