If all this weren't enough to make us wonder whether Obama has issues with America, he made sure we know when telling us that small-town Americans, because of their bitterness about economic hardship, cling to religion, guns and hostility toward immigrants.

With such distorted perceptions about his fellow citizens, it's no wonder Obama appears bitter and angry at this nation. Given his experience with hostility emanating from his own pastor's pulpit, it's not surprising that he sees Middle America through that jaundiced prism and jumps to the perverse conclusion that small-town Americans turn to God out of bitterness. Obama has some nerve presuming to lecture the rest of us about prejudice and being out of touch with what people think.

Obama couldn't be more wrong about what motivates people to seek a relationship with God. Though this may not compute for the liberation-theology mindset, it seems to me people turn to God in humble repentance, seeking forgiveness for their own sins and shortcomings rather than validation for their bitterness and permission to continue sinning. They go in pursuit of that "hope" Obama waxes so eloquently about, but they tend to place their reliance on God rather than government as the source of their hope.

More and more, when Obama talks about the alleged "antipathy" people have toward "people who aren't like them," one can't help but speculate whether he's projecting his own feelings of antipathy and bitterness toward others and the nation.

Even Obama's slick tongue will have difficulty deflecting the conclusion that his assessment of God-loving Americans as embittered, gun-toting nativists is of a piece with his wife's regrettable remarks and the disturbing fulminations of his beloved pastor.

If Obama wants to hold himself out as a tolerant, colorblind uniter, he should do a far better job of walking that walk.