http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/13/obama.clinton/
Quote:
MUNCIE, Indiana (CNN) -- Sen. Barack Obama on Saturday tried to clarify what he meant when he said some small-town Pennsylvanians are "bitter" people who "cling to guns and religion."
Sen. Barack Obama told a newspaper if he offended anyone, he deeply regrets it.
"I didn't say it as well as I should have," Obama admitted in Muncie, Indiana, on Saturday, the day after he first defended his comments, "because the truth is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation -- those are important."
The Illinois senator made the controversial comments at a California event that was closed to the media last Sunday.
Obama defended his point of view amid intensified criticism from Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain that's he's elitist and out of touch.
"Obviously, if I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that," Obama said Saturday in an interview with the Winston-Salem Journal, according to a transcript provided by his campaign. Video Watch how the 'bitter' battle is playing out on the trail »
"The underlying truth of what I said remains, which is simply that people who have seen their way of life upended because of economic distress are frustrated and rightfully so," he told the North Carolina newspaper. "And I hear it all the time when I visit these communities."
Clinton, speaking in Indianapolis, said she was "taken back" by what she referred as "demeaning remarks" about "small-town" Americans.
"Sen. Obama's remarks are elitist and out of touch. They are not reflective of values and beliefs of Americans, certainly not the Americans I know, not the Americans I grew up with, not the Americans I lived with in Arkansas or represent in New York," the senator from New York said.
She said Americans who believe in the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, "believe it's a matter of constitutional right." And she said "Americans who believe in God believe it's a matter of personal faith."
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Tucker Bounds -- spokesman for McCain, the senator from Arizona -- also said that the reverence for faith and the Second Amendment in the United States are "cornerstone customs" and that Obama's "dismissal of those values is revealing."
"Barack Obama's elitism allows him to believe that the American traditions that have contributed to the identity and greatness of this country are actually just frustrations and bitterness."
Obama told the Muncie audience that the back-and-forth between him and his rivals is "typical."
His campaign emphasized that the "traditions" Obama referred to in his remarks are those of gun ownership and religion. Obama added that those traditions are "what sustains us."
Obama also labeled the dust-up that's developed as "a little typical sort of political flare-up" because, as he contends, he said something that "everybody knows is true."
The Democratic candidate continued to maintain -- as he did Friday night after the initial story began to circulate -- that people are frustrated because Washington isn't listening to the average American.
"There are a whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana, in my home town in Illinois who are bitter. They are angry."
"When you're bitter, you turn to what you can count on," Obama said, adding that they then turn to voting "about guns" and "taking comfort" in their faith and family.
"That's a natural response."
Obama's original comments were posted Friday on the Web site Huffingtonpost.com. Video Watch how the firestorm started »
"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. ...
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"And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not," he said.
"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," he also said.
Sen. Barack Obama told a newspaper if he offended anyone, he deeply regrets it.
"I didn't say it as well as I should have," Obama admitted in Muncie, Indiana, on Saturday, the day after he first defended his comments, "because the truth is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation -- those are important."
The Illinois senator made the controversial comments at a California event that was closed to the media last Sunday.
Obama defended his point of view amid intensified criticism from Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain that's he's elitist and out of touch.
"Obviously, if I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that," Obama said Saturday in an interview with the Winston-Salem Journal, according to a transcript provided by his campaign. Video Watch how the 'bitter' battle is playing out on the trail »
"The underlying truth of what I said remains, which is simply that people who have seen their way of life upended because of economic distress are frustrated and rightfully so," he told the North Carolina newspaper. "And I hear it all the time when I visit these communities."
Clinton, speaking in Indianapolis, said she was "taken back" by what she referred as "demeaning remarks" about "small-town" Americans.
"Sen. Obama's remarks are elitist and out of touch. They are not reflective of values and beliefs of Americans, certainly not the Americans I know, not the Americans I grew up with, not the Americans I lived with in Arkansas or represent in New York," the senator from New York said.
She said Americans who believe in the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, "believe it's a matter of constitutional right." And she said "Americans who believe in God believe it's a matter of personal faith."
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* Obama looks to Teamsters for Pennsylvania win
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Tucker Bounds -- spokesman for McCain, the senator from Arizona -- also said that the reverence for faith and the Second Amendment in the United States are "cornerstone customs" and that Obama's "dismissal of those values is revealing."
"Barack Obama's elitism allows him to believe that the American traditions that have contributed to the identity and greatness of this country are actually just frustrations and bitterness."
Obama told the Muncie audience that the back-and-forth between him and his rivals is "typical."
His campaign emphasized that the "traditions" Obama referred to in his remarks are those of gun ownership and religion. Obama added that those traditions are "what sustains us."
Obama also labeled the dust-up that's developed as "a little typical sort of political flare-up" because, as he contends, he said something that "everybody knows is true."
The Democratic candidate continued to maintain -- as he did Friday night after the initial story began to circulate -- that people are frustrated because Washington isn't listening to the average American.
"There are a whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana, in my home town in Illinois who are bitter. They are angry."
"When you're bitter, you turn to what you can count on," Obama said, adding that they then turn to voting "about guns" and "taking comfort" in their faith and family.
"That's a natural response."
Obama's original comments were posted Friday on the Web site Huffingtonpost.com. Video Watch how the firestorm started »
"You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing's replaced them. ...
advertisement
"And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are going to regenerate and they have not," he said.
"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," he also said.
So I ask, are these comments worth people getting riled up over? Was he out of line in saying this? And how is this going to affect his chances of being nominated?
As much as I hate to agree with Clinton, these comments do seem rather elitist and ignorant. Clinging to guns or racism when the going gets tough? Not the kind of thing you want to say to the people who you're counting on to elect you.
