Wow, Barack Obama states something that's plain as day to anyone sufficiently interested in small town America and immediately, he's attacked as being "elitist" by millionaires John McCain AND Hillary Clinton.
Makes you wonder what party Hillary thinks she's running for. Makes you wonder if either of them -- or the Media who gleefully promote this as yet another "Wright-sized" gaff -- had ever read Tom Franks' "What's the Matter with Kansas?".
The attack on democrats as "elitists" is one of the most loathsome practices of rightwingers and other apologists of wealth and power. They do it precisely to muddy up exactly what their own policies involve.
If either Hillary or McCain, who are both multi-millionaires through marriage, want to run on a platform of complacency, they'll welcome to it. Most Americans would agree with Barack:
"No, I'm in touch. I know exactly what's going on. I know what's going on in Pennsylvania, I know what's going in Indiana, I know what's going in Illinois. People are fed up. They're angry and they're frustrated and they're bitter, and they want to see a change in Washington, and that's why I'm running for president of the United States of America."
UPDATE: Meanwhile, the Clinton Campaign formally sounds its own swan song:
At a rally in rural North Carolina hosted by President Bill Clinton, a few dozen people were seen wearing stickers that read "I’m Not Bitter!" When asked about the stickers, a Clinton campaign spokesman said they were printed up by the campaign’s North Carolina team and distributed. Clinton staffers initially denied having printed them up.
UPDATE II: ABC reports the 'tepid' reaction of the crowd to this stunt:
Despite the campaign's efforts, though, the story doesn't really seem to be catching on as much as the campaign might have hoped. The stickers are still few and far between in the crowds. In addition, Clinton surrogate and former North Carolina DNC party chairman Tom Hendrickson brought up the remarks at two rallies this morning, and neither time received anything above a tepid response from the crowd.
