Campaign head David Axelrod commented that Barack Obama can, in essence write, off white working-class voters because “[t]he white working class has gone to the Republican nominee for many elections, going back even to the Clinton years.” It’s rather stunning that Obama seems disinclined to worry about his poor showing with these voters.

Aside from the absurd double standard that allows a Democrat to brush off an entire segment of the population with no media backlash (a thought experiment: imagine if Rick Davis, John McCain’s chieftan, had said, “We don’t need any Hispanics; they’ve been voting Democratic for a while now.”) Axelrod’s claim is wrong–or at least sexist. White women–even when working-class–in particular have stuck by Democrats.

Obama lost among the voters Axelrod dismissed by more than 30 points in Pennsylvania. The reality is that the candidate’s base, built largely on African Americans and college kids, may well fall apart over the course of his national campaign. And telling dependable Democratic voters you don’t care about them isn’t going to help matters.