Barack Obama Watch: Quelling The Small Town “Bitter” Flap

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byqRgLp1Mo8[/youtube]

Keith Olbermann and MSNBC segment on the “Small Town” Obama comment flap, April 11, 2008.

You go into some of 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. And they fell through the Clinton administration, and the Bush administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. So it’s not surprising then that 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.

From yesterday:

The Hillary Clinton Response:

“As I travel around Pennsylvania, I meet people who are resilient, who are optimistic, who are positive… Pennsylvanians don’t need a president who looks down on them, they need a president who stands up for them.”

The John McCain Response (Steve Schmidt, Spokesman):

“It shows an elitism and condescension towards hardworking Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking,” Schmidt said. “It is hard to imagine someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans.”

Now, here is video of Barack Obama yesterday in Terre Haute, Indiana attempting to redirect the flap:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sc9PepjyDow[/youtube]

But, Hillary has been on the attack today:

• Clinton’s new topper says statements would be “damaging” to him in a general election.

• Also says Obama implies in comments that working-class people are “small-minded.” Read more here.

• In Indiana: Clinton says she doesn’t think most Americans are “bitter,” but they do have concerns. Read full remarks here and watch the video below:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeV2KzGGC38[/youtube]

Also, in Indiana, Senator Evan Bayh also says superdelegates need to evaluate Obama’s remarks.

In Pennsylvania: Small-town Pennsylvania mayors and former Iowa Gov. Vilsack label remarks “condescending,” point specifically to what he said about guns, religion on a media call. Listen to the call here and read transcript of opening statements here.

In the meantime, Barack Obama apologizes – well sort of:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6_mQ3h8lx0[/youtube]

Barack talks about the frustrations of the American people at a town hall meeting in Muncie, IN on April 12, 2008.

But, later Obama expresses deep regret to a North Carolina paper.

“If I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that. 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.

And I hear it all the time when i visit these communities. People say they feel like no one is paying attention or listening to them and that is something — that is one of the reasons I am running for president. I saw this when I first started off as a community organizer and the steel plants had closed. I was working with churches in communities that had fallen on hard times. They felt angry and frustrated.”

Flap knows this “BITTER” comment will live on past tomorrow’s Sunday talk shows. Hillary and the GOP will drive the heat.

Now there are two film clips for the GOP to run over and over in the fall: Jeremiah Wright saying God Damn America and now the “ELITIST” Obama making the “BITTER” remark.

Will this be the opening miracle Hillary needs to persuade Democrat superdelegates that she is MORE electable?

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Barack Obama Watch: The Small Town “Bitter” Flap