Wow...Cali turning to Webster's to defend the word "cling". Close your dictionary and listen to the connotation. It reflects a lack of choice, a lack of real thought, and a sense of desperation. We can argue back and forth but if you're honest with yourself, you know exactly what it connotes. If you happen to be one of the few who doesn't sense this, it's not really worth discussing, as it's a simple fact that many HAVE been offended by it. But truly--I hope Obama (and you and the rest of his supporters) continues to brush it off; we'll see how well that works for him.
Clinging to God is a very different thing from clinging to a religion. Clinging to God (or the iron rod, etc) is a personal choice, a personal spirituality, that is to be respected and admired. Clinging to a religion reflects a lack of personal commitment and a desperation to belong to a group. So, no, I don't think Obama intended the phrase as complimentary of small-town "folk" as he later claimed. To hammer the point home, he couches it in between two other similar coping mechanisms (in his mind)--guns and xenophobia.
Or maybe he finds these qualities endearing as well. Wow...maybe he isn't just another Ted Kennedy liberal.
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