What, Me Bitter?

Here's the text of Obama's gaffe, as reported by semi-hostile Mayhill Fowler on Huff Post:

So it's not surprising then that 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.

There's nothing particularly incorrect about this perspective on small-town losers, except its utterance in public by someone campaigning for elective office. It's the commonly accepted rationale for racism, and for a lot of America's anti-intellectualism. This is what's come to the fore in the aftermath of the publishing of the quote: how can we elect someone who is such a professor?

About his alleged lack of grit, we can only cheer, say "Amen!", and stick by our guns.

Of course, it is bad politics to tell us Americans that many of us are obtuse and choose not to pursue our class interests in political decisions. For those impolitic remarks, he does need to apologize to his supporters, who are counting on him to keep his vice of intellect under wraps until he gets elected.