[Marxism] Obama concedes remarks were ill chosen

["Mike Friedman" <mikedf@xxxxxxxx>]

Obama concedes remarks were ill chosen

By JIM KUHNHENN and CHARLES BABINGTON, Associated Press WriterS 51 minutes
ago

MUNCIE, Ind. - Democrat Barack Obama on Saturday conceded that comments he
made about bitter working class voters who "cling to guns or religion"
were ill chosen, as he tried to stem a burst of complaints that he is
condescending.

"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 fundraiser 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 other GOP officials. It threatened to highlight an Obama
Achilles heel ? the image that the Harvard-trained lawyer is arrogant,
aloof and carries himself with an air of superiority.

His campaign scrambled to defuse possible damage caused with working class
voters that Obama needs to win 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."

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."

"People don't need a president who looks down on them," she said. "They
need a president who stands up for them."

One of Clinton's staunchest supporters, Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.,
acknowledged there was some truth in Obama's remarks. But Republicans
would use them against him anyway, Bayh said.

"We do have economic hard times, and that does lead to a frustration and
some justifiable anger, it's true," Bayh told reporters after introducing
Clinton in Indianapolis. "But I think you're on dangerous ground when you
morph that into suggesting that people's cultural values whether it's
religion or hunting and fishing or concern about trade are premised solely
upon those kinds of anxieties and don't have a legitimate foundation
independent of that."

___

Associated Press Writer Charles Babington contributed from Indianapolis.


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