My opponent said that the people of Pennsylvania who faced hard times are bitter. Well, that's not my experience. As I travel around Pennsylvania, I meet people who are resilient, who are optimistic, who are positive, who are rolling up their sleeves ... Pennsylvanians don't need a president who looks down on them, they need a president who stands up for them.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The speaker counters a claim about voters by highlighting their resilience and need for support.
- In plain terms
- People are not bitter; they are strong and need leadership.
- What can you take from it?
- Recognize resilience in hardship.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- What defines a community spirit?
- How should leaders respond to struggle?
Another view
Generalizations about groups may miss individual struggles.
More from Barack Obama
This isn't just some phenomenon of the Internet - to liken Barack Obama to the flash-in-the-pan Dean campaign does him a disservice. There is something happeni…
Permalink to quote #86 And now we have what some are reading as a suggestion that somebody knock off Osama... Obama. Well, both would look good. [laughs]
Permalink to quote #88 Obama's legislative record, speeches, and the way he has run his campaign reveal, I think, a very even temperament, a very sound judgment, and an intelligent p…
Permalink to quote #85
Related quotes
Consensus politics means that you cannot afford to give the many-headed beast, the public, anything to vote against, for voting against is what gargantuan pseu…
Germaine GreerGermaine Greer quote #26 'Mind you, I've been here during the bad times too - one year we came second.'
Bob PaisleyBob Paisley quote #1 Our country will, I believe, sooner forgive an officer for attacking an enemy than for letting it alone.
Horatio NelsonHoratio Nelson quote #2