Barack Obama came to speak to editorial writers and reporters from the Daily News and Inquirer this evening, and he essentially tried a do-over on his controversial remarks about "bitter" small-town Pennsylvanians, admitting that he'd "mangled" what he was trying to say at a San Francisco fundraiser 10 days ago, but that he agreed with a backer who told him that "you misspoke that you didn't lie."
His remarks were perhaps his most detailed effort, to date, to recast what he said on the West Coast, when he said that the ailing eonomy in the Rust Belt caused people to "get bitter" and that "they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment ot anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations." Tonight, he sought to explain that he never meant to imply that either religion or the use of guns for hunting -- a huge pasttime here in Pennsylvania -- was a bad thing.
Here's a full transcript of what he said:
The problem actually with this most recent episode is not that I was saying one thing behind closed door and saying something else in public. The truth is actually that I’ve made these same comments in a similar way on “The Charlie Rose Show" back in 2004 or 2005, and I had said it in town hall meetings in small towns.
The problem is that I just mangled it, which, you know happens sometimes. The point that I was making was actually two separate points that got conflated. Number One, that people who had felt abandoned by Washington and political leaders when it comes to an economy that’s falling apart, they find stability in those things that they count on – their faith, the traditions that have been passed down generation to generation and in many rural communities that includes hunting, their family, their community – those are positive things.
They also are vulnerable to, you know, explanations for why the world has changed and politicians seek to divide them,. And sometimes politicians over the last decade have used anti-gay sentiment, they’ve used anti-immigrant stuff, and there’s a long history of quote unquote “wedge issues” that I think distract from the very difficult issues that we have to deal with.
And so my syntax was poor but as a wise older woman who was talking to me the other day said, ‘You misspoke but you didn’t lie,’ and I think that’s how I feel about it, and as I’ve said these are things that I said as I was campaigning in Iowa -- and when people would talk to me about immigration and some of these other hot button issues, I’d say I think these are distractions from our failure to deal with some very critical issues.
That last comment about how he "misspoke but didn't lie" was a telling one, because it was in this same room two weeks ago that his rival Sen. Hillary Clinton also acknowledged that she "misspoke" about landing in the line of Bosnian sniper fire, which had been shown by tapes of the event to be untrue. Obama is more or less, pardon the pun, sticking to his guns here, with the caveat that he never meant to suggest that firearms or the church were bad things to "cling" to. Somehow I doubt this new nuance will satisfy his critics, either on the political right or within the Clinton campaign.
Of course it won't satisfy the Clinton supporters. They knew what he was saying in the first place, and twisted his words.— JohnDoe- "Somehow I doubt this new nuance will satisfy his critics, either on the political right or within the Clinton campaign." . . Yeah, right. As if people from either group could care less about what he says except as a way to attack him. What's amazing is that the same folks who whined incessantly about the evils of "political correctness" are now the very same ones who attack anything Obama says that isn't perfectly politically correct. . 24 . 7— Talking point sleuth
Comment removed.- Enough of Obama. Don't want him as President won't vote for him. He talks down to us & he's running for President...How will he treat us later..That's right tell us what you want us to hear..no substance go home and help Illinois do something for them first...Enough of "Keep talking do nothing Obama" You keep putting down Hillary at least she has a plan..All talk Obama go ahead get on his bus..You will ride to nowhere just listen to his speeches..He says NOTHING!!!— Kay
- Obama is full of it,of course he is trying to apologize,it has nothing to do with the word bitter, he implied that there is something terribly wrong with God, guns and having issues with illegals. Obama is HISTORY.— Babs92457
- How many times has OBAMA said "I misspoke but I didn't lie?" HOW MANY??? He is the biggest liar of all 3. Anyone hear about the proceedings today at the Rezko trial??? Are we saving this for November?— stev
- Keep drinking the kool aid. The point is, once again Obama has shown his disdain for the working poor and the middle class people of this country and this Commonwealth. He can not disguise for long his contempt for the people who are not part of his vision of the ruling elite. What Obama has shown again and again is that he is no more than empty words and false promises. He runs commercials saying he doesn't take money from federal lobbyists, but he forgets to mention he takes money from companion state lobbist organizations, partners of lobbiests and plenty of companies. See what the LA times found http://www.caclean.org/problem/latimes_2007-04-22.php The new American political paradigm of the young the poor and republicans coming together to change the country. Please. To quote Obama stealing from Denzel as Malcom X, "Your getting bamboozled!!!"— MelOtt
- "Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there's not a liberal America and a conservative America — there's the United States of America. There's not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there's the United States of America." Where did this uniter and dreamer go ?— rixxk
- Politicians love unarmed peasants— samson
- Politicians love unarmed peasants— samson
- Comment removed.
- It is important to remember that he was editor of the Harvard Law Review and is defacto, the best of the best when using language and articulating the exact message he wished to convey to his intended audience. The wrinkle here is that his message went beyond his immediate intended audience and their particular sensibilities. No matter how his words are re-interpreted, amended and recast, there was a certain tone that is not right. If it was a nothing comment, Sen. Obama's supporters would not feel so threatened, outraged, etc. With all due respect, this citizen has run for president and it is important to understand his thoughts when articulated in a forum he believes to be safe from scrutiny.— Trugbydog
- Amazing how many people can't handle the truth. People are bitter in small towns that have been ingnored by Washington, but whenever they start to see a candidate who doesn't BS them, along comes an anti-gay marriage amendment, a "they're going to take you guns" falacy, etc. Obama, who worked his way up in life is no elitist. It's funny how Hillary, who made $110 mil last year and McCain, who owns over a half dozen houses and whose wife is worth a $100 mil, have the balls to call Obama an elitist. And you idiots fall for it.— mike l
- The point is that he was at a closed funder for billionaires in SF. Not out on the stump. He was trying to explain to them why he isn't getting the votes of those rubes. That he now says he was saying something good about their religion is ridiculous. Is he saying something nice about their bigotry and xenophobia too? It's like he told the farmer in Iowa; "Have you seen how much arugula costs now at Whole Foods?"— john b
- Boooooooooooring....I am more worried about abput Flyers advancing to 2nd Round....both candidates are inferior— WDG99
Will Bunch, a senior writer at the Philadelphia Daily News, blogs about his obsessions, including national and local politics and world affairs, the media, pop music, the Philadelphia Phillies, soccer and other sports, not necessarily in that order.
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