Charlotte Observer Editorial: '08 Matchup "Rednecks vs. Elites"

A really fine editorial from the Observer that summarizes the culture war ramifications of the presidential election:

With the nomination of Sarah Palin, presidential politics is no longer a battle of economic policies and national security; it's a Saturday night brawl between the Rednecks and the Elites.

On the left, we have the smugly smiling, smarter-than-thou, Ivy Leaguers. On the right, we have the gun- slinging, God-toting, cowboys.

Make that cow girls.

Like all caricatures, the elitist and the redneck are based on partial truths, but there's enough substance to justify some of the contempt from both sides. Obama does have that little chin-lifted, smile-down-his-nose, teacher-pet look that says, “I know more than you.” Palin does exude the kind of biblical certitude last observed in a president by the name of George W. Bush.

It was Obama who said that some small-town Americans, embittered by a lack of jobs and government accountability, “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.”

A big game hunter like Palin couldn't ask for better ammo. She knows that her neighbors don't cling to guns or religion because there's nothing left on which to hang their hopes. They cling to guns to hunt and to protect their families; and they cling to religion because they believe in a power higher than themselves.

It's worth reading in entirety.