Right now I'm listening to the Governor of Alaska do her patented faux-folksy (fauxlksy?) act in Elko, NV. It's an act that grates me like no other. People from small town "middle America" do not speak like morons. People from small towns do not speak in goofy aphorisms any more than anyone else speaks in goofy aphorisms. This act is not charming. It's transparently contrived. It's offensive.

Below is a picture of an audience in Chariton, Iowa listening to Barack Obama at a "town hall" during the lead-up to the Iowa Caucus.

Do any of these people look like the "aw shucks, you betcha" blithering moron type? I don't think so either.

There are a lot of reasons why I will vote for Barack Obama today. There are a lot of reasons why he will win today. One of the reasons for both my vote and his victory is that Obama does not think of and speak to people as if people are caricatures. Obama has respect for people - he doesn't think of us as rubes.

Photo from the awesome Callie Shell set.