A Bitter Pill

You would think the idea trafficked around lately that Mr. Obama might have acquired some "elitist" tendencies from his ivy league education and fast-track to political stardom is like calling him a pedophile, or something horrible like that.

Personally, I worry that the "party of the people" took a wrong turn into Prissy Town a long time ago, especially in Texas. Hell, tossing out all the wonks and metrosexuals, the last guy we elected with any balls was Ann Richards. As sages lots smarter than me have pointed out at times, if you want to be of the people, you have to be with the people. And people are pretty icky, what with all their humanity and stuff. Funny smells and food - shit like that. Plus, they so dumb.

Here's what Mr. Obama said:

"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them…And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not.

And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

And the resulting acrimony, quite predicable to any who have survived rural living, has made some in the lefty blogosphere howl like stuck pigs:

"If I lived in one of these mythical small towns where regular folks are supposed to live I'd be spitting at my teevee on a regular basis. I'd be annoyed that was being represented as part of some community of simpletons whose comfort zone is so narrow that they all freak out if someone dares to drink a different brand of beer."

- Atrios

"Look it's bizarre that the two candidates whose net worth is far and away elite are calling the guy worth about 2% of their estates the "elitist". Not to mention, since when has a Yale alum been able to call a Harvard grad an elitist and get away with it?"

- Attaturk

"By cynically twisting Obama's comments about small town voters in a way that confirms every right-wing demagogic caricature of her own Party, Hillary Clinton has adopted the frames, lies, stereotypes and destructive clichés long embraced by the likes of Lee Atwater and Karl Rove. She has clearly decided that the road to victory runs through scorched earth. The question is, if she succeeds, what kind of Party will she be left to lead? She's burning down the village to save it -- or to prove that she would make the best fire chief. But the village won't be saved; only one house will be left standing. A house with room for just two occupants: Hill and Bill."

- Huffpo

The "yeah, I said it, but you suck!" defense might be smart, but I don't think so. HRC didn't make Obama say that. She didn't make Mike Dukakis ride around in a tank looking silly. She didn't make John Kerry ride a wind sail, go hunting or ride a Harley on the Tonight Show.

Country folk know elitism when they see it, and they are the ones who will decide when it's a problem. Brother rolled a gutter ball. He'll get over it.