Obama under fire after fundraiser remarks

U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama came under fire on Friday for saying small-town Pennsylvania residents were "bitter" and "cling to guns or religion," in comments his rivals said showed an elitist view of the middle class.

Obama's Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain both pounced on the comments Obama made last weekend at a fundraiser in San Francisco.

Video of the fundraiser, which was closed to the press, surfaced as Obama was campaigning in Indiana, trying to highlight issues of concern to working-class voters, such as job losses and rising mortgage foreclosures.

"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," Obama, an Illinois senator, 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 said.

Clinton, a New York senator who is battling Obama for the Democratic nomination and the right to face McCain in the November presidential election, said in Philadelphia the comments showed Obama "looks down" on voters in Pennsylvania, which holds a closely watched nominating contest on April 22.

"Pennsylvania doesn't need a president who looks down on them," she said told a rally. "They need a president who stands up for them, who fights for them, who works hard for your futures, your jobs, your families."

Clinton, a former first lady, once led Obama by double digits in polls in Pennsylvania, the next big battleground in their struggle for the right to face McCain in the November presidential election.

That lead has dwindled to about 4 to 6 points in several recent polls in a state that has struggled from job losses and has a big population of blue-collar voters who have been Clinton's biggest backers.

'NOTHING SHORT OF BREATHTAKING'

An aide to McCain called the fundraiser comments "remarkable and extremely revealing."

"It shows an elitism and condescension toward hard-working Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking," said Steve Schmidt, a senior adviser to the Arizona senator. "It is hard to imagine someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans."

The barrage of criticism came after the comments appeared on The Huffington Post blog.

Obama responded by insisting he was not out of touch with voters and by trying to turn the tables on both Clinton and McCain.

"When I go around and I talk to people there is frustration and there is anger and there is bitterness," Obama told a rally in Terre Haute. "They're frustrated and for good reason. ... They've seen their economies collapse. They have lost their jobs. They have lost their pensions.

"Out of touch? Out of touch?" he asked, accusing McCain of failing to understand the home mortgage crisis.

"I mean, John McCain - it took him three tries to finally figure out that the home foreclosure crisis was a problem and to come up with a plan for it."

Obama also suggested Clinton was "out of touch," accusing her of being beholden to lobbyists in the financial services industry and attacking her for supporting a bill on bankruptcy reform that was supported by companies in that sector.

Obama's comments in Indiana in turn sparked another round of criticism from his rivals. Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said in a statement that "instead of apologizing for offending small town America, Senator Obama chose to repeat and embrace the comments he made earlier this week."

McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds said Obama "arrogantly tried to spin his way out of his outrageous San Francisco remarks."