Obama is Right, Small Towns Are Bitter

Barack Obama drew fire from both Hillary Clinton and John McCain over comments he made about small towns being bitter over their economic situation.

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 toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

Obama responds to their criticism that he is elitist at a townhall in Indiana...



I agree with the message Obama is saying. Bitter might not be the best word, but the underlying message is correct. The fact that McCain and Clinton are jumping all over Obama and saying that people in small towns are optimistic and happy just shows they aren't in touch with reality.

People in small towns and rural areas are upset that government policies always seem to favor Wall St. over Main St. and their political leaders stop by every few years with promises and then dine with lobbyists as soon as they get back in Washington.

Ezra Klein has more.