This "Bittergate" stuff is soooo going to resonate.

[Liberal Veteran]

Why do you think Obama's message of change and especially hope as a theme to his campaign is so compelling?

It's because people are bitter! People are bitter on both sides really.

Anyone outside the 29% that worships Bush is probably feeling somewhat bitter if not very bitter.

Towns being decimated by NAFTA. Houses being foreclosed on. Real wages stagnant. Gas prices brutal. 4000 dead servicemen in a war that has been going on longer than WW2 with no end in sight. A health care crisis. People wondering if their children are going to continue the downward spiral of not doing better than their parents despite going to college and working full time. There is still a gaping hole where the WTC was. CEOs bankrupting companies and blaming it workers who put more productivity into their jobs and get less in return. School shootings. Same CEOs leaving ruined company Aging population feeling their best years and America's best years are behind them. Families stretched the point of breaking by long deployments. An economy on the brink of collapse. An aging infrastructure. Food prices soaring. A city drowning seen in every tv in the nation. Torture in our names. Government spying on us while demanding the right to be as secretive as they choose.

If you aren't a little bitter and resentful, you are either VERY lucky or a complete moron.

Bitterness is not despair. You don't give up hope and you don't give up literally either. Guess what? Most of the country thinks things suck pretty hard right now.

Some people do channel their bitterness the wrong way. It was tapping into that allowed the right wing to solidify it's hold on the country for awhile. People seeking empowerment don't always pick the best things to symbolize their search. Some people go for the militia type thing. Some go for solace at the church. Some do give up altogether. Some go for blaming a specific group of people and rationalizing why those people are responsible for all bad things (illegals, gays, blacks, jews, whatever).

But most of us don't go down that wrong path. Obama resonates with the people because he represents something that is positive; change that WE THE PEOPLE, who are pretty damned bitter and fed up and make up the majority of people right now, get to make which in turn gives us our sense of empowerment back and a chance at a better future.

It's bitterness at the way things have turned out for our country that is driving hundreds of thousands of people to register for the first time to have an opportunity to make a real impact on the direction we choose.

Bored and contented people don't pack auditoriums to see politicians who talk about change. Bored and contented people don't turn out in record numbers to vote in primaries and caucuses.

So you really think that using the word "bitter" is going to be Obama's downfall? Something is different about this election. The sleeping giant is restless and there is someone who really inspires people to pay attention and not believe the spin of the old order.

Bitter, angry, discontented, mad, frustrated....there are any number of words that can be applied to the national mood.

And where do most bitter people go? To a place that offers hope.

Think and chew on that.