For those not in the know, Obama was inartfully attempting to pander to a bunch of us dumb Iowa farm hicks on stagnating farm prices.
Quote from the Newsweek story:
It was standard Hawkeye State stumping—until the senator took a stab at sympathizing with farmers whose crop prices have stagnated. "Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?" he asked.
First, the points so obvious that even the national media can identify them:
1. Nobody knows exactly what the hell arugula is. I'm a fairly upper middle class guy who travels frequently. I eat at nice restaurants. I'm sure I've eaten arugula before. I know its a lettuce type thingy. I couldn't tell you the difference between arugula and kale. I do know that a very funny episode of Cheers features kale.
2. Almost nobody in Iowa knows what "Whole Foods" is and of those that do only a tiny minority have ever shopped there.
Not so obvious points:
3. If us average dumb hick clodhopper Iowan's did know that Whole Foods is some hoighty toighty, yuppie, liberal, feel good, overpriced, pretentious, organic food market we'd have been even more offended by the reference.
4. Whole Foods appears to to be associated a lot of things that piss off modern farmers including "animal welfare" groups, organic farming initiatives etc.
5. What the f***ity f*** is he talking about "stagnating prices?!?" How much time has he spent in Iowa and he doesn't know that corn and bean prices are through the historical roof? Don't believe me, check it yourself. June 2007 Corn $3.62 a bushel. June 2007 Beans $7.35 a bushel. June 2005 Corn $1.87. June 2005 Beans $6.52.
I mean if you're going to fear monger, at least take the tack that these prices won't last forever. Sow a little uncertainty. Don't pull out farm bill rhetoric from 1985.
State 29 may need to rethink his NSFW Googlebomb for John Kerry. You're still number one on Google, State, and still number one in our hearts (and on the DM Register's watchlist).
1 comments:
Sorry, I don't see how this makes someone a better or worse president?
Also, I'm not so quick to assume that people in Iowa are so stupid they don't know what arugula is. The Des Moines Register has referred to arugula many times in its articles, and as any journalism student knows, journalists try to target their writing so that a 8th graders can read and understand it:
* In a June 25, 2003, article, staff writer Raquel Garza quoted small produce grower John Whitson describing one of his products as "a mix of gourmet greens, arugula, red mustard, purple kohlrabi."
* In a June 1, 2004, article, staff writer John Gaps III reported on the Ankeny Farmers Market: "Just remember: Saturday, farmers market, Uptown Ankeny, vendors, entertainment, clowns, balloons, arugula. You get the idea."
* In a March 8, 2006, article, staff writer Erin Crawford reported that "SalAmander Farms in Bondurant" hosts "up to 50 varieties of vegetables, including arugula, okra, red carrots, purple cauliflowers, multicolored potatoes and snow peas."
* In a May 23, 2006, article, staff writer Anne Fitzgerald reported: "Angela Tedesco, owner of Turtle Farm near Granger, made her first delivery this year of fresh produce to her Community Supported Agriculture subscribers last week. Members received spinach, green garlic, radishes, arugula and asparagus. There was so much spinach, it took two days to harvest it all, Tedesco said."
* In a June 8, 2006, article, staff writer Amanda Pierre reported on a local chef's use of arugula from a local farmers market: "His intention is to use as many local foods as possible, so some ingredients, such as the arugula for the salad, came from that day's farmers market."
Hopefully, Iowa farmers are not also stupid enough to vote for a president based on a comment like this. There are many more dire issues that we should all be worried about including the horrible shape of American healthcare, the economy, and our never-ending occupation of Iraq.
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