What small town America thinks about Obama -- It's not good!

This is a national conversation that we've needed to have for a very long time.

The problem is that being honest is now defined as being rude.

The Conservative movement has co-opted political correctness.

If someone (for example) specifically says "I'm not voting for Obama because I think he's a secet Muslim!" -- and we correctly say out loud that such reasoning is stupid -- we're are accused of being intolerant.

Someone needs to be honest here: That is bullshit.

When people engage in behavior that is ethically or morally objectionable it is perfectly okay to call them out.

Yes, a significant number of people in America are stupid.

It's okay!

I refuse to allow stupid people to co-opt political correctness and hide behind it.

If you don't like Obama because he's black, your a racist.

If you think he is "secretly" a Muslim, your an idiot.

Some on this thread are demanding that we stop hurting the feelings of people who believe Obama is secretly a terrorist Muslim -- insisting that pointing out the stupidity of such a belief hurts the feelings of the person holding that belief.

So what?

We as a nation need to have blunt, honest conversations.

If we cannot call people who hate Obama stupid and intolerant because they think he is a secret Muslim terrorist, than this country is lost

This is by far the most narrow-minded article I’ve every read on current.com. You Obama supporters are seriously doing your candidate a HUGE disservice by constantly supporting this argument. Seriously think about it for a second. Some of you are trying to combat this supposed threat of discrimination by being discriminatory in your own right. While the rest of you are just boo-hooing.

At times like this I’m glad I was born in the south and raised in a multiracial household. Without the perspective I gained from living in such a household there is a good chance I could have the same outlook as a lot of individuals on this thread. More importantly thanks to my dad and his own deep-rooted hatred of the prejudice mindset inherent in all people, I usually have no problem befriending individuals outside of my own apparent “scene” and racial group.

Based upon what I’ve seen in the world and on current.com I completely understand how some people can hold such a prejudice outlook for small town folks or ______ . And don’t act like you don’t do it. Everyone does it. The only difference between individuals is the degree to which they subscribe to prejudice attitudes in both number and sincerity.

In my opinion being prejudice is like being addicted to a drug. The longer you go with that monkey on your back the worse its going to get. Eventually you’ll lose perspective and the ability to function around whatever you hate.

Seriously make an effort to not be an ass or a pussy toward something or someone unfamiliar to what you consider normal or desirable. Make it a habit and I guarantee how easy it is to deal with anyone when your first interaction is a polite introduction instead of a questioning glance.

That being said I'd never vote for the Obama/Biden ticket. A vote for FISA, the patriot act and Iraq means no vote from me.

Im somewhat dissappointed with some of the things im hearing from the liberals and democrats on this site.

I too live in a small town, and while there are those people who refuse to get past their old ways, many democrats and liberals populate my town. And if democrats are so progressive, then why dont they try to heal the gap between small town America and liberal ideals? Why dont you try to identify with them and make them liberal?

Just stop calling them inbred rednecks and that itself will help loads!! They are not beyond help, and not all republicans are bad, racist, and zealous to the point of ignorence.

Im unaffiliated as far as political parties go, and I like it that way. I hate political parties because it gives people an excuse not to think.

That is whats happening here. Besides the racists and over-zealous, people think "Im republican, so I hate democrats!"

Whiles not all people are like that (and democrats can be like that too) it explains alot. I see uneducated democratic and liberal voters as well. They dont think either.

So dont just blame it on small-town, USA. Education is the first step, and respect can go a long way too.

Please dont give up on the American Middle Class!! Everyone has the ability to change for the better!! WE as AMERICANS can stop the hate and end the steriotypes that justify it!! Hate towards minorities and majorities, classes, and religions can stop!

For us to truly unify we need for this to happen...

As a black man who grew up in Brookpark, Ohio, the attitudes reflected from small town America, are unfortunately, right on point. Any one who is not one of them cannot lead them. "They'd rather cut off their nose and spite their face," rather than vote for the man who has more in common with them than any republican running. However, just by reading the comments from this site gives me hope that one day the best man for the job will be elected. For now I feel that day won't be for some time.

Hm, ok... stay with me if you can. I think breaking this down in progressive and conservative is doing the discussion a disservice. People are just more complex than that. I doubt if even most people know what those terms entail anyway.

The big debate here is can we, being the people of America, come to a consensus on what is good for the whole as opposed to just a few. I think the big disconnect with Middle America is that, for whatever reason, are resistant to the whole idea that even though we have such a diverse mix of people, we are all Americans. There is still a huge 'Us vs Them' ideology that permeates many of these individuals.

The Republicans realize this and play upon it, and, as we have seen, it is extremely effective. As much as we, the open minded and progressive, try to combat this, we fail because our ideology is seen as foreign. Why? Because are thoughts are far fetched? Of course not. I feel it is because this mode of close minded, xenophobic thought is socially acceptable and even praised. It is easy to become upset at this because it is this mode of thought that is crippling us as a nation. But something we have to keep in mind is that only 40 years ago, beating, lynching and killing minorities was perfectly acceptable socially. Yes, of course, we have made progress since then, but many come from this kind of background. This loathing of people that simply do not look like them.

This is played out in all walks of life. The numbers concerning the differences of accessible education, healthcare, jobs, etc between minorities and the general populace is STAGGERING. The problem isn't extolling the virtues and ideals of one party to another. The problem is that bigotry and prejudice and ignorance are as American as apple pie. It is woven into the very fabric of our country. People are proud that they are defined by these traits. And attacking these ideals are attacking the fundamental make up of the people that abide by them.

Forget campaigns slogans and speeches. Until we are able to view our neighbor as Americans who share the same desires of safety, upward mobility and peace rather than 'those people', these dug in prejudices will continue to drag us all down. This is not a fight for B.Ob or McNuggets. What we are witnessing is the revealing of the soul of America and the ugliness therein. You can be a conservative, a progressive or a independent. However, if you cannot see how these attitudes of bigotry and ignorance are contributing to the deterioration of our home, then you are simply part of the problem.

My professor told me that his daughter was down in Georgia running a Obama campaign office but that she closed it down after a week. This was due to the fact that the majority of the white community said that they would not vote for Obama because he was black. The black community on the other hand while being in favor of Obama thought that the voting process was a waste of time because their votes would matter anyway.

When did this country decide that the President shouldn't be smart? That he should be someone you just want to have a beer with?

I don't know about you, but I want the President to be intelligent, and I find it sad that being smart and well-educated is being equated with elitism.

Condescending attitudes towards Conservatives, feh?

What exactly is the appropriate attitude to have toward people who believe in things you find not only self-destructive for the country, but morally abhorrent ?

When 51 percent of the voters see us rounding up Iraqis without evidence, holding them for years without trial, waterboarding them and literally ass-raping them....and then being PROUD of that because they think its justice and revenge for 9/11...what is the appropriate, respectful attitude to have toward others citizen that hold this viewpoint? Is it even possible to respectfully disagree with someone that delights in or at the very least doesn't object to the moral, ethical and legal outrage that we've engaged in at GitMo?

Progressive values demand that we treat our POW's by the same legal and ethical standard we would demand for our soliders. That is a Progressive value.

The Republican/Conservative value system, however, doesn't have a moral component in it and, in fact, demands unequal treatment. If your not American or if your Muslim then, by God, it's perfectly okay to hold you without trial, it's okay to torture you. Yet these same Republicans are hypocritical enough to be indignant if a Christian American were treated that way as a POW in China!

Disagreeing with Obama because you dislike his position on steel tarrifs is perfectly fine. Disliking Obama because he wants to treat the POW's in our custody by the same standard we would demand our soliders be treated if captured and to refuse to vote for Obama because you find such actions "weak" is abhorrent. And yet there are tens of millions who think exactly that. They equate not torturing POW's in our custody as weak and therefore they refuse to support Obama. How do you respectfully disagree with that position...a position that is proudly held by tens of millions of Americans and ardent McCain supporters?

The schism that is developing between Progressive America and Conservative America isn't mild disagrements on obscure policy issues.
This is a battle over the very concept of Justice, Equality, Mercy, Democracy.

It's about raping GitMo POW's and thinking it's perfectly okay (Conservative America does, Progressive America doesn't)

It's about believing it's perfectly okay for a woman with breast cancer to be DENIED treatment and die because, hey, chemotherapy is just a consumer choice (A Conservative idea, not a Progressive one)

Some ideas demand disdain from moral people!

And no matter how tightly Conservatives wrap themselves in our flag....no matter how tightly they grip their Bibles....their ideas are at best self-destructive to the country and at worst immoral.

All this shows is that most of America still believes the propaganda their fed on Fox News... everyone think of at least ONE small-town relative and CALL them to talk about stuff like this before it's TOO LATE.

we are so fucked. i'm going to smoke up alot of weed right now to keep from crying and pretend i never read this.

honestly, so many of these comments are some of the most intolerant, deplorable things i have ever read.

so what if rural america doesn't agree with the "progressive" agenda? do they not have the freedom to believe what they choose to believe and vote how they choose to vote?

or should we revert to the attitudes and temperments of the post-civil war south? where we require that people take intelligence tests to ensure they are competant enough to vote (a clearly racist legislation).

this is honestly one of the most bigoted stories i have read on current. honestly, in pointing out their prejudices and faults, do we not see ourselves in the mirror? while we may disagree with them, there is no reason to become embittered and haughty towards them.

Sadly this doesnt suprise me at all. I grew up in a town which is very southern Baptist Republican. Its a town that still self segregates so badly that we had to bus kids across town just so our high schools would have ethnic diversity...and even still most kids of different races didnt associate with each other. Interracial dating was frowned upon and following 9/11 many Muslim shop owners had their businesses burned to the ground. The KKK was still very active, one of my best friends (a Hispanic girl) lived next door to the Grand Dragon who proudly displayed KKK paraphernalia on his front lawn.

Scary thing is, this town is but a few hours outside of San Francisco...and its not alone, there are many others like this all over the state and the country. Many of us live in educated Liberal bubbles unaware of how the rest of the country is. Maybe Im being pessimistic, but Ive lost a lot of faith in this country...people dont have a desire to be educated anymore because its deemed as being "elitist." Anyone seen the movie Idiocracy? Yeah, sadly that seems to be the way we are headed. A world where stupidity is praised and intelligence is mocked.

Im not saying I want the whole country to be Liberal...far from it actually, I believe in having a diverse range of politician views. BUT I believe everyone should pride themselves in being educated and aware. People dont even seem to know why they vote for the political party that they vote for and that is what truly makes me sad. I want to know when Americans stopped caring about intelligence and priding themselves in stupidity.

/rant

The rise of small town america in politics has corresponded with the decline of American power and innovation

Why is American Politics decided by our least educated, wealthy and those with the smallest world view?

This problem is going to become more pronounced in the coming years

I'm feeling some kinda ashamed. America is a mess right about now.

96thdayofrage,

Is the media just hyping up the campaign to make it seem closer than it really is?

I don't know about that. I hope that you're right, but all the polls generally seem to agree the race is split evenly.

Also we need look no further than the 2004 election to see that, yup, we just barely lost that one. 51/49 in favor of Bush. Why didn't Sen. Kerry win? Why was it so close?

If Obama really had the undeniable support of a clear majority of voters....why aren't the polls reflecting that?

Why isn't Obama commanding a 10, 15 or 20 point lead?

Let's be honest -- isn't that what we all thought should be happening by now? I know I thought that! So we have to look around and ask ourselves: why?

Why isn't Obama breaking away and pulling ahead?

Why would someone as inexperienced and literally unknown as Gov. Palin have such a significant impact on potential voters?

Is it because we're not calling enough cell phones whent he polls are done?

Is it because America is fundementally more Conservative then we ever thought?

Why is it that the biggest supporter of the most unpopular President in history -- who voted with that unpopular President 90 percent of the time -- is still capturing 50 percent of the vote according to polls?

Are all the polls flawed or do we have a fundemental misunderstanding of just how Conservative American has become over the last 8 years?

Just found this article, and it scares me even more.

http://current.com/items/89297185_sarah_palin_sambo_beat_the_bitch

I blame this on the continuous cycle of close-mindedness and hatred. I have lived in rural areas where almost every person is subjected to being cold and very skeptical of each other, and not open to new ideas because they feel new will obliterate the old and make them change the way they do things on a daily basis. Sometimes I sense fear in their voice and in their actions. Sad to say, but fear will make them vote a certain way as well.

Not only that, some people want to feel like they are personally connected to someone, and that shouldn't be the prime factor in voting for anyone. I think that elections should be impersonal with the issues of every American in the front of people's mind.

Oh yes...I love how ignorant and stubborn Americans can be

it really gives me hope for a better tomorrow

and if Obama was an elitist Muslim he wouldn't have said and emphasized the line "God bless the United States of America"

idiots

I guess if you go looking under enough rocks, something will creep out to validate your claims.

Still, where I live so near Klan Land there are just as many Obama signs in the trailer park as there are McCain signs. In some ares more! So, I don't buy that everyone broke, white, and easily scared of everything is voting against their best interests. I think stooges in the media are paid good money to scare the piss out of the gullible with stories just like this Salon crap. They need to keep this race close to keep ahead in the ratings. There are a lot of hispanics and asians with big ass Obama signs in their yards. This race is not as close as Murdoch's minions would have the world believe.

reading this article..breaks my heart..but it pisses me off at the same time...I just cant believe how close-minded these pple in this article are...but ill tell you i live in a "progressive" place i guess and i know pple who wont vote for obama b/c he is black or muslim..but they wont say it right out..they just come up with other excuses instead....very sad!

VERY AWESOME 80227!!!!!!!!!!!

Thats what i'm talking about!!!!! Look at that enthusiasm....its missing in politics nowdays.

BOTTOM LINE IS. Obama represents a lot of Change, McCain voters do not show it. Like i said....who the fuck would want to come to my tiny town? especially someone running for president??? BECAUSE IT NEEDS TO BE DONE. My town needs help.

I dont appreciate being looked down on for my opinion. Thats the only factor that WOULD bring current down. Haven't you seen the same principle in politics??

If you support Obama...make it more clear than that.

I wonder what Obama's campaign strategist are going to do to resolve this sitaution?

More propaganda and lies! I live in small town America. 7236 people more or less. Huge support here. We don't give a shit what color the truth comes in, only that it arrives. Don't believe everything you read!

I live in a small northern town and I too see racism and mccain signs yet I also see Obama signs and speak with folks who are not racist.

We can either believe that this article is the tipping point or we can work harder to get Obama elected.

My problem is I live in a state where Obama is pretty solid and will probably carry all the electoral votes.

We cannot give up or give in as the alternative is unthinkable.

I just read this article for the second time.

"An Elitist Muslim"?

W.T.F.?!

The only thing that is for sure is American voters are uneducated or ill informed

To put it nicely

First of all, I too live in a small southern town of less than 30,000. I see racism just about every day of my life, the town I live in is still clearly segregated as far as the ghettos and nicer neighborhoods go. My own parents have said they are not voting for Obama because he is black, and they make idiotic incoherent racist jokes about him with all of their friends, so I am well aware that kind of mindset exists and it's also prone to smaller towns.

That said, there's still a significant, and in my opinion, growing population of people in this town who are not following the paths of their parents. So I don't see the south being the way it is now, say, 30 years from now. I think once this last generation of baby boomers who grew up in the segregated south die out, true progression can begin.

Now onto the idea of the McCain bumper sticker thing, I know several individuals who, like me have not become bitter racists like their parents, and still are not melting over Obama. They support McCain or pehaps a third party, but it's absolutely not because of skin color.

I actually like this town. I believe it has terrific potential and it's annoying to see people over-generalize it.

Ah.

Some McCain supporters are trying to posion the well by trying to make the claim we are calling them racist for not supporting Obama's vision for our economy and foreign policy.

No true.

MY point in this thread was simply that the Republican worldview has won.

See, Republicans like to pretend that they are some oppressed minority heroically taking a stand against those evil commie liberals.

The reality is that the Conservatives have WON ALREADY!

They got everything they asked for....and more!

The majority (I would argue the overwhelming majority) of voters in this country believe every single thing McCain believes.

They are extreme anti-choice, hyper-religious....and embrace a bizzare form of exterme nationalism that allows them to ass rape foreign POW's and still go to Church on sunday with a clear conscious because, c'mon, everybody knows Muslims don't have souls like white, er, I mean, like Christians Americans do so therefore whatever you do to them is not a sin. Bust out the ball gags and the lube cuz we got some terrorists to "interrogate". Hee haw!

The Republicans have won. They won over America years ago. The Progressives just haven't realized it yet.

That does it! I'm moving to Canada, who's with me?

"It's also pretty bigoted to go into a small town, and call anyone with a McCain bumper sticker ignorant or a racist. Could it be possible that they simply don't support Obama for reasons other than his skin color? Come on Current, practice what you preach."

It is true, but being a semi journalist, documentarist, having traveled around the US and the world and having met with tons of people in this country, I can tell you that many times the underlying reason is the race. Troubling is that not only whites also a large number of latinos. Of course it could not be 100% but it is a good percentage in fact, the crappy fabricated idea that Obama is Muslim, its the excuse mostly used to disqualify him from the job, when the news had reported over and over that He is not.

America preaches that it represents the melting pot, now they have a qualified person that depicts exactly that, Obama is in fact a direct representation of the diversity that is US. It is time to move on and accept the reality the will undoubtedly be the future of this country.

I could almost laugh at these people if I wasn't about to cry.

I am willing to bet these are the same Americans that do not read books.

if you support mccain and aren't a millionaire, you're ignorant to the truth.
the real question is, how bad does it have to get before people are willing to stop being ignorant?
from the sound of it, much worse than it is now.

think about that for awhile.

okay thornman. i live in this small town, i didnt just pass through yesterday. when i said biggoted...i was talking about those quotes up there in the story. Im not going to take every McCain supporter as a chicken hawk. Besides.....its not like im new to the racist outlooks of people---half of my family is southern and they are racist. they will tell you they are. So, yes the bumper sticker sporting McCain supporters probably like what that guy is saying---

I Dont.

Since i'm on current and i can say my opinion no matter what it is........my town has had HUGE problems with the housing situation. I read somewhere that it is one of the biggest spots for realty corruption and all that. I even lost my 2nd job not too long ago because people cant afford a one story Million Dollar house, so i had no sales to record there. MY POINT IS-----If i could guess why Obama picked my measly, crack head infested town is because he wants to address our housing situation. THATS REAL AND DEMONSTRATES CHANGE. No offense but i'm sick of trying to find a one bedroom apartment for under 700 bucks a month.

Generalizing millions of people based on a few interviews is always fun.

Its true over half of America are complete morons.I think we should just split the country in two, the intelligent half and the stupid redneck half. america is going down in flames and all people care about is religion and skin color. who cares if you cant relate to him what the hell does that have to do with anything. your a dumb redneck you wouldn't relate to any presidential nominee.i cant wait for all these old racist rednecks to die. unfortunately they don't believe in protection or abortion so there having 10X as many kids as the intelligent people so we are really screwed. I say civil war we get lasers they get rocks and shovels.

It's also pretty bigoted to go into a small town, and call anyone with a McCain bumper sticker ignorant or a racist. Could it be possible that they simply don't support Obama for reasons other than his skin color? Come on Current, practice what you preach.

Unless you actually know people from small towns, this article is pretty easy to believe in its entirety.

I know people from small towns and a few tell me they know the Bush administration is full of sh@t. Of course some people buy into the racist propoganda, but some know better.

Poll results will always depend on the people being polled!!

Unfortunately That only shows what I have been saying all along, Middle America is ignorant and by default racist. Its up to the new voters to change this radically.

I live in a relatively small town (Grand Junction Co) and i can see this true. You wouldn't believe how many McCain bumper stickers are floating around here. Those people listed above need to quit being biggoted, its unbelievably ignorant.

BUT----I was REALLY happy to see in my newspaper today that Obama's coming to my town on Monday!!!!!! That Blows My mind!!!!! I dont see McCain making an effort to notice the background voters, i hope Monday changes a lot of peoples minds about Obama. He's already got my vote!!!!

Okay, college crowd. This is what you're up against.
Do the right thing and shut these ignorant fools up, once and for all, with the power of your votes.

It's amazing that in 2008 we still have people acting like it's 1958, with the I ain't votin' for no "ni##er" attitude. And they think that he is a Muslim, it just reminds you how little the average person wants to think for themselves and is so scared of change.

They just want the same thing, a rich, old white guy scared of change.

It's wide spread ignorance at it's finest.

I can't believe all small-town Americans believe everything they are told, so why are they acting like it?

Rush Limbaugh paved the way, but,

I blame Fox news.

sadly, we'll get the president we deserve...

What the Salon.com interviews with rural America shows us is that we, the Progressives, have been fooled.

Hollywood has always shown America in a light that made it seem as if the American Ideals of Truth, Justice, Equality and Compassion were the mainstream opinion.

What if its really not?

What if Bill O’Reilly is drawing in tens of millions of viewers not because Rupert Murdoch somehow “tricked” them into tuning in, but rather people are tuning in because they really think that way?

Up until now Democrats and Progressives have been operating under the assumption that their views and values are held by the overwhelming majority of people in the US and if we could just motivate enough people to vote our candidates would win.

But what if we aren’t in the majority anymore?

What if the reason there was no mass marches on Washington demanding universal healthcare or an end to the abuses of our civil liberties or an end to the torture (ass-raping) of POW’s held at Gitmo….is because the majority actually doesn’t care?

What if creationism really is the majority belief right now?

What if an extreme anti-abortion position really is the majority belief right now?

What if homophobia really is the majority position right now?

What if rampant nationalism and xenophobia really are the majority opinions right now?

What if Progressives values became the minority position years ago….but we just didn’t realize it?

Is the war for Americas soul already over and we've been blissfully unaware that Rush Limbaugh won years ago?