Greetings from Pennsylvania!

I don’t really have anything to add to this — it’s well said. I just had to chime in since I represent the ignorant, fear-driven folk being discussed here. I wonder how it is that the same behaviors (being religious, voting Republican) have different putative causes for different groups of people? I mean, if you’re religious and black and liberal, that’s because you have a transcendent view of other people’s suffering, but if you’re religious and white and middle class and semi-rural, that’s because you’re too afraid to be anything else.

Actually, I don’t wonder why all that much, especially since I’m working my way through “The Black Swan” at the moment.

I grew up in rural PA as well, right in the heart of Amish country. My extended family is mostly out in an even more remote region — the Appalachians. Our family reunion every year is in Petticoat Junction.

Since my family has been religious about both Presbyterianism and hunting since the 18th century, I think his thesis about economic uncertainty and “clinging” needs some revision…

I’m so glad you stopped by, btw. I’ve been wondering how to get in touch with you ever since I started this little blog up!

While I see your point, I think I’m going to have to disagree with you on whether those comments prove that Obama’s an elitist. One of the first things that came to mind when I heard Obama’s comments was places like Dade County, GA (where I went to college), where the rest of the world has kind of left them behind–they don’t really have much economic opportunity, the dropout rate is ridiculously high, and there aren’t many options for things to really improve. And what does their state representative do right as an election year is coming up? He decides to make a big deal about the Confederate flag. It’s easier to get people worked up about largely symbolic issues because those symbolic issues represent genuine frustrations (in that case, 150 or so years of outsiders trying to tell them what to do), than it is to try and actually fix anything.

That’s a roundabout way of saying that I think that was the general point that Obama was making, as badly as it came across. Politicians keep coming through promising that they’ll fix everything, that the jobs will still be around, etc, etc, and you can only tell people that for so long before they realize that you’re never going to deliver on those promises. And so rather than have people ask why the jobs that they were promised them are not coming back, politicians of both parties deflect the issue by blaming illegal immigrants, or affirmative action, or by saying that the other party hates the little guy. Or maybe the politician realizes that they can’t win if the election is about issue X, so they tell everyone that their opponent wants to take away their guns (which people in a hunting culture would rightly get worked up about), or they try to paint their opponent as hating God and Country. It’s not saying that those concerns aren’t valid, it’s that politicians exploit those things for political gain.

Maybe I read the situation and the discussion all wrong, but I just don’t see it as an example of elitism. I think it was an example of saying something that made total sense in his mind, but came out wrong. He may be elitist, but I just don’t see this as proof.

BTW, my family hails from Amish country too, though if you’re family was Presbyterian back to the 18th century, they’re probably the ones who ran my family out of Europe

Hi Kathryn-

I’m not denying that politicians sometimes use symbolism as a distraction. But that does little to ameliorate the offense of his comments.

For one thing, he doesn’t mention politicians at all. He directly said that the individual faith of these people is something THEY cling to. Mickey Kaus put it best, as he usually does. Obama reduced the religious beliefs of Pennsylvanians to epiphenomena — mindless, meaningless reactions to economic conditions. There’s no good, non-elitist way to mean that. What’s more, the entire concept is unadulterated Marxist theory.

As for politicians using guns or anything else to distract from economic conditions, you seem to have an underlying assumption that politicians SHOULD be trying to fix the economy. Just a side note that government is generally the cause of economic problems, not the solution. I don’t think it would be any more virtuous for your Georgia politician to pander on government programs than it was on the economy…

“my family hails from Amish country too,”

Excellent! Which part?

“though if you’re family was Presbyterian back to the 18th century, they’re probably the ones who ran my family out of Europe”

Sorry about that. Glad we could meet under better conditions. LOL.

How have you been, btw?

I wonder why the honorable Rev. Sharpton has not requested Obama to remove himself from the Presidential race?

Rich-

Heh. 10 out of 10 doctors would definitely counsel you not to hold your breath on that one. . .

Double standards galore!

Rich-

Don’t even get me started. . .

Welcome to the site, btw. Where are you in from?

Again, I see your point, I just think that in the broader context of his comments, the criticism of politicians using those issues as wedges was implied. Maybe I’m reading that in to it because I’m frustrated with the way that the Republican party keeps pandering on things like religion when I don’t think that they actually believe any of it, and seem to promptly forget it once election season ends.

Anyway, both sides of my family hail mostly from the Lancaster/Lebanon area, most of my relatives are still around there, though my grandparents moved to FL in 1960, dragging my mom and her other siblings that were still at home with them.