People on the internet are no different from others in jumping to the conclusion that when they consider something offensive, it was intended to offend them. So, for example, there's considerable outrage over the little video, attributed to the McCain campaign, which insinuates that the Democratic presumptive nominee for President of the United States is arrogant, while the Republican presumptive nominee presumes to know for a fact that the Obama campaign is playing the "race card." Many who have seen the video have been inclined to conclude that making sport of their candidate is designed to somehow dampen their interest and support.

But what if it's not? What if, what is often identified as a Rovian tactic, actually plays to the Republican base and whoever else is inclined to feel resentment?

Just because it's good to know what's being discussed, have a look at the video over the fold.

If the embed link no longer seems to work; the Youtube URL should.

But first, since the candidate himself (John McCain) doesn't actually endorse the message, let me concede the possibility that this was some rogue effort, not connected to the official campaign.

That said, while the symbols being represented (the American eagle, the men on Mount Rushmore, lady liberty and Benjamin Franklin) represent positives to many progressives, conservatives may well see them as something else. So, what might, at first glance, seem to be an effort to suggest that Obama is over-reaching, even though he himself has gone out of his way to emphasize his humble beginnings, may actually be sending an entirely different message to those who are prepared to receive it--i.e. that Obama is part of a historical development that many people don't like.

Who doesn't like the American eagle, you might well ask? Well, the people who are keen on hunting and shooting whatever comes into their sights, for one. From where they sit, the environmentalists, protecting the eagles and snail darters and other worthless creatures, are simply interfering with their rights. And Obama's one of them.

But the men on Mt.Rushmore! Surely no-one objects to them. Well, Washington's still OK, but Jefferson and Lincoln are tainted by their racial associations and the Roosevelt up on the mountain was another one of those environmentalists, while the other one brought on big government.

And then there's that Lady Liberty! She was sent to us by the French, don't you know--some of those Europeans that are always interfering with the American way. And that invitation to the immigrants inscribed on her base is way out of date.

See, that was easy. All kinds of resentments tapped into by those few symbols. Things mean different things to different people.

The hundred dollar bill is more complicated, which may be why Obama singled it out as a sign of cynicism. That's a strange word, but he's learned from his experience with "bitter" that simple is not necessarily better. Though he obviously knows of what he speaks. Bitter is what you get from an overload of resentments; cynic is what you are once you realize that resentments don't take you anywhere.

So, maybe what Obama should have said is that the McCain crowd is resentful. But, boy, would that open a can of worms. What do they have to be resentful about? And what does it have to do with a hundred dollar bill?

Lots. Let's start with the fact that the majority of Americans never see a hundred dollar bill, unless they're high rollers or using coke, or both. So, that's an unsavory association right there. Then there's the fact that even a hundred dollars is worth less and less and when it takes that much to fill up a tank, the gas station won't accept the bill and the credit card won't let you go over that amount. (Did you know that to fill up the tank of a suburban, you have to do two transactions? Ain't that a kick in the pants?)

And finally, there's that deep resentment against special interests. How's that connected to the currency? Well, in addition to African Americans being resentful that women and homosexuals and Hispanics and the physically handicapped often seem to have gotten more benefit from the civil rights struggle than those who engaged in it and won, everybody's a little resentful of the "accommodations" being made in the workplace on behalf of the handicapped. It's not that they're jealous; it's that ordinary folk and, especially, the proprietors of small business are being inconvenienced without getting any benefit for themselves. And now, though this may not yet be widely known, because of a court decision that the uniform size of our paper currency makes it impossible for blind people to distinguish a one from a five or a ten or a twenty or even a hundred dollar bill, the greenback, which is hardly green anymore, has to be redesigned.

Our currency is going to have to come in different sizes, like the French. And whom is it going to affect? Not the people who use only plastic and rely on other people to do their accounts. No, it's going affect the cash economy--what some market analysts and politicians refer to as the "underground economy," without which, if we didn't have it to absorb the irrational behavior of the Wall Street boys, we'd be a whole lot worse off.

You see, Rove and his minions don't have to generate resentment. It's already there. They just have to send the same message Bill Clinton used, "I care." That they won't do anything to change that resentment to maybe hope is beside the point. The resentful class doesn't want any help. They're cynics. They've seen it all.

So, the only question is how many of them are there and will they go to vote? Will John McCain's promise to bash somebody else's head in be persuasive? For some reason, "misery likes company," so the resentful class may actually consider the prospect of really sticking it to "those foreigners" a positive.

Oddly enough, resentful people aren't greedy. Indeed, their ambitions are quite modest and many would probably be satisfied with just a little sympathy. "Tea and Sympathy" and a little tenderness thrown in wouldn't hurt. Of course, in that department, Obama's got it way over the Republican. That is, if the presumptive becomes the actual nominee.