The pervasive aroma of liberalism that permeates throughout the Bay Area obviously taints me, but I don't understand the hoopla over Sen. Barack Obama's now infamous "bitter" statements.
As it is with most sound bite driven controversies more attention has been given to the exact words void of their context or the requisite critical thinking normally associated with reaching an informed decision.
So let us engage in a brief exegetical exercise of the senator's words.
Obama said: "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."
Have small towns lost jobs? Did they fall through the economic cracks of the Clinton and Bush Administrations? Were they promised either by implication or an overt political promise that they would regenerate like the phoenix rising from the ashes?
Obama then added: "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."
Are we to assume that every single person who lives in what may qualify as a "small town" is represented in Obama's statement or that he was attempting to make a blanket sociological analysis?
For those who are hell-bent to live in the land of obtuse or are simply trying to make political points there is probably little reason to continue reading.
But people are bitter, frustrated, searching for answers; and those frustrations and fears have been played upon to make political points since the country's inception.
How many white southerners valiantly gave their lives in the Civil War, protecting a lifestyle that was as remote to them as for the slaves, which they claimed superiority? Many of the most violent terrorists during the Civil Rights Movement experienced economic conditions no better than those who marched for equality while facing police dogs and fire hoses.
What is the purpose of wedge issues if not to play on people's frustrations and fears? Has illegal immigration not been used as a way to explain job loss? Has same-gender marriage not been presented as exhibit A to explain America's so-called moral decline?
Small towns also claim the dubious honor of sustaining an inordinate amount of loss during the Iraq war -- nearly half of those killed in Iraq came from towns where fewer than 25,000 people live.
Obama's statements were made as the latest Gallup poll indicates 83 percent are dissatisfied with the direction of the country. If anything, these findings suggest Obama's comments did not go far enough--most of us regardless of the size of our community are feeling some measure of frustration.
Imagine for a moment if Obama had made similar statements about young black males. Would there have been a controversy? No, there wouldn't. Why? Probably due to the fact he did make similar statements just prior to what is now being called "bittergate."
I doubt these comments would garner similar above-the-fold coverage in most of the nation's newspapers, as did Obama's "bitter" statements.
If we strip away the wallpaper of this controversy what we find is not whether Obama is an elitist, but can the white person in rural Pennsylvania or elsewhere trust him to deliver where previous administrations have failed?
This is the hurdle that Obama must clear--it is not unlike the challenges that faced Al Gore and John Kerry.
Democrats have bemoaned for decades that many blue-collar workers vote against their economic self-interest in order to support Republicans, but their analysis fails to include that political support is as much emotionally based, if not more so, than it is issue driven.
Until Democrats understand this reality they will continue to be the party relegated to cameo appearances when it comes to who occupies the White House.
Byron Williams is an Oakland pastor and syndicated columnist. He is the author of "Strip Mall Patriotism: Moral Reflections of the Iraq War." E-mail him at byron@byronspeaks.com or go to his website, byronspeaks.com