Hoist on Their Own Petar

Obama recently told a bunch of rich San Franciscans that small-town Pennsylvanians and Midwesterners “cling to guns or religion” because they are “bitter” about their economic status.

Now the papers and the pundits are saying he's in big trouble, and that Team Clinton might be poised for a "comeback." At least that's what they're hoping.

Obama was merely referring to a cognitive disconnect that George Wallace first capitalized on in 1968, and which Reagan exploitated like an artist.

It's best expressed this way: the poorest state in the nation (Kansas) is also the reddest.

Formerly prosperous small towns in Kansas, like the ones my mom and dad grew up in, now look like miniature Detroits, thanks to Republican economic policies. Yet the state's voters seem oblivious to their own economic self-interest, and instead can be counted on to vote for the most reactionary candidates because of issues like abortion, gay marriage, and flag burning.

When people in Kansas or Arkansas or Montana lose their pensions and medical plans, more often than not they blame it on the gay, flag-burning abortionists. They need to get their heads out of their asses.

But Obama can't say that, and more's the pity.