Obama’s associations are far wider than that, and either you know that or you know very about him.

“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.”

In regards to authenticity, given Obama’s speeches on faith, and the fact that he has delved in protectionism, and that he promises to dwelve further into it if elected; your interpretation of what exactly that gaffe meant doesn’t pan out.

He did not say it was wrong for people to “cling” to any of the things in his list, though he is pro-gun control, and his stated views and proximate phrasology, “antipathy”, regarding what should be done about illegal immigrants convey that he is more sympathic to those immigrants than you are. Rather than an attack, I think that his statement was meant to be an explanation. And when he mentioned religion, I think he meant anti-gay and pro-life evangelical beliefs as opposed to just faith in god.