The American Pundit

In his continuing effort to unite the country, Barack Obama attempted to explain resentment in small town America.

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.

Yeah, that’ll help win ‘em over, Barack. Just go tell them that their resentment because of job loss has resulted in gun-happy, religion-clutching bigots.

By the way, the comments to Ben Smith’s posts about Obama have become all-too predictable. It’s either an immediate jump to say Obama’s right, no matter how ridiculous the charge, or slamming Smith for daring to even post this supposedly non-newsworthy article.

Update: Via Hot Air, here’s Team McCain’s response:

Asked to respond, McCain adviser Steve Schmidt called it a “remarkable statement and extremely revealing.”

“It shows an elitism and condescension towards hardworking Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking,” Schmidt said. “It is hard to imagine someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans.”

Take note that Obama made the remarks during a fundraiser held by rich people last week in San Francisco. This is, apparently, how he talks to the liberal elite.