Obama defends 'bitter' remarks after attacks by Clinton, McCain
Obama contends his rivals are hypocritical for saying he is 'out of touch' while they have supported trade policies that have hurt working Americans.
PITTSBURGH — Democrat Barack Obama struck back again today at his Democratic and Republican presidential rivals for accusing him of showing disrespect for American workers in remarks at a California fund-raiser last weekend.
"You know, there's been a lot of talk in this campaign over the last few days about who's 'in touch' with the workers of Pennsylvania," he said. Obama noted that both New York Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton and Arizona Republican John McCain "seem to be singing from the same hymn book, saying that I'm 'out of touch' -- I'm an 'elitist' -- because I said a lot of folks are bitter about their economic circumstances."
Acknowledging that he may have chosen his words "badly," Obama countered that "when I hear my opponents, both of whom have spent decades in Washington, saying I'm out of touch, it's time to cut through the rhetoric and look at the reality."
To cheers from a crowd of union members and business leaders assembled at the Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh, Obama added: "You've heard this kind of rhetoric before. Around election time, the candidates can't do enough for you. They'll promise you anything. They'll give you a long list of proposals and even come around, with TV crews in tow, and throw back a shot and a beer.
"But if those same candidates are taking millions of dollars in contributions from the [political action committees] and the lobbyists, ask yourself, who are they going to be toasting once the election is over?"
Obama said at a San Francisco fund-raiser that he thought small-town Americans were "bitter" over their economic woes and "cling to guns or religion" as a result. Today he focused on the hypocrisy of his opponents for saying he is out of touch while they have supported trade policies that have hurt working Americans.
"You can't spend the better part of two decades campaigning for NAFTA and [Permanent Normal Trade Relations] for China, and then come here to Pennsylvania, and tell the workers that you've been with them all along," Obama said of Clinton. "You can't say you are opposed to the Colombia trade deal, while your key strategist is working for the Colombian government to get that trade deal passed. . . . That's not respect."
Clinton, who followed Obama to the podium at a candidate forum held by the Alliance for American Manufacturing, drew scattered boos as she began her remarks by criticizing Obama's recent comments anew. She pressed on, however, repeating them before trying to distinguish herself as a candidate who really understands working Americans.
