Obama blames poor syntax for 'bitter' comment

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama said yesterday that he "mangled" his words when he described small town Americans as "bitter" at a private San Francisco fundraiser.

Obama spoke to the Philadelphia Daily News editorial board last night, after a long weekend spent clarifying his statement that many small town voters had grown "bitter" over their economic status and "cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them."

U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, his rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, has hammered Obama for days over the remarks, saying that he is out of touch with voters. She began running a TV ad in Pennsylvania yesterday in which voters criticize the statement.

Presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain also decried the remarks for being elitist, but declined to label Obama an elitist.

Obama yesterday told the Daily News that he "conflated" two points - the first being that people who have felt abandoned by political leadership turn to their faith, family or traditions like hunting. His second point was that politicians have tried to distract those voters with wedge issues like homosexuality or immigration.

"My syntax was poor," Obama said. "But as a wise older woman I was talking to the other day said: 'You misspoke, but you didn't lie.' "

Despite the combative campaigning, both Clinton and Obama were conciliatory in appearances before Philadelphia City Committee last night, neither mentioning the other by name.

Just a week remains before Pennsylvania's April 22 primary. Clinton began the race with a substantial lead here, but Obama, who is vastly outspending her, has been slowly closing the gap.

But a new poll yesterday by the American Research Group - conducted over the weekend - showed Clinton at 57 percent and Obama with 37 percent. The poll was based on interviews with 600 Democrats and had a margin of error of 4 percentage points.

Obama said yesterday, after the meeting, that the number sounded extreme.

"Even assuming we took a hit because of the bitter comment, it wasn't a 20-point hit," he said. "I think this will be closer than people think."

Both Obama and Clinton appeared separately at a forum on manufacturing issues in Pittsburgh yesterday morning, where they traded barbs.

Clinton again slammed Obama's "bitter" statement, drawing a few groans from the crowd.

"I don't think he really gets it that people are looking for a president who stands up for you and not looks down on you," she said to the meeting of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.

Meanwhile, Obama questioned Clinton's opposition to NAFTA and mocked a weekend appearance in which she drank a shot and beer.

"Around election time, the candidates can't do enough for you. They'll promise you anything, give you a long list of proposals and even come around, with TV crews in tow, to throw back a shot and a beer," Obama said.

Clinton drank a shot of Crown Royal with a beer Sunday at an Indiana restaurant

Obama also said that Clinton was being insincere on the NAFTA trade agreement and the Colombia trade deal. Clinton has criticized NAFTA and she opposes the Colombian trade deal even as her top campaign strategist, Mark Penn, met with Colombian officials to help push for its passage. Penn has since been demoted.

"You can't spend the better part of two decades campaigning for NAFTA . . . and then come here to Pennsylvania, and tell the steelworkers you've been with them all along," Obama said. "You can't say you are opposed to the Colombia trade deal, while your key strategist is working for the Colombian government to get the deal passed."

Clinton told the crowd that she planned to fix NAFTA's mistakes or pull out of the agreement.

Obama also appeared yesterday at the Associated Press' annual luncheon in Washington, D.C., where he criticized Clinton for "deploying most of the arguments that the Republican Party will be using against me in November."

When he was asked about the long primary fight and how it could hurt the nominee in the fall, Obama said, "I have tried to figure out how to show restraint and make sure that, during this primary contest, we're not damaging each other so badly that it's hard for us to run in November."

He added: "Obviously, it's a little easier for me to say that, since, you know, I lead in delegates and states and popular vote." *

Staff writer Dave Davies and the Associated Press contributed to this report.