More on the bitterness

Mon, April 14, 2008 - 2:50 PM

Obama kicked of his speech at the Associated Press luncheon by acknowledging the elephant in the room – his controversial comments characterizing small-town America as “bitter.”

“I know that I kept you busy this weekend,” he joked. “Some of you might even be a little bitter about that.”

Obama characterized the controversy as a distraction, but he turned more serious as he tried to further explain his comments on the topic.

“For the last several decades people in small towns … have seen globalization change the rules on them,” he said.

Mills and factories throughout America have closed, in turn hurting those communities in which they were located, he said. Jobs have left, leaving many Americans behind. And politicians have made promises that they would help and nothing changes, Obama said.

“They are angry and frustrated with their leaders for not listening to them,” he said.

He criticized McCain for using the comments to characterize him as an elitist liberal. But Obama said it’s Republicans that are out of touch.

“If John McCain wants to turn this into a contest about who is more out of touch with America, that is a debate I’m happy to have,” he said.

-- Amy Dominello