The language Obama used in his bittergate talk was obviously unfortunate, but it’s worth remembering that he was making a very serious point–that Democratic policies are far more helpful to small town Americans than Republican policies, but that the right successfully deploys cultural warfare to prevent those economic policies from resonating with voters. To see these remarks then turned on Obama by a campaign tailored almost exclusively to the needs of the very rich is surreal. Sarah Palin was basically saying, “Watch us hoodwink you the way Obama said we’d hoodwink you, and watch you all eat it up.”

Or maybe not. For all the plaudits heaped on her speech today, I actually think most voters will see it as excessively partisan and angry, and substance-free. Americans recognize that these are serious times–too serious for the sleight of hand the Republicans are trying to pull.