To the editor:

OK, call me an elitist. I live in Lawrence, can use words like disingenuous in a sentence, and I’m not outraged by Barack Hussein Obama’s remarks about bitterness and frustration in rural America. Though, as he concedes, what he said was not well-worded, I think the man is on to something.

I read the Journal-World daily. In it I’ve read about dying Kansas towns, struggling Kansas farmers and ranchers and the loss of good aircraft industry jobs. For decades it’s been clear that bright, well-educated young people are Kansas’ most important export. These conditions are not unique to Kansas.

The letters section of the paper, even here in liberal Lawrence, frequently contains expressions of bitterness and frustration at “Washington.” Some feel undeserving people are being granted “advantages” and “special rights,” others sense plots to take away their guns or force them to marry someone of the same sex, not to mention the refusal to put an end to the aborting of millions of the pre-born.

Both Clinton and McCain have charged that Obama is “out of touch” and “elitist.” Hillary’s pouncing response may result from her desperation to finally have the nomination in her grasp or from a millionaire’s idyllic view of the simple life. But McCain’s accusation, if not downright cynical, is disingenuous at best. After all, for at least the last several election cycles, McCain’s party and its “advocacy groups” have worked diligently to exploit this very bitterness and frustration to their advantage.

Ruth Hull,

Lawrence