Obama explains remark

RALEIGH

Sen. Barack Obama said yesterday that he regrets his choice of words when he recently described economically distressed Americans as people who are "bitter" and who "cling to guns or religion."

But he defended the underlying content of his remarks, which were the subject of blistering attacks yesterday from Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign.

"Obviously, if I worded things in a way that made people offended, I deeply regret that," Obama said in a phone interview with the Winston-Salem Journal. "But 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."

Obama was responding to a controversy over remarks he made April 6 at a fundraiser in San Francisco. At the fundraiser, Obama was discussing the job loss and resulting anger that he has witnessed in small towns in Pennsylvania and the Midwest.

"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 at the fundraiser.

His remarks were first reported Friday by a blogger at the Web site HuffingtonPost.com, which posted audio of the remarks. Yesterday, Clinton and her supporters -- as well as many Republicans, including the campaign of Sen. John McCain -- lashed out at Obama, calling his remarks inaccurate and condescending.

On the campaign trail in Indiana, Clinton said that Obama's comments were "elitist and out of touch," and she said that Americans are optimistic, not bitter.

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

She also talked positively about Second Amendment gun rights and her personal faith in God, saying that Americans embrace those things out of deeply held commitments, not out of frustration.

But in yesterday's interview, Obama defended his point about workers being frustrated.

"What I meant was something that I don't think any of us can argue with, which is that people feel abandoned, after 20 or 25 years of plants closing, jobs not coming back. People feel like Washington's not listening to them, and as a consequence, they find that they can only rely on the traditions and the things that have been important to them for generation after generation. Faith. Family. Traditions like hunting. And they get frustrated."

Obama added: "I don't think that is a controversial position. I may not have worded it properly, but there's no doubt that people feel angry."

The controversy has the potential to alienate voters in areas where Obama has struggled. Throughout the drawn-out race for the Democratic presidential nomination, Clinton has generally done better in poorer, blue-collar areas away from large cities.

In North Carolina, which will vote May 6, both candidates have focused on small-town, working-class areas, many of which have been crippled by the loss of manufacturing jobs. On Friday, Obama began distributing a 47-page booklet in North Carolina describing his economic plan and pledged to help communities that have lost textile and manufacturing jobs.

And in three recent campaign visits to the state, former president Bill Clinton has gone almost exclusively to such areas. Yesterday, he made a six-stop tour in rural Eastern North Carolina, holding rallies in Winterville, Wilson, Goldsboro, Deep Run, New Bern and Jacksonville.

At several of the stops, the former president did not mention Obama's remarks, but one of Clinton's main North Carolina backers -- Tom Hendrickson, a former chairman of the N.C. Democratic Party -- did mention the controversy when introducing the former president, referring to Obama as a "liberal elite." The Clinton campaign also distributed stickers to audience members reading "We're not bitter," The Associated Press reported.

Other signs indicated that the Clinton campaign believes the controversy could seriously damage Obama, whose lead in delegates has appeared increasingly difficult for Clinton to overcome. The Clinton campaign barraged political reporters yesterday with e-mails about the controversy, and the campaign quickly set up two conference calls in which Clinton supporters attacked Obama's remarks.

"Sen. Obama should apologize for the way that he talked about people from small towns," Allen Wellons, a former state senator from Smithfield, said during one of the conference calls.

Asked in the interview if he would apologize, Obama stopped short of a direct apology, saying only that he regrets any offense caused by his choice of words.

In response to Obama's interview with the Journal, a spokesman for McCain, who is the de facto Republican nominee, criticized Obama for standing behind his remarks.

"Yet again, Barack Obama has stood by the elitist remarks he made in San Francisco, which reveal exactly how he feels about millions of Americans," Tucker Bounds wrote in an e-mail. "Our country's greatness and identity are rooted in faith, values and fundamental rights -- not frustration and bitterness. Barack Obama's views are steered by an elitism that voters will reject."

Obama said yesterday that he believes he can get support from all areas of North Carolina -- both urban and rural, both upscale and working class -- and is not targeting particular demographics.

■ James Romoser can be reached at 919-210-6794 or at jromoser@wsjournal.com.