Last I checked, it was up to a candidate to convince citizens to vote for him, not incumbent on citizens to explain why they didn't back a candidate.

In Kentucky, and to a lesser extant West Virginia, Obama didn;t even try. So much for being the candidate of all the people.

A better question might be, "Why do so many folks like Obama?"

Maybe poor white folks just can't afford what they see as the starry-eyed idealism of Obama backers.

If voting directly against your own self interest isn't stupid, it'll do until another definition comes along. Billary's been puttin' on her blue collar an' pretendin' to be jest one o' them there common folk. At 15 million a year, and a pampered life, that's transparently crap. But them hicks done bought it. Used to be, back when unions were strong and public schools taught civics and reading and all those old school things, that working people knew that Democrats were much more likely to act in their interest than were republikans. FDR was as patrician and "elitist" as you can get, but the working class knew he was on their side, and they were right. That's smart. Voting for the raygun revulsion and all the fascist crap since then: not smart. The dumbing down of America is not a theory. It's the fascist base, and hillary's hope. It's not our country's hope. In short, yes, hard working white people have voted like idiots.

The pro-Obama media's constant mention of Hillary Clinton supporters as poor uneducated rednecks is a barrier to the unity that Obama supporters claim they wish to accomplish. Wouldn't it be refreshingly old fashioned for a "change" to hear Obama followers thank the good people of Kentucky for sweating and risking their lives for low wages and poor working conditions miles below the earth so pro-Obama people can have relatively cheap energy? They could say, "We're sorry your sons and daughters die in Iraq and Afghanistan in greater numbers than our sons and daughters. Thanks for choosing the military over college so we never had to enlist." You know. Stuff like that.I don't relate to Appalacian types myself, but I would never publicly and repeatedly disrepect them and then ask them to vote for me. Come on. They may not be "college educated", but they're sure not stupid.

"Having said that, if Obama gets the presidency he should and must work for them just as much as he works for any other American, because it's the right thing to do. It's just that simple and I believe he will do exactly that. Because he knows something about poverty, and way far more than Bush or McSame or the Theocons or the Neocons ever will."

He will. But no matter how much good his programs do in the region, those same folks (whipped up by their winger-pundit gods) will lambast his "socialism" every step of the way; scream about how much of their taxes are being wasted...and ignore all the good he'll do in favor of some "Vince Foster/Whitewater" bullshit. The way they treated Bill Clinton--trust me, those folks will treat Obama _way_ worse.

Lets compare the 2 situations

1) Moral Conservative Republican post a statement stating "the uneducated people of South Bronx, South Central LA & New Orleans 9th Ward are holding America back, so why bother getting their vote? Why bother helping them when they're in trouble"

2) Compassionate Liberal Democrat post a statement stating "the uneducated people of West Virginia & Kentucky are holding America back, so why bother getting their vote? Why bother helping them when they're in trouble"

THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THOSE 2 SITUATIONS!

The bigoted letters to Salon are starting remind me of those bigoted letters to right-wing FrontPage Mag

Barack Obama & John McCain needs to do a "Sista Souljah Moment" and tell the bigoted punks in their parties very sternly to grow up and start acting like adults!

...that liberals and non-rural-thinking folks are the ones who are supposed to do the changing; supposed to act as if the progressive history of this country never happened in order to make those who are driven by hate, ignorance, and refusal to change feel safe. Whatever happened to the idea of America as a country of progress and (mostly) improvement? Why are some people asking that everyone else who doesn't and will never fit into the rural idea of what's acceptable give up what they believe in and essentially go backwards--and do this for people who will never, ever trust them? If the people of this country can only deal with each other from a oneupmanship/total-surrender-or-nothing basis, maybe democracy has failed and the American game is over.

Seriously, why do we need to go after their base? "Appealing to their economic self-interest" will not work if other "values" trump economics, which they always do in modern elections.

The GOP isn't banging on my door because they hate my guts--over-educated, gay, unmarried woman with no intent of reproducing. Bought her own house. Likes men but won't marry one. Atheist, friends and family who are non-white show up in public with me and even worse break bread in my house. Nobody ever lectures them on "disrespecting" me. No, on the contrary, they speak in overly hushed tones about how we Democrats need to "RESPECT" that their BIGOTRY is rooted in RELIGION! I've had it. Their votes are equal to mine.

I don't have to respect the 15% of people who admittedly based their anti-Obama vote on race. They have a right to do so, and I'm happy for them that they admitted it. But don't explain away that 15%. They told us why they voted against Obama. I feel sorry for them that they are limited in their racial experiences but we're moving on.

How many people in West Virginia and Kentucky admitted that race was a factor? Like 15%? You can likely double that when it comes to acrual feelings. These are states where the Clinton supporters overwhelmingly said they would not vote for Obama....is this a policy issue? Has Clinton visited these rural areas? Do Hillary and Obama differ philosophically on Iraq, Health Care, unions? Of course not. These insulated hicks fear blacks, are distrtustful of all those not like them. These people can easily be convinced that Obama is a Muslim double agent or that he hates America, because they have lived in a bubble of stupidity their whole life. They can cling to wedge superficial issues of the church and ignore their economic woes and feign outrage when someome looks at them with empathy. Like the black man accused in "To Kill a Mockingbird" who had the nerve to "feel sorry" for a white girl. The white trash people of these regions don't care about policies or genuine issues....they prefer to feed off their insecurities and xenophobia, and apologists will come out and defned them as the heart of America...in reality they're the trash and gutter of America, everything we should strive against and correct.