Seems like another case of then and now.
On June 16, 2004, Bill Clinton told an audience in New York that even though the Democratic approach to government is favored by most Americans, the Republican approach to cultural issues like "God, gays, and guns" helps keep the GOP competitive in places like Oklahoma. He also cited white racism (euphemistically described as "white Southerners who were opposed to civil rights") as an important part of the Republican coalition.
In 2007, Clinton said that economic anxiety leads to anti-trade and anti-immigrant politics. The problem, he said, was that there wasn't "enough good new jobs."
Here's the video:
To be fair, in these video clips, Bill Clinton chose his words better than Barack Obama did on that one occasion in San Francisco, but viewed in combination with Obama's other remarks on this topic, it is clear that both are talking about the same political dynamic.
Transcript essentials:
2004, on "God, gays, and guns":
When I left office, about two-thirds of the people supported the general direction we had taken. The election of 2000 was 50-50 in part because they're much more closely divided if you can the case should we cut taxes or not, instead of what are the consequences of a tax cut. And they are much more divided on the cultural issues. As my Democrat (sic) friends from Oklahoma say, "God, gays, and guns."
2004, on southern white racism:
In the mid- to late- 70s, most of the white Southerners who were anti-civil rights had migrated by then to the Republican Party...then the religious right came up in the 70s as a potent political force...they thought they had found a permanent way of holding the White House.
2007, on link between jobs and anti-trade, anti-immigrant politics
So there's a lot of economic anxiety, in the Republican Party it expresses itself as this sort of very hard line against immigration, in the Democratic Party it expresses itself in this very hard line against trade, but the real problem is we haven't created enough good new jobs.
(The 2004 footage was from the June 16, 2004 premiere of The Hunting of the President in New York City's Skirball Center for the Performing Arts on the NYU campus. 2007 footage from The Charlie Rose Show.)
© Jed Lewison