Obama: hating on small-town America?

[Melxb]

I'm not an Obama fan at all, and I didn't vote for him in my states' primary. I agree, technically, with what he said. However, it's all in the tone. He really did come off as very elitist and I felt as though he was really talking down to people who have been hit hard by the economy AND who live in small towns. People, I think, DO turn to religion and guns and what have you when they lose hope. I agree. It's just that it seems as though he was mocking that. It wasn't his words, it was how he said what he said.

[Boozy]

It wasn't his words, it was how he said what he said.

I didn't quite understand the offense until someone described it to me exactly like that. Obama is seen as a bit of a snob by a lot of people, and something like that coming from someone who isn't from a small town is a bit insensitive, perhaps.

I still agree with the substance of what he said, but I think I'm beginning to understand why it upset so many people.

[Amethyst Hunter]

People, I think, DO turn to religion and guns and what have you when they lose hope.

There's nothing wrong with using religion and/or guns to cope with stress - but only if they're being used in the right ways. And right now, people are using them in all the WRONG ways.

That's what Obama meant. So I don't believe he was talking down to anyone, he was merely pointing out what a lot of people refuse to acknowledge.

[Zyanya]

I've lived in small towns.

People aren't angry because of what he said.

They are angry because it hit entirely too close to home and forced some of them to look into a mirror.

[BlackIronCrown]

It's no different here in the Deep South than it is in PA or WI or any of those places. Like him or not, what he said is absolutely true.

Go outside of Atlanta and you're hip-deep in what appears to be a rural wasteland. There is NOTHING. The factories have all closed and gone to rust. Half the towns have moved away. Unless there is an industry (like digging kayolin out of the ground), it's all fucked. I swear, some places are beginning to resemble the first Mad Max movie without a desert.

For a while here in GA it was better, when Zig-Zag Zell was Governor and then Senator. His primary spiel, regardless of what party presented it, was "What will this do for the state of GA?" If it didn't do anything for us, he didn't give two shits and would vote his conscience - and BEDAMNED be the party line! Now though....*shrug*

I really worry about what's going to happen to rural America. It's not getting better, I know that.