Growing up in a small town in the Midwest was a pretty good thing. I was instilled with a set of values and an understanding of what a great country we live in. I also realized that everthing was not perfect. But in true American tradition, the goal was to improve yourself and your country. Even as I watched the mines and mills close around me, I knew that I lived in the best country in the world. I had the opportunity to get an education, and the freedom to choose my destiny and work toward achieving any goal that I wished.
Fast forward many years and I still believe this to be true. However, according to a man who wants to lead this country into the 21st century, I and many like me are just bitter, frustrated and bigoted. Pandering to an audience in the model utopia of San Francisco, Barack Obama said concerning us, "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 it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”
Yes I do cling to my guns and my religion, if not in that order. I am proud that as a citizen of the United States of America I have specific rights guaranteed to me in the United States Constitution to worship according to my conscience and the right to self defense. Other rights like the freedom of speech are nice to have as well. The same Constitution that gives him the right to run for President and to say whatever he wishes allows me to cling to my guns and religion just as he can cling to his elitist worldview. It is also that same Constitution that gives the people in San Francisco and Berkley the right to disrespect the United States Military and of course ignorant bigots from the Midwest.
As for antipathy toward people who are not like me, I do have some. I especially feel antipathy toward people who are not like me in respecting this great country of ours and who view a majority of the citizenry as uneducated, uninformed commoners whose lives need to directed and managed from an ivory tower and who need to be rescued from an ignorant dependence on God instead of Government.
I suggest that he take a closer read of the Constitution that he hopes to be able to swear to uphold before he raises his hand and places the other on whatever book he wishes.
I do have to give him kudos for noting that Hillary is not quite "Annie Oakley sitting in a duck blind and carrying a six shooter." However, Mr. O. shows his ignorance here as well. Even Dick Cheney knows that you don't hunt ducks with a "six shooter".
