Salon reports on a rally populated by the 'bitter gun clingers'
The Biden rally was in a park in Philly's deep south, a rowhouse neighborhood, the kind of place that gave birth to the post-civil rights ethnic white resentment that wrecked the New Deal coalition. It's where Rocky comes from, and infamous Mayor Frank Rizzo, the local version of Richard Nixon.
It was, in other words, the kind of crowd Barack Obama might have struggled with back in May, full of white folks with blue collars.... A series of local luminaries [spoke] including Mayor Michael Nutter, Gov. Ed Rendell and Maryland's governor, Martin O'Malley.
Every speaker made sure to emphasize how important it was that voters stay in line Tuesday, no matter how long the wait might be. Rendell in particular captured the spirit of the night.
"I don't care if you're in line for two and a half hours. Don't bitch about it," the governor said. "Do you remember when South Africa got the vote for the first time? People stood out in the heat for five and a half hours to vote for Nelson Mandela. Why? Because their country's future was on the line ... Make a party out of it. Sing songs. 'Kumbaya,' you name it. 'Philadelphia Freedom.' Whatever. Have fun."
To hear a crowd of south Philly carpenters and electricians cheering wildly for Nelson Mandela and "Kumbaya" seems as good a measure as any of the kind of Democratic Party that looks poised to win the White House Tuesday.
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