Posted on 10/09/2008 10:25:09 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
WASHINGTON -- If you're a Democrat who needs help getting the votes of rural white folks, the go-to guy is David "Mudcat" Saunders, a central-casting political consultant recently made famous by a parade of magazine writers led by The Weekly Standard's Matt Labash.
But sometimes you can learn more about a people and their place through literature than by hiring consultants. So I called Ron Rash, poet, author and purebred Appalachian whose newest novel, "Serena," should be at the top of Barack Obama's reading list.
Sarah Palin might enjoy it as well. Described by one blurber as "an Appalachian retelling of Macbeth," the story features a strong woman who hunts rattlesnakes with an eagle. An Academy Award nomination awaits the woman who plays Serena, predicts novelist Pat Conroy.
I asked Rash, with whom I've visited on occasion: What does Obama need to do to win the hearts and votes of Appalachia?
Rash is a lean, wiry man who has trouble sitting in a chair with both feet on the ground, usually pulling one knee to his chest like a yogi. He speaks in quick bursts like an engine spitting in the cold -- or a man more accustomed to thinking than talking.
Though an Obama man, Rash is quick to condemn the snobbery he has observed toward Palin. He cringes when he hears a news anchor refer to his home turf as "redneck country." Or when the bad guy in movies too often has a Southern accent.
But, he says, "One thing about Appalachian people is they don't bitch and moan."
Rash's Appalachian roots run 200 years deep, and he has the tales to prove it. One that may prove helpful to Obama in understanding the character of his people tells of a Confederate soldier who dropped by Rash's family farm near Boone, N.C., to confiscate their only horse for the Confederacy.
As the soldier left whistling "Dixie," the lady of the house shouted: "Before morning, you'll be whistling 'Dixie' in hell."
Indeed, the next morning, the fellow was found face down in a creek two miles away -- and the horse was back in the barn.
Moral: Don't mess with Appalachia.
Obama has more in common with the mountain people than he may realize, says Rash, who is the Parris distinguished professor in Appalachian cultural studies at Western Carolina University in Cullowee, N.C.
African-Americans built this country and got nothing back, he says. So did Appalachians. What Obama may not know is that most mountain communities were pro-Union during the Civil War. These often-impoverished descendants of the Scots-Irish weren't slaveholders, after all. In a sense, blacks and Appalachians are natural allies.
As Virginia Sen. Jim Webb wrote in The Wall Street Journal: "The greatest realignment in modern politics would take place rather quickly if the right national leader found a way to bring the Scots-Irish and African-Americans to the same table."
Moreover, the civil rights and anti-slavery movements were long a part of Appalachia, says Rash. "Rosa Parks attended a workshop in Appalachia before she sat on that bus."
Thus, when Obama visits the region, Rash recommends that he say the following:
"I know that for well over a century, the only time people come to Appalachia is when they want something. They want your coal, your timber and they want your vote. They take what they want and they leave and they don't come back until they want some more. I'm not going to do that.
"I'll make a vow to you today that a year from now, I'll be back. And we'll discuss what I've done and whether you feel like I've honored what I've said here today. I'll come back this time of year for as long as I am president."
Obama should also say that though he is different in many ways, he is much the same. He didn't grow up with wealth, and had to work hard, as they do. On the war -- a prickly point in these parts -- Obama should recognize that Appalachia has contributed more than its fair share to America's wars. He should say:
"We may disagree about this war, but one reason I disagree is because this region more than any other has sent soldiers into battle for this country. And part of honoring that is not sending them into a war that has not been well thought-out."
Straight talk without condescension is all anyone asks. It may be all Obama needs to finish the race.
I’m ticked with Del. Rich as Croesus, and he’s putting out this class-warfare whining. Ah, well ... folkies do tend to be goofs, even the really nice ones.
There is a radio spot running in the Tri Cities TN market of Ralph Stanley endorsing That One. Sad.
It might be good to remember that aside from the War Between the States (although the first land battle [skirmish?] was fought at Philippi,WV) the two largest armed insurrections ever fought in these United States were in this region.
Ditto.
It’s getting pretty obvious that Obama’s now working on the Appalachian people. I keep seeing these polls that say he’s leading in West Virginia now. What a pile of horse hockey! There’s no way.
“I’ll make a vow to you today that a year from now, I’ll be back.”
Promise you’ll NEVER come back and maybe you’ll get those votes.
Say it ain’t so. He is surely senile now.
This is the most ridiculous thing...the libs called us racists all the way back in March, when Hillary won Ohio by winning 83 of 88 counties (Nobama got 5).
“Big Eddie” Schultz on Air America said the day following the primary that we in Ohio needed IQ tests. I’ve posted the link to that quote somewhere on here before.
The 0bama campaign called us every name in the book, and suddenly it’s found that 0bama is actually a Scots-Irish like so many in Appalachia are? They were going to recreate the electoral map because they didn’t need Ohio, remember? They gave us the literal middle finger in March and April and now they’re trying to sweet talk us? If we were that stupid, 0bama would have won Ohio on SuperTuesday!
Give me a break. If the PUMAs aren’t coming back, neither is Appalachia (if the election is honest). I will give Hillary Clinton this one point: She never, ever, EVER criticized the people of Appalachia. And for that she does a deserve a point, like her politics or not. On that issue, she knew how to play the game and she did it well.
“And part of honoring that is not sending them into a war that has not been well thought-out.”
And THIS statement emphasizes those eejits (that’s a Scots-Irish term!) who, every time they say this, drive a stake into the hearts of those families who suffered a loss.
I gotta log off now. I’ve had enough of That One and his ilk.
Please God, let MacCuda win.
Well said! One of the great comforts of FR is being able to commiserate with like minded conservatives over nonsense written by liberal loons and their associated moron brigades. I will often read their articles elsewhere and then find a thread posting of them on FR just to enjoy the camaraderie of reading comments posted by smart thinking conservatives.
I am a Tennessee redneck, descended from the folks Parker is talking about.
I don’t know how long it has been since Parker has been in Appalachia, but she is dead wrong in her assessment of folks here.
Very few folks here in east Tennessee support Obama. Most, even the hardcore democrats I know, will not vote for him, as we cling to our guns and religion here too.
All of the democrats I know here are either sitting the election out, or voting for McCain. But if Obama wants to come here and waste his time and money, that’s fine with me.
Grammy, what are you seeing and hearing over in middle Tennessee, which has more liberals than my area?
Townhall is still publishing this turncoat hack’s stuff? What’s up with that?
Townhall is total garbage. I stopped going there when they kept letting Pat Buchannan write about how we never should have fought WW2.
Townhall is total garbage. I stopped going there when they kept letting Pat Buchannan write about how we never should have fought WW2.
Townhall is total garbage. I stopped going there when they kept letting Pat Buchannan write about how we never should have fought WW2.
Kathleen Parker is a woman who can’t find her own voice, acting like a clone experiment gone awry, she comes across as a disjointed Florence King crossed with a post-lobotomy Camille Paglia.
She was in the bag for Romney, now she's moved on to Obama. Methinks she just falls for the charismatic (male) politician, regardless of policy or character.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.