Now I’m bitter. I wasn’t bitter before Barack Obama said that people in small towns are bitter. But since he’s the “candidate for change” I now realize that I should change and become bitter.

Of course he said that bitter people turn to religion or guns. So, I’m not sure which way to go on that one. I don’t like guns, but maybe I could get the one they pulled from the “cold, dead hands” of Charlton Heston recently.

And when it comes to religion, that’s a personal choice. But it’s somewhat scary since the religious right is apparently the reason George W. Bush in the White House. This country hasn’t had a prayer since he took office.

OK, I’m just kidding. I’m not really bitter about anything. And I don’t overreact when people say things that the TV talking heads love to jump on.

But are people in small towns bitter?

Why should they be bitter because they can’t afford to put gas in their cars while companies like Exxon are making billions of dollars?

Why should they be bitter that their sons and daughters are getting sent to Iraq to die or be maimed in a civil war that we started and we can’t win?

Why should they be bitter that as senior citizens they have to decide whether to pay for medicine or put food on the table?

Why should they be bitter that most of the people we put in Congress like Phil English are pretty much worthless when it comes to helping their constituents?

Why should they be bitter that we don’t really get the best people in our country running for president because they don’t want the headaches?

Why should they be bitter that the people that do run for office make promises that you know there is no way they can keep?

The only problem with Obama’s comment about bitterness, is that he is supposed to be the candidate for hope. It’s pretty hard to preach hope when you think people are bitter.

And on top of the Rev. Wright stuff, where Obama apparently “forgot” some of the anti-American comments Wright had made, we don’t really know much about where he truly stands.

One of the best comments at the recent Democratic debate in Philadelphia was made by Hillary Clinton who admitted that she had “baggage.” But we all know what her baggage is. She has pretty much been through the media wringer over the years.

We don’t know about Obama. And if he gets the Democratic nod for president, the Republican smear machine will go to work.