WASHINGTON (AFP) — Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama on Saturday defended labelling struggling working-class voters "bitter," insisting they have every reason to be frustrated.
"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 ... who are bitter," he said at a rally Saturday.
"They are angry. They feel like they've been left behind," he said of those hit by tough economic times. "That's a natural, natural response."
Obama was slammed by his rival for the Democratic White House nomination, Senator Hillary Clinton, for comments he made at a fundraiser in California last week that white, working class voters, a key voting bloc in this year's presidential race, had turned away from Washington after years of economic decline and cast their votes on social issues instead of economic ones.
"So it's not surprising then that 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, according to a transcript published by huffingtonpost.com.
Clinton jumped on his statement as condescending.
"I was taken aback by the demeaning remarks Senator Obama made about people in small-town America," she said at a rally in Indiana Saturday.
"Senator Obama's remarks are elitist and are out of touch. They are not reflective of the values and beliefs of Americans. Certainly not the Americans that I know."
De facto Republican nominee John McCain's campaign also hit out at Obama's remarks.
"It shows an elitism and condescension toward hard-working Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking," McCain advisor Steve Schmidt told The New York Times.
"It is hard to imagine someone running for president who is more out of touch with average Americans."
But Friday, Obama said he knew very well the struggles of middle-class voters.
"No, I'm in touch. I know exactly what's going on ... People are fed-up," he said.
"They're angry and they're frustrated and they're bitter. And they want to see a change in Washington and that's why I'm running for president of the United States of America."
Both Democratic White House hopefuls have courted working class voters by finessing their positions on free trade, opposing a pending agreement with Colombia and promising to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if they become president.
Unions claim NAFTA has caused the loss of millions of US jobs, hitting workers who are also now struggling with an economic slowdown.
Pennsylvania holds the next Democratic primary vote on April 22. Clinton has a long lead in the polls there, largely due to support from working class voters and union members.
But the most recent average of polls by Realclearpolitics.com shows her lead dwindling to 7.3 percent.
And Clinton trails Obama in the delegate count from the state-by-state votes ahead of an August party convention, where the nominee will be chosen. The winner is likely to face McCain in November.
Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod told reporters in a teleconference "I think that (Obama) made it very clear that he regrets (in) the remarks their wording.
"But their essence is something he feels very strongly about; there is real anger in many of our communities at ... politicians who express their solicitude at election time and then don't follow through with advocacy as politicians," Axelrod said.
"The essence of it is right. And if Senator Clinton and Senator McCain think people are upbeat about the economy they need to spend a lot more time out here," he said.
Mayor Rick Gray of Lancaster, west of Philadelphia, added, "I would use the words 'People are angry.' I think people are upset about the economic conditions in this country. They see executives getting large bonuses, and themselves losing. There's a level of anger that is just seething."
But "If we confront ... economic issues, health care, jobs," Gray added, "Senator Obama provides something that is not business as usual."
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