THIS IS NOT ROCKET SCIENCE—OBAMA INSULTED MIDWESTERNERS

Barack Obama waives good bye to Midwestern general election voters

In the wake of Barack Obama’s now infamous insult to “small town” Midwesterners (they “cling to guns…religion…” as a result of “bitterness” and “frustration”), a one sided mock debate has erupted in the Obama fawning main stream media on whether John McCain and Hillary Clinton—whose spouses both make more money than Barack Obama—have the right to call Obama “elitist”. (Also see this CNN article.)

The issue is not whether Barack Obama is “elitist” or not. The issue, as we see it, is that he diminished (read as insulted) the religious views and other important values of a huge segment of the United States. He did this by demeaning their choice of religion (and other values) by attributing them not to philosophical reflection but pathology.

Hillary Clinton (mildly in comparison) insulted the voters of Mississippi by questioning the importance of that state in the nominating process months before the primary there in Iowa (“…how can Iowa be ranked with Mississippi?”).

Obama's campaign dug up the quote on the eve of the Mississippi primary and referred to it night and day in a very hard hitting radio ad accusing Clinton of insulting Mississippians, and it hurt her very badly in the Magnolia State's primary. (In the 30-second spot former Mississippi Governor Ray Mabus accused Clinton of calling Mississippi voters “second class.”)

This is not rocket science.

People do not like to have their views dissed as less legitimate than someone else’s, and people are particularly sensitive about their religion. Many Midwesterners are also passionate about hunting. But for Obama to deliver the insult in a way that suggests that Midwestern views and values are the pathetic and unconscious result of their miserable lot in life is political suicide with that huge segment of the general electorate. It's as simple as that.

This grave insult to Midwesterners cannot be undone, and as Obama’s own Mississippi supporters proved, can be invoked by John McCain at will months later to tank the senator from Illinois in the general election in the Midwestern regions should the Democratic super-delegates be foolish enough to anoint him as the party’s nominee on August 25, 2008 in Denver.