Just as it is probably true that no good deed goes unpunished, so too is it fair to say that on the campaign trail no attempt at candor goes undemagogued by one’s opponents.

In recent days, Democratic presidential candidate, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama has had his head handed to him for committing two of the most cardinal sins one can commit on the stump.

First he spoke, with unabashed premeditation, the truth. Next, he had the audacity of hope to treat voters as if they were mature and intelligent enough to understand what he was saying. Uh-oh.

And for that, he has been accused of “elitism” by both his Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain, both of whom have been part of the Washington “elite” for more than three decades. Go figure.

Even worse for Obama, he made his remarks in San Francisco, which the drive-by bloviators regard as more communistic than Ho Chi Minh City.

But what really was Obama’s so-called gaffe?

We hear politicians claim constantly about how they offer straight talk, an honest view, unabashed candor. And when they do, the pol gets slapped around like Curly Howard.

In speaking to a group of supporters at a fund-raiser, Obama observed he had sensed a growing feeling of anxiety among the electorate, noting: “And it’s not surprising then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them, or anti-immigrant sentiment, or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

And they problem with the truth is ...?

This is probably why I would make for a lousy political consultant, because if I were advising Obama, my only advice would be that the senator didn’t go far enough.

Does anybody seriously doubt there isn’t a wave of anger, discontent and yes bitterness out there among the voting public?

We are bogged down in a debacle in Iraq, which was based on a tissue of lies and has cost more than 4,000 American lives, more than 30,000 casualties and has displaced almost five million Iraqis.

The war and occupation has been administered by a level of incompetence rivaling Laurel and Hardy trying to push a piano up a flight of stairs. More than $18 billion in taxpayer monies have been lost to corrupt Iraqis officials and indeed in some instances has been used to fund the insurgency.

Economists estimate the ultimate financial price for George Bush’s phony war in Iraq with cost three trillion dollars - and that money will be borrowed.

Bitter? You better believe it.

In 2002, oil cost around $25-a-barrel. It is now $110-a-barrel, helping to fuel a recession.

Americans are losing their jobs and their homes to foreclosure.

It costs more to fill your tank, buy a loaf of bread or send your kid to school.

Bitter? Duh!

It is also true that in difficult times, people in small towns and large cities tend to turn more inwardly to their faiths.

Church attendance spiked in the weeks and months after the terrorists attacks of Sept. 11.

And it also true that in times of economic uncertainly, when people worry about their jobs, their futures, those fears are often self-defensively directed toward all manner of groups or issues.

Flip around the radio dial at almost any given moment and the anti-immigrant blabbering is cacophonous. Barack Obama simply dared to call attention to it.

It is certainly probable Obama’s remarks may well damage his poll numbers and perhaps even widen the gap of his likely defeat in the upcoming Pennsylvania primary.

No doubt, for the Obama camp that will be a disappointing, but hardly a bitter moment.

For how can you be bitter when you’re right?