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Friday, September 12, 2008 12:00 AM

What small-town America is saying about Obama

In diners and mobile homes from New Mexico to North Carolina, I listened to working-class people try to make sense of a black president named Barack.
By Dan Hoyle

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  • Friday, September 12, 2008 10:54 AM

    @JugSouthgate - Pass the GED, become President

    Thanks Jug for the insight. Just a note: it's not Truman I'm worried about. Why do Americans - more specifically this group of voters - distrust a smart, well-educated candidate? It's as if their first reaction is one of suspicion. Wouldn't you think they'd want someone smarter than them running their country, a country that keeps over 4800 operational nuclear warheads that can be launched at a moments notice? Why would anyone want someone with a "simple high school education" in the highest position of the United States in the 21st Century? This is just plain crazy talk and I'm beginning to feel ill over it. I hope I misread the quote or took it out of context somehow...ugh.

    (re: "We know Obama's plenty book-smart ... but I liked Harry Truman, the last president to have a simple high school education."

    Is this for real? I mean with that said, are these people OK going into surgery with a medical practitioner with a "simple high school education" or getting onto a 747 which was just recently serviced by a mechanic with a "simple high school education"? Is education and training not relevant here?

    What the f#@!? Is this really what Obama is up against?)

    —ghunt1971 Read ghunt1971's other letters

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