Thank you for sharing the tone as well as the substance of your region.

Do you wish Obama had skipped the San Francisco comments and gone right to the ways he's stated the issue in the last 24 hours?

I sure do.

Throughout many rural areas in the country these views are prevalent; for many these views will not change anytime soon. Equally, folks in these regions are not as out of touch or as ill informed as some may suggest.

Politically, I suspect many in these regions recognize their dilemma, and are not fazed by Clinton or McCain's attempt to gains points. Given Obama's reception in the rural West, I do not see any reason to believe his campaign will be harmed.
The overwhelming fact is rural America is in need of a great deal of attention. Albeit not much, Obama is the only candidate who seriously addressed issues faced by rural and small town America.

In regions once called border or Mason-Dixie states select issues( broadly, the values issues) are detrimental but these shall remain as well; their impact on the overall should be minimum, and will not change anything for Clinton.

Have not been around such areas for years, but sounds very familiar. Good Post!

Excellent article, astral. Thanks for writing and posting it.

I have sent this post out to several networks totally over 5,000 people mostly Obama people but all fervent forward looking folk tired of the old politics and the ritual cannibalism of right wing pundits and their Hillary apologists.

Thanks for this blog. It was heart-sent and heart received!!

Recommended and I hope your post kicks my post's butt.

I spent way too much time today surfing around the MSM outlets and just left Salon and the WaPo. Joan Walsh, through gritted teeth, praised Obama's actual message and, indirctly, criticized Hillary, but then she had to go and and talk about how Obama chaffed her "working class Irish Catholic" roots sometimes. Joan Walsh, working class hero. I love it when reporters trot out their blue collar roots to show they still have their finger on the zeitgeist of the common folk. High Broderism in its most obnoxious form.

And then, over at the WaPo, we have Chris Czilla with an informative look at how this will play among the small town working class folk who should be insulted by Obama's horrendous gaffe by asking for the thoughts of (I am not making this up) five beltway consultants. Really. That's what he did.

Which is why your post was like stepping away and taking a breath of real air after working in the stable. Thanks.

YES! YES! YES!

Speaking the truth could get you in trouble though, be careful.

OK, I guess I have to ask the intellgent question? Where are you facts that People in Small Towns are bitter? I see someone posted that said it was true in their hometown. Well really it was true of her family and friends. I don't think she really did a town survey.

I come from a small town, and it is not true there with my family and circle of friends.

Too bad that Obama did not ask for the facts or a piece of paper on that before he said that. But then, Obama always has a reason for why he does not win. Have you noticed that.

I don't win in the country side, small towns etc, so therefore people are bitter.

Give us a break. First get some data, and second stop looking for excuses.

Is this really who you want for President? He cannot even figure out small town American, let along France. Now that will be a challenge for him.

here is some data for you i'm from ohio and just lost my job(thanks nafta) along with a thousand other people. some just a couple of years away from retirement. the factory closed and i assure you they are BITTER and do you know what the prevailing sentiment was as we were packing up our tools and assembly lines to ship them south of the border? did we blame the govt. no we blamed the citizens of mexico for taking our jobs and it never occurred to anyone that our jobs were in fact given to them. so yes we are BITTER and we do tend to look for scapegoats because we never see washington change anything for us so we let the fear of taking away our 2nd amendment rights or the thought of same sex marriage rule us at the voting booth. so yes i am BITTER but this time around i intend to stay focused on the real issues and not be jedi mind tricked so Mcain and HRC try if you want to but you cannot convince me that i should be happy about the way the govt. ignored me and my coworkers and all of my union brothers and sisters in the last twenty years OBAMA 08

Bill was going around 16 years ago with his "I feel your pain" speeches and now 16 years later much of that pain has turned into the bitterness Senator Obama has seen. Anyways, I looked up this YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta_SFvgbrlY) of Bill from the '92 campaign. Funny how so little has changed, no wonder people are bitter. Now, Hillary seems to be implying that it's not real by handing out "I'm not bitter" stickers. What's next flip-flops? I think it also plays back to the Rev. Wright thing where they were basically denying the legitimacy of black anger as well.

This is your favorite Republican Obama Supporter here!!!Do I know what it is like to be out of work?Little food in the house?Don`t know how you are gonna pay the Rent or House note?If it had not been for some good friends at church I don`t know what we would have done.Tlak to me about how the US Gov tried to screw my father out of a retirement and put him out on a medical.So yes I know about being Angry and Bitter!!!So Obama is spot on and speaks TRUE!!!

Obama did not imply that these people are racist he tried to explain that there is in fact a real reason behind the fact that a certain group of people consistently vote against there own economic interest, it is a fact. for this he is labeled an elitist? yet HRC stood beside elton john as he basically implied that if you do not support HRC you in fact do not like women, as a woman that is about a thousand times more offensive than Obama referring to the bitterness that myself and the people who used to work beside me on the assembly line feel, it is real and i feel it everyday while i try to figure what mine and my children's future is going to be. So Hillary in may in fact be you who is out of touch if you believe that without jobs and decent wages we are somehow happy

AMEN!!!You hit the nail on the head lalivia HRC can kiss my bitter backside!!!

Great post. I felt refreshed by the honesty you offered. One thing that is hard to deny - we are learning more and more about each other, our issues, needs and experiences. Who knows maybe this "controversy" will actually highlight the underlying truth.

It's only when we have an true awareness of any challenge/problem/issue that we are more capable of addressing it in realistic and constructive way.

As an aside - An Educator-in-Chief is probably more needed in the USA than a Commander-in-Chief, and Obama seems more capable in this respect.

Thanks for this thoughtful piece of reality. I grew up in PA, and went to college in the Northeast part of the state, which already was falling on hard times several decades ago. Hard times do make people bitter and angry. It is amazing that the mainstream press just picks up Clinton's talking points and runs with them, unable to do any real thinking or analysis for themselves. The President has a 20% approval rating. Congress' rating is not much better. Bitter? You're damn right we are. But Obama punctuates his recognition of that bitterness with a realistic message of hope. Hope and change are what McCain and Clinton are campaigning against. If you want to pretend that everyone is upbeat and happy, then why change anything?

You Obama people just don't get it, do you?

It really isn't about the adjectives Obama used, but rather the verb. We all know people who cling to things, people we probably don't think highly of. A small child clings to a blanket, a jealous wife clings to her husband, an insincere man clings to his wife, a pathetic loser clings to hopes of a better time, a weakling clings to memories of past supposed triumphs, zealots cling to long-held ideas, and so on. Cling is, in general, a perjorative term and that's the term Obama used to describe a type of voter in the Mid-West and Pennsylvania. Used before a crowd of wealthy donors in San Francisco.

What Obama really meant by the comments I have no idea. But he's going to have to take the heat. And he's going to have to make amends.

Good post. Several of my in-laws work in the railroad shops in Altoona. They encounter great opposition to the idea of a black president - objections that Obama will give benefits to black kids over white kids, and so forth. I think the middle class is very bitter about being caught in the middle. As they see it, rich people have disposable income, poor people have govt programs but the middle class just pay taxes and higher costs and fall farther behind. Repubs have made life easier for the rich, but Dems are associated with handing the poor (blacks, illegals, welfare cheats) a free ride at the expense of the working classes.

I'll simply add my thanks.

I am mystified how people that worried about Obama being religious, or paying too much attention to his pastor, think he is now disrespecting Pennsylvanians' religion.

Thanks for your post. I think the major problem is how Obama's words have been distorted by the other campaigns and then portrayed in the media. What has been playing in the media and an interpretation of Obama's comments as saying "People are frustrated and bitter because of the economic hardships they are experiencing and therefore turn to guns and religion" In fact, what he was saying that people turn to VOTING on the issues of guns and religion and faith-based issues because they are angry and frustrated with government over the failure to help them economically. What he was trying to explain was the reason Republicans have been able to attract the small town voters -- because they don't VOTE on economic issues and instead vote on faith, guns, immigration, etc. This becomes even more apparent when you watch Obama's appearance on Charlie Rose in 2004, as recently posted on TPM. I think that it is essential for the Obama campaign, and the media, to clarify this distinction.

Opus,

Nope. Cling more like in the sense that Obama's supporters hope thatsomehow this can be blamed on Clinton, thereby getting their guy off the hook.

KateO,

Just want to make things clear. I never called any Obama supporters on this thread idiots.

It is a shame that you can't speak positively about who you support or what you believe in, instead of being so negative and denigrating all of the time. I have yet to see any kind of decent, constructive information coming from you. I'm happy to be a supporter of a candidate who speaks out for hope and change. Maybe if you had something real to offer, people would take you seriously.

OPUS,

Quoting what your candidate's number one supporter in Pennsylvania is being "negative and denigrating" all the time?

Fascinating.

heres for mikeyleigh and all the other bitter HRC supporters and rightwong trolls.

Your best shot against obama is "he is not a uniter" or "see, people don't like his attitude"? Wow, what a brutal shot! That is deep, and substantive. While your HRC candidate has proven over and over she is a Republica in Dem clothing, while she sleeps with the big lobbyist and chums itup with Scaife and Murdoch and she votes against the little folks and for wars.....you come up with Obama's 'attitude' and 'uniter' and 'verb' as your concrete objection to him?

HRC launches nasty multimillion dollar slander campaigns, lies every 4 minutes, caucuses with Lieberman, and makes 110 million dollars and you don't like a verb obama used. Get your heads out of the sand.

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/v-print/story/33411.html

Link to the entire article. Here is a brief excerpt that gets to the jist of it.

White women begin to turn away from Clinton
David Lightman | McClatchy Newspapers

last updated: April 13, 2008 06:43:52 AM

LEVITTOWN, Pa. — Like many women over 50, Paula Houwen was eager to vote for Hillary Clinton for president.

"I was impressed when she was first lady. She wasn't the country's trophy wife," the 56-year-old suburban Philadelphia pharmacist recalled.

Today, though, Houwen's no longer a Clinton fan.

"I do not like the way Hillary Clinton has run her campaign," she said.

Clinton's strongest core of support — white women — is beginning to erode in Pennsylvania, the site of the critical April 22 Democratic presidential primary, and a loss here could effectively end her White House run.

John McCutcheon just posted this from a friend in SF who was at the actual fundraiser:

"As someone who was at that now famous fundraiser where Barack spoke about the bitterness folks in rural America feel, I have grown increasingly bewildered at the Clinton campaign's distortion of his words. The paragraph that has so spun out of control in the mainstream media was not a part of the speech itself, but rather a response to a question from someone in the audience (one of us!) who was planning on traveling to PA as a volunteer and was asking about what to expect. I listened to Barack's response and was stuck by his emotional intelligence, deep empathy and understanding of our fellow Americans. It was in no way condescending or demeaning. So that you don't think I am one of these so called elitist San Francisco rich who are out of touch with everyone else outside our bubble: I am a Latina, single mom, who immigrated to the Mission during the civil war in El Salvador. America has given me great opportunity, but I know struggle and discrimination. I have spent most of my career as a community and union organizer engaged in conflict with the "haves" and building leadership in poor communities of all colors to speak truth to power. Barack's message of hope and inclusion of us all speaks to me and mine: White, black, immigrant, Latino, Asian, male, female, gay, straight. Of course people are bitter and angry! One of the foundational principles of community organizing in America has been to tap into the discontent of people who are oppressed and turn it towards positive change, so that the emotinal energy that fuels the anger will instead be used to motivate people to action for positive progress and change. It is a radically different message that the Obama philosophy espouses: we can change the world ourselves - we need to work hard and turn our bitterness and anger towards the actual work of holding government accountable. It applies to poorpeople in rural appalachia as much as it applies to poor people in the inner city public housing projects in Chicago. I am writing to remind us to stay on message and stay focused. For the past four days, the media has been going nuts over that comment, including folks in the Democratic party who should know better but whose self interests is perhaps to protect the paradigm of division that has kept them at the top of the fragile balance between Republicans and centrist Democrats over the past 20 years. This moment in American history is about WE the people, and millions of us have elected Barack to speak for us now, because he speaks the truth. Enough is enough. Let's stay on message, and I have no doubt we're going to win this one. Here is an excellent piece by someone who lives in Western Pennsylvannia about this brouhaha: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/12/184747/973/89/485030 Peace to all."

moorefire,

Depends on how foot loose and fancy free both candidates and/or their surrogates are with their mouths. (Not that I'm at all accepting your premise that this is a fabricated issue any more than I accept that Hillary's Bosnia flap was fabricated.)

Astral,

Thanks so much for sharing your Pennsylvanian perspective. I especially value the views of people who personally experience the topics being discussed. (Although I have to say that I value your views on pretty much everything else, too.)

So did you return to small-town Pennsylvania after graduating from college? If so, do you mind if I ask what your occupation is? I'm just curious...

I am not sure I wish is had skipped the comments because they were true. However, I wish that people would stop allowing his opponents to get away with attempting to "kill the hope of Americans,"

I just hope that people stand up to the same old politics and see the real opportunity we have before us, before it is too late.

I stand with Obama until the end of this entire election, unless he is found to be cheating on his wife, this is one of the reasons I think the Clintons are bad for the WH in additions to so many other reasons.

Disbarred, impeached, liars should under no circumstances have an opportunity to reside at the WH or any high level position.