It's not Obama. It's the audience.

Michael Crowley thinks Obama is lucky that the "clinging quote" from his SF fundraiser was not caught on video. Maybe so, but I actually think the existing video is worse:



It would be hard for any particular words to offend blue collar voters as much as the visual presented here. In a caught on spycam moment, Obama makes a joke about blue collar voters struggling to accept any message from "46 year old black guy" and elicits a hearty, knowing, cackle from group of wealthy San Franciscans. The message is clear: when you're not around, Obama and his rich SF friends are laughing about how backwards you are.

I can only take solace in the fact that almost nobody will ever see the attendees' Flickr pages (via Ben Smith). I also still doubt that this flap will doom Obama. But then again, I'm an Obama supporting San Franciscan.