Barack Obama’s comments on culture have got him into trouble. Sounds like he doesn’t fully understand how culture and politics interact, which is sad I guess. But then what politicians really do in a positive sense? After all the culture of mainstream politics is itself I believe in a difficult position to really understand the varied culture people in the real world live in day to day. I’m sure that’s what in reality puts a lot of bright people off going into politics. I know I’d rather channel my desire for change through social networking and cultural change where you have a better chance of connecting with individuals in a real two-way conversation.

Obama made the remarks at a closed-door fundraiser in San Francisco last Sunday – before a very different crowd from those he has been courting in Pennsylvania and Indiana – after he was asked why he was not doing better in Pennsylvania. (SF Chronicle)

“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them,” Obama responded, according to a transcript of the fundraiser published Friday on the Huffington Post.

“And it’s not surprising then 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,” he said.