Obama Panders to NASCAR

First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Jill Biden were recently booed by NASCAR fans at the Ford 400 race in Florida. They were there as grand marshals for the NASCAR season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, appearing as part of their charitable campaign to support military veterans and their families who, incidentally, drew major cheers.

After the incident, I suggested the following: I guess this is what happens to Democrats who pander for votes from “people who cling to their guns and religion.”   There was a time in which I would have condemned the booing citing a lack of decorum.  But after witnessing the treatment President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush received from the Left between 2003 and 2009 (including both getting booed at Obama’s inauguration), I decided that the egregious tactics of the Left are fair game.  I mean, what goes around comes around, right?

So, is it any surprise that Michelle Obama gets booed at a NASCAR event?

Let’s face it, most NASCAR fans are blue collar workers.  And under Obama’s economic leadership (or lack thereof) blue collar workers have suffered greatly.  The Democrat President’s policies have hit hard those who labor as utility workers, pipefitters, construction guys, coal miners, factory workers, truck drivers, electrical workers and machinists because Obama has imposed ozone rules costing 7.3 million) jobs, power plant rules costing 1.4 million jobs, a boiler rule costing 789,000 jobs, a coal-ash rule costing 316,000 jobs, a cement rule costing 23,000 jobs, and greenhouse gas rules that have cost more jobs than all the other rules.  Obama killed Louisiana’s offshore deepwater drilling industry and is working overtime to try to stop America’s only booming industry… natural gas.  Unemployment for blue collar workers is much higher than 9 percent and perhaps that is why she was booed?

In addition, NASCAR fans tend to lean to the Right, so Michelle Obama and Jill Biden willingly walked into the lion’s den and really should’ve known better.  National Media Inc. concluded in a recent poll that not only are sports viewers largely Republican, but that NASCAR ranks as the third most watched sport by Republicans… ahead of the NFL, NBA and MLB.  In fact, NASCAR voters made up 9 percent of the total voting population in 2008, Obama lost them by over 30 percent.  Who handles the schedules over at the White House?  Should they not have known this?  Perhaps walking into a group of Republicans and trying to gain political traction by using Veterans and the Military, a new Michelle Obama agenda item one year out from the election, is why she was booed?

Then there is my initial knee jerk reaction to the story.  NASCAR fans tend to be religious, gun owners and not racist.  And perhaps the memories of the NASCAR fans aren’t as short as Obama hoped.  After all, it was the First Lady’s husband who said, “You go into some of these small towns in Pennsylvania, and like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them.  And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”  Maybe its me, but I wouldn’t like being called a bitter racist who clings to my gun and religion, so maybe that’s why she was booed?

And this isn’t the first run in with NASCAR for the President.  Obama recently honored NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson and the 11 other Chase drivers from last year at a White House ceremony, except nearly half of the 2010 playoff contenders turned down the invitation.  Five drivers – Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart – did not attend the White House visit due to “schedule conflicts.”  Who turns down an invite to the White House?  Clearly, Obama is not NASCAR’s #1 fan.  That might be why he sent his wife out on his most recent pandering quest.

So what’s with this new interest by Obama in NASCAR?  Is this part of his class warfare strategy because he can’t run on his own record?  Pandering to those who are blue collar and having a tough time finding employment in his economy?  If that’s Obama’s strategy to win re-election… well, I think there will be a lot of happy NASCAR fans in 2012.

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This entry was posted on November 21, 2011 at 12:34 pm and is filed under Conservative, Democrat, Domestic Policy, Economy, Elections, Entertainment, GOP, Republican, Tim Ross, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.