Dueling Clinton, Obama conference calls
Posted: Saturday, April 12, 2008 4:03 PM by Mark Murray
From NBC/NJ's Matthew E. Berger
PHILADELPHIA -- In dueling conference calls, the Clinton and Obama camps each brought local mayors together Saturday to parse Obama’s comments calling small-town people “bitter,” with each saying the other candidate was out of touch with their constituents.
Clinton supporters said Obama’s remarks were condescending and “undercutting his message of hope.”
“The remarks of Sen. Obama lack judgment, lack understanding and frankly the comments are condescending and they’re hurtful,” said Harrisburg Mayor Stephen Reed. “I think Sen. Obama’s remarks in California, said at an event where he didn’t know he was being recorded, were revealing and showed his misperception of small town America.”
The mayors -- joined by Clinton campaign co-chairman Tom Vilsack, the former governor of Iowa who is a Pennsylvania native -- said Pennsylvanians embrace religion and guns because of tradition. And they expressed concern that as a Democratic nominee, Obama would “misunderstand and misread people in small communities,” Vilsack said.
“Sen. Obama just spent six days in the state, and he came away with the impression that we’re bitter,” Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty said. “Sen. Clinton has spent a lot of time in the state and she gets us.”
But an hour later, the Obama campaign came back to say that while they may not have used the term “bitter,” Obama’s remarks represented real frustrations and it was the response of Clinton and McCain that seemed out of touch.
“I don’t think I would use the same words that he used,” Richard Gray. “I don’t think I would say the people are bitter. I would use the words the people are angry. It’s a very thin surface you have to scratch to find this anger.”
Gray went on to say that he found the responses from Clinton and McCain to be more condescending.
“Quite frankly, listening to the response this morning, I found that far more patronizing than the statements that were made,” he said. “It shows someone really out of touch with what was going on in our communities.”
Obama adviser David Axelrod said Obama regretted if his comments were offensive or misinterpreted, but said the essence of the comments were something he felt very strongly about.
