3 Years After Bitter-People-Clinging-to-Guns Speech, Obama Creates ‘Rural Council’ Thursday, June 09, 2011 By Fred Lucas Barack Obama in Iowa Barack Obama, during the 2008 presidential campaign, stumps in Adel, Iowa. (AP photo/Charlie Niebergall) (CNSNews.com) - President Barack Obama, who during the 2008 campaign famously referred to small town Americans as bitter people clinging to guns and religion, today issued an executive order establishing a White House Rural Council. The council will be chaired by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, a former Democratic governor of Iowa. Iowa—and other northern Midwest states—have been key swing states in recent presidential elections. “Strong rural...