Obama Has Mac Attack

By Pamela Mortimer

The still-hopeful Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has had to eat his share of crow. On Monday, Obama tried to do damage control after making comments that were perceived as condescending and elitist to a large number of people. In his defense, Obama claims that he is "a man of faith" and supporter of the Second Amendment.

At an Associated Press meeting, Obama stated that it was likely that Republican presidential candidate John McCain would jump at the opportunity to take advantage of Obama’s political faux pas.

"If I had to carry the banner for eight years of George Bush’s failures, I’d be looking for something else to talk about too," Obama said.

"But I will tell you this. If John McCain wants to turn this election into a contest about which party is out of touch with the struggles and the hopes of working America, that’s a debate I’m happy to have. …

"I may have made a mistake last week in the words that I chose, but the other party has made a much more damaging mistake in the failed policies they’ve chosen and the bankrupt philosophy that they’ve embraced for the last three decades," he said.

The words Obama chose to use were part of an April 6th speech targeted to donors in San Francisco. The topic: Middle America.

"You go into 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 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," Obama said.

In reply to Obama’s ill prepared statement, McCain’s office released a fundraising letter that commented on Obama’s "bitter" remarks. The letter also warned that Obama’s words were part of the Illinois Senator’s "liberal, elitist philosophy".

"It’s hard to keep a straight face when you’re accused of being out of touch by a guy who thinks the whole country is worried about the high price of arugula or that you hunt ducks with a six shooter," Salter said, referring to a former Obama statement to Iowa farmers.

There haven’t been noticeable changes in the polls since Obama’s comments but Hillary Clinton has secured one more delegate as a result. Bill Kennedy, Commissioner of Yellowstone County, Montana, said that Obama’s comments show he doesn’t understand rural America.

"In Montana, going to church or going hunting is part of our heritage, not something we ‘cling to’ out of bitterness or frustration," Kennedy said in a statement issued by the Clinton camp. "Sen. Obama showed a real disconnect with rural Montana. It might work to look down on us from San Francisco, but it won’t sell when he comes back to Montana."