I'll keep reading Amos and I shouldn't be shooting from the hip, but this strikes me as somewhat analogous to Jimmy Carter's famously imprudent "malaise" comments. Obama should have this thought through by now, since he wrote the Audacity of Hope. Rural, working class, or dispossessed sorts don't need to be told what's wrong with them, and that we'll help them up (and help them to straighten out their thought processes!) They need to be told they've survived tough times and we will work together to make things better for everyone.