Posted on 04/12/2008 8:41:56 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
MUNCIE, Ind - After a full throated response to criticism that he is condescending, Democrat Barack Obama on Saturday conceded that that comments he made about bitter working class voters who "cling to guns or religion" were ill chosen.
"I didn't say it as well as I should have," he said.
As Obama tried to quell the furor, presidential rival Hillary Rodham Clinton hit him with one of her lengthiest and most pointed criticisms to date.
"Senator Obama's remarks were elitist and out of touch," she said, campaigning about an hour away in Indianapolis. "They are not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans."
At issue are comments Obama made privately at a fundraising gathering in San Francisco last Sunday. He explained his troubles winning over working class voters, saying they have become frustrated with economic conditions:
"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."
The comments, posted on the Huffington Post political Web site Friday, set off a storm of criticism from Clinton, Republican nominee-in-waiting John McCain and a number of other GOP officials.
The flap threatened to highlight an Obama Achilles heel — the image that the Harvard-trained lawyer is arrogant and carries himself with an air of superiority.
The campaign has been quick to react, hoping to defuse any damage caused with working class voters that Obama needs to win over in upcoming primaries in Pennsylvania and Indiana.
"Lately there has been a little typical sort of political flare up because I said something that everybody knows is true, which is that there are a whole bunch of folks in small towns in Pennsylvania, in towns right here in Indiana, in my hometown in Illinois who are bitter," Obama said Saturday morning at Ball State University. "They are angry. They feel like they have been left behind. They feel like nobody is paying attention to what they're going through."
"So I said, well you know, when you're bitter you turn to what you can count on. So people, they vote about guns, or they take comfort from their faith and their family and their community. And they get mad about illegal immigrants who are coming over to this country or they get frustrated about you know how things are changing."
After acknowledging that his previous remarks could have been better phrased, he added:
"The truth is that these traditions that are passed on from generation to generation those are important. That's what sustains us. But what is absolutely true is that people don't feel like they are being listened to.
"And so they pray and they count on each other and they count on their families. You know this in your own lives, and what we need is a government that is actually paying attention. Government that is fighting for working people day in and day out making sure that we are trying to allow them to live out the American dream."
But Clinton struck hard, calling Obama's comments "demeaning." The increased attack showed that Clinton is eager to hold on to her working class support and is looking to open new questions about Obama's judgment that would make voters and Democratic officials reconsider their support for the Illinois senator.
"I was raised with Midwestern values and an unshakable faith in America and its policies," she said. "Now, Americans who believe in the Second Amendment believe it's a matter of constitutional right. Americans who believe in God believe it's a matter of personal faith.
"I grew up in a church-going family, a family that believed in the importance of living out and expressing our faith. The people of faith I know don't 'cling' to religion because they're bitter. People embrace faith not because they are materially poor, but because they are spiritually rich.
"Our faith is the faith of our parents and our grandparents. It is a fundamental expression of who we are and what we believe."
Where is that well spoken articulate canditate now??
Obviously, he was hoping to bring in the big bucks from the bathhouse boys of San Francisco.
“Where is that well spoken articulate canditate now??”
Only with a teleprompter.
Maybe he should keep his mouth shut and go back to blowing his nose. What a creep.
Oh, Hussein, you said it just like you meant to - you have nothing to apologize for!
“”I didn’t say it as well as I should have,” he said.”
No, s#it , Sherlock......the only thing that can be guaranteed, though, is that you said exactly what you think!
Militant
Must have done just a tad too much. He needs a few days off after the exertion of the bowling exhibition. .
then apparently he was to far away to read prompter. LOL
That is his story and e is sticking to it. :)
At least he didn’t use Howard Dean’s phrasing of:
God, guns and gays!
I was in grade school once too. Everyone is sorry when they are caught.
He was pandering to “his crowd” a bunch of elitist far-left Democrats in San Francisco. Those are his true feelings and no one can un-ring that bell.
Be that as it may, Obama did insult the bejeebers out of salt of the Earth-type Americans in small towns. And, as usual, FreeRepublic was on the subject like a duck on a June bug before the MSM could rub the sleep out of their eyes.
Click below for the comments of one Freeper, followed by the comments of a couple dozen other Freepers. And pass the popcorn.
Congressman Billybob
Latest article, "Bitter"? "Clinging to Guns"? No, "Dumb as a Box of Rocks"
Obama: “What I meant to say is typical white people are stupid.”
He means that he forgot his usual lawyerly obfuscation methods.
Of course you were. Your wife, preacher and all the typical white people in your party were too.
I think hussein obama found his so-called religion because he is BITTER. Everyone in that so-called church is BITTER.
He’s “out of touch” because that doesn’t apply to most people that embrace religion.
No. What we need is for government to leave us alone.
What? He wasn’t tired and just misspoke?
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