Remember the moment during the Town Hall debate, when McCain fielded a question from a young African-American man? Remember how he prefaced the answer by saying "You probably never heard of Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac before this"?
Meet Oliver Clark. Here's what he's saying now, in response to this encounter.
Well Senator, I actually did. I like to think of myself as a fairly intelligent person. I have a bachelor degree in Political Science from Tennessee State, so I try to keep myself up to date with current affairs. I have a Master degree in Legal Studies from Southern Illinois University, a few years in law school, and I am currently pursuing a Master in Public Administration from the University of Memphis.
Turns out Oliver Clark has a Facebook page. People have understandably been pressing him for a followup, so he's been posting his thoughts. Here's more:
In defense of the Senator from Arizona I would say he is an older guy, and may have made an underestimation of my age. Honest mistake. However, it could be because I am a young African-American male. Whatever the case may be it was somewhat condescending regardless of my age to make an assumption regarding whether I was knowledgeable about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Was Clark really an "undecided voter"? Turns out the casting people were willing to stretch the point a bit.
I have a Nashville area code for my cell phone. So the Sunday before last, I received a call from the Gallop Poll. They asked a few questions regarding my choice in the Presidential election. They asked who I would vote for. I said most likely I would be voting for Barack Obama. They followed with, “is there any chance that you would change your mind“? I said “Of course anything is possible.” They then asked me as an uncommitted voter would I like to participate in the Town hall debate. I said “Of course!”
How did he get his moment in the spotlight?
I had no idea they would choose me to ask a question. They told us to think of one or two questions we would like to ask the candidates if we had the opportunity. I asked a lot of friends and family what I should ask and the consensus was a question on the economy. Tom Brokaw came the morning of the debate and collected our questions and said he along with his team would review all the questions and decide which ones would be asked. About 3 minutes before the debate a fellow town hall participant sitting behind Brokaw looked over his shoulder and saw that 78 had the second question to ask. He mouthed over to me that I would have the second question. I did not believe him, but I still looked back over my question to make sure I would not look stupid! (Whether I did or not that for you to decide) Brokaw asked the first question then came to me. I stood up and asked and my question was in essence how was the bailout package going to help the average American?
Besides that whole, you know, insult thing, how was McCain's response to your question?
Well, Sen. McCain answered the questions with attacks on Barack and did not address how this package was actually going to help out the average American. Not to mention attacks on myself, but that question is to follow. He did say he warned the public of the forthcoming crisis, which I guess was a good thing????
So, he won you over. Right?
I felt Sen. Obama addressed the issue more directly then Sen. McCain did. Obama actually stated that the bailout package was going to help Americans buy homes and stay in their homes.
Oliver Clark is clearly an intelligent, articulate young man. He deserved a real answer to his question, and he got it--just not from Senator McCain. I'd say it's astonishing that such a shining example of citizenry should be so obviously patronized on national television...but it's not so astonishing, is it? Sort of how the McCain campaign rolls these days.
UPDATE: More excerpts from Oliver Clark's Facebook page are available on MSNBC's First Read.
UPDATE II: In case you need a replay, here's Clark's question and the response.
UPDATE III: Kudos to Kossack fedupcitizen for making an important observation: Not only has Oliver Clark heard of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac before, he's significantly more educated than McCain's running mate.
UPDATE IV: Further kudos to Kossack ceebee7, who builds upon fedupcitizen's comment:
You understate it...
he's significantly more educated than McCain's running mate.
He's significantly more educated than McCain and his running mate combined.