Obama Slammed for Calling Small Towners 'Bitter'

Barack Obama is catching flak for comments made to an audience of wealthy Californians about small towners, Reuters reports. Talking about people in towns where jobs have vanished, the candidate said, "It's not surprising they then get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."

Obama's rivals didn't waste any time leaping on the comments. "Pennsylvania doesn't need a president who looks down on them," Hillary Clinton told a rally. "They need a president who stands up for them." A McCain adviser said Obama's remarks showed "elitism and condescension toward hard-working Americans that is nothing short of breathtaking." Obama retorted that McCain and Clinton were the ones out of touch. (More Barack Obama stories.)