We won't be piercing this 'bubble.'

that rural Americans don't understand the causes of their own situations and fears and they have shown no interest in finding out."

That is heartbreakingly true.

"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."

Truth.

That lot hasn't bothered to move the needle in decades and now they're gripping about being passed over.

As a pragmatist understanding the need to sometimes just do what works, I won't cross a politician completely off the list just for (briefly) spouting this garbage, but it puts a HUGE question mark and frowny face by his name.

Born in rural Wisconsin, the term "fly over country" sounds demeaning, even if it is true that where I grew up is no ones destination. Extraction of wealth from these areas after the stealing of the land from Native nations-- deforestation, mining, big agribusiness--contributed to the glory and wealth of the cities.

I agree with president Obama's characterization and with the point of your post. But Personally the "fly over" dig really rankles, and reduces the complexity of the historical ethnic and economic relationships between the "desirable" and "undesirable" destinations in our country.

and I agree . I resent that phrase and I grew up 20 miles from the Pacific.It is totally elitist and totally disrepectful. People who use this line are unthinking,insecure, jackasses..

and he talks just like me! and he hates obama. i HATE obama. I HATE THE CLINTONS. 30+ years of MEDIA BRAINWASHINGING. huzah!

I grew up in this, in a small town that's home to one hell of a lot more peeling paint and payday loan stores than in years past. It's still doing OK, thanks largely to the presence of lots of edumucated kids at the local university.

Go half an hour east, to the next county seat over, and what was a thriving town (manufacturing, railroad division point) is really getting scabby and run down. Count the meth arrests, count the Trump/Pence signs - plenty of both.

There are parts of this country where that's all there is to listen to. It's like brain washing.

There's unlimited power and money espousing that credo

And it's not just the stereotypical confederate state protestants who used the Bible to argue that God found slavery acceptable, but also self-identified "conservative" Lutheran, Catholic, Mormons, etc.. What they all have in common is that anti-intellectualism is essential to their faith. The Republican Party has learned how to play these people.

The RW radio propaganda has been driving their views relentlessly, 24/7 for almost 50 years. That's a generation and a half hearing nothing but the monolithic message of threat, fear and scapegoating. As a result of this psychic driving, their understanding of the world is more warped and one-sided than a Scientologist or a Moonie.

They were continuously force-fed this toxic worldview for decade after decade, and it has literally changed their thought patterns. They are incapable of seeing the world we see. And now we blame them for not being able to wake themselves up.

It isn't limited to Christians, either. You see in all the most regressive offshoots of every world religion. They want to indoctrinate their kids because it's the only way to keep them in their kooky religion.

And, in a more mainstream way, so do these rural areas. If the kids go off to college and learn something, they will also learn that there is nothing for them back in their small town. It is an age-old story, the subject of literature and movies since they began.

The exception might be college towns with their concentration of educated people.

These towns also know that higher education tends to make people more liberal, not less. They go to college and they might learn that gay people are not, in fact, demons.

But, while I tend to agree that rural America is its own bubble, not every town everywhere is like this. There are plenty of exceptions and those are usually places with universities, or with close to other, larger cities that serve as bedroom communities.