George,

The teachings of Jesus Christ came at a time of brutal occupation by the Romans, religion offered hope, a balm from the never ending repression of the conquerors. His teachings reassured many of the oppressed that their spiritual beliefs outweighed the transitory world of the oppressors. By the biblical evidence of the "multitudes" that gathered to hear his message, it seems there were many in need of a voice of understanding and hope for a better life in exchange for their faith.

There is little difficulty, in my opinion, understanding what Barack Obama was saying about the forgotten and despairing human beings in villages and towns who have seen little gain from an economy that seemed to offer so much to so many - the rising tide never raised their boats - more than anything, it left them high and dry.

Back in the nineteen sixties, as part of my job with General Motors, I traveled in areas of West Virginia where coal was no longer "king". I saw people who were bitter and miserable, in fact, it was corporate policy not to drive "fancy" cars in this area in an effort to reduce possible resentment.... But, I also noticed that religion, some very bizarre, like snake handling, was a very important part of the lives of these people. In fact, just about the only construction I saw at that time, was small village churches.

Those ubiquitous three crosses were seen on virtually every hill all over the state.

Later, in Kanawha County, West Virginia, a level of religious fanaticism centered around "purging" the school libraries of "dirty books", though religion was the justification, violence broke out with arson and gun toting "believers" out to save the children.

These weren't bad people, they just saw "society" as having turned its back on them, government as a source of pain and not help.

People who had once worked hard in the mines, now unemployed, now thought of as human refuse with no hope, no future. Little education for alternatives.

Misery, guns and religion were the common denominator - religion to give a level of spiritual security, guns to give a level of "worldly"security.

John F Kennedy saw this as he campaigned in West Virginia, he was as good as his word in offering help when he assigned FDR Jr. to form the Appalachia Commission to try to bring and end to this grinding poverty and misery.

Maybe, Barack Obama could have made a better choice of words, but, I think he is dead on in his observation.

I think if I were Hillary Clinton or John McCain - with her 109 million dollars and his life of affluence and abundance, I'd be careful using the word "elitist".

Harry Tenney (Electronic mail, April 14, 2008)