Analysis of Obama Pennsylvania Religion and Guns Comments.

MUNCIE, Indiana (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday tried to clarify what he meant when he said some small-town Pennsylvanians are "bitter" people who "cling to guns and religion."

TPJ: Here are the exact comments, "You go into some of 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, an Illinois senator, said.

"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.

TPJ: Obama admitted that his words were poorly chosen, "I didn't say it as well as I should have," Obama admitted in Muncie, Indiana, on Saturday, the day after he first defended his comments, "because the truth is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation -- those are important." TPJ: I think using "cling" wasn't the right word to use, It was poorly chosen. I think the word that he was looking for was something along the lines of "rely." And who isn't bitter about the economy and other issues right now in America? Here is a clip of
Obama clarifying what he meant. Let me say this, Obama's comments aren't that far from the truth and that isn't necessarily bad. I live in a rural area of Colorado and know plenty of people who have guns and a strong faith in religion. Indeed people do rely upon what they know in troubling times. We take faith in our religions/spirituality and a lot of gun owners that I know out here correctly defend their right to own guns. I honestly do not think that Obama is against guns and certainly not against religion, he's very religious himself after all.

And many of those gun owners are rightly concerned about the over-reaching power of the federal government and are ready to defend themselves against anyone attempting to take away their freedoms. I think that a lot of people (gun owners or not) are suspicious of the federal government these days. And in economic hard times people are more worried about their physical security and ready to defend themselves against crime that often goes up during financially unstable days.

Plus, many people rely upon their guns in a depressed economy for extra food. I know plenty of folks who hunt deer out here to help keep food costs down given the economy over the last few years. You can keep and store deer meat for long periods of time and it's definitely cheaper than buying beef.

As for the anti-immigrant comment, many people somewhat rightly blame illegal immigrants for a shrinking job pool and this is a historical pattern. There has always be tension over jobs whenever America has experienced a wave of immigration. It doesn't mean that people are wrong or bad to be concerned, it just means that people always try to find reasons behind why they are experiencing hard times. It's not a class thing, people of all economic levels look to familiar beliefs and values when faced with an uncertain future.

And all of us are suspicious of people who aren't like us from time to time. It's human nature to think this way. I don't think that Obama was trying to say that it is only small town Americans who feel this way nor that ALL of small town Americans feel this way.

This elitist label is going to far in my opinion. If he is an elitist then why is he the populist candidate? Ninety percent of his donations are coming from average, working class Americans. It's not the big donors giving the $10, $20 donations. Also, if he is an elitist then how is Hillary not an elitist with her hundreds of millions of dollars who has been living in a bubble world since being First Lady? And John McCain isn't your average person either, he is also worth a ton of money and has been entrenched in the club-like Senate for decades.

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