The audacity of Barack Obama

No amount of damage control is going to save the Barack Obama campaign over the candidate's latest condescending snipe at "bitter" working-class folks.

Maybe it was the fact that he was surrounded by "his kind of people," the social and economic elite in San Francisco that prompted Sen. Obama to insult so many people with one thoughtless remark. The "bitter" people Sen. Obama referred to includes about 85 percent of Americans who believe in God and the majority of Americans who understand that the Constitution protects the right to bear arms.

A true picture of Sen. Barack Obama is beginning to appear. It's not the color of his skin that is causing people to have second thoughts about Obama, it's the content of his character. Obama is nothing more than a rich, elitist snob who looks down on average Americans.

Three days after the comments, Obama is still claiming that his words were "twisted and mischaracterized." Just as his 20-year association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the American-hating preacher was twisted and mischaracterized? Just as his wife's comment about never being proud of this country until her husband started winning primary elections in 2008 was twisted and mischaracterized?

To borrow a phrase from John Edwards, there are two Americans. The one where liberal elitists like Barack and Michelle Obama live and the one where the rest of us live.

Here's a roundup of commentary compiled by the Republican National Committee about Sen. Obama's most recent misstep.

"A lot of people have been whispering, look this guy is just a charismatic Michael Dukakis. This was always the hit on Dukakis -- that he was always a bit of an elitist. An East Coast elitist who just doesn't relate to the common man very well. … There is that sense sometimes that [Obama] doesn't connect on a personal level to small town America." – Chuck Todd (MSNBC, 4/11/2008)

"The swipe at small-town voters hurts with the former Reagan Democrats, a promising voters group for Obama… Many Americans (especially potential "Obamacans," as he calls his Republican supporters) embrace religion not because they’re bitter but because they believe it, and because it brings them daily purpose and comfort. The comments could prolong the Democratic race as it heads into Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Indiana." – Mike Allen (Politico, 4/12/2008)

"I think it's a big problem for Senator Obama politically. Regardless of what he really meant by it, the idea that you're calling unemployed people bitter does not come off so good. I think that he's going to spend a lot of time on this between now and however long the election goes on." – Jill Zuckman (MSNBC, 4/11/2008)

"But the politics are unquestionably dangerous for a candidate whose appeal depends on him transcending traditional political adjectives like 'liberal' or 'elite.' Despite his working class upbringing, Obama's hyperconfidence sometimes translates as holier-than-thou, elitist, aristocratic, Dukakis-esque." – Marc Ambinder (Atlantic, 4/11/08)

"That sentence will lose him the election. He just announced to rural America: 'I don't like you.' Now you can vote against that guy not because you don't like him. You can vote against him because he doesn't like you." – Grover Norquist (ABC News Sneak Peak, 4/11/2008)

"If he said it, it's bad. He was making some effort to go after union members and working class whites in Pennsylvania. I think this will damage that effort, most certainly." – Mort Kondracke (FOX News, 4/11/2008)

"It drips with condescension. This is latte liberal condescension. … This is incredibly disrespectful and it tells you about his character." – Charles Krauthammer (FOX News, 4/11/2008)

"To count the ways in which this is bad: It sounds condescending. It tells people you want to like you that you think they're "bitter" about their lot. It suggests that guns, which are a huge voting bloc in Pennsylvania, and religion, which is huge everywhere, are manifestations of bitterness." – John Riley (Spin City Blog, 4/11/2008)

"Nobody wants to be called bitter." – Chris Matthews (MSNBC, 4/11/2008)

Condemnations of Obama's comments are coming from the political left, right and center, as it should. Obama is running television ads and making speeches saying he will unite this country. It's hard to take anyone serious as a unity candidate when they show such disrespect for so many Americans.