April 13, 2013
Yes, People Do Cling To Guns And Religion
In April 2008, then Senator Barack Obama got into a bit of political trouble. Referring to working-class voters, the presidential hopeful said, “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.” This statement caused an immediate and lasting backlash. Ultimately he got past it, won the Democratic primary and then the presidency. And to this day, the common wisdom is that Obama was wrong when he made this statement. But was he?
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