This is nonsense. Middle america is not xenophobic at all. It has only nice things to say about non-americans, loves everything european, and is fascinated by exotic cultures.
Obama’s comments, regardless of their validity, show an appalling lack of political acumen and respect for the electorate.
He also exhibits a total lack of leadership ability. Leaders, like Lincoln or Reagan or Thatcher, inspire people by appealing to their sense of self respect or fairness or patriotism. (Some leaders appeal to people's baser instincts, like Hitler or Pol Pot.) In any case, Obama demands that people follow him, merely because he's better than them. His greatest appeal is an amorphous, anodyne and glib personality into whose protean form onlookers pour whatever preconceptions they bring.