I was surprised by how forcefully the CNN panel defended Obama's comments:

www.youtube.com/watch

Obama shouldn't be so quick to "clarify" this weekend. Without video of the original remarks, it's just as likely that the emerging CW will be that he spoke a hard truth as it is that he committed a gaffe.

I don't see it as a "gaffe" at all. In fact, I think it could be a positive if his remarks in Terre Haute are any indication. Essentially, Obama was just voicing the truism that elections in the past have been about tertiary issues like gun control or gay marriage and that the middle class have been marginalized in regard to their economic interests. So he was describing working class attitudes as bitter, angry, and resentful- a state of mind that has been exploited by politicians to stir up political points against immigrants, homosexuals, etc...

The reason why I think this "gaffe" can be a positive is that it allows Obama to present himself as the champion of the middle class fighting for their interests and giving voice to their frustrations.

No, prim,

Even if it ends up harmless on its own, he cannot wait to see the response.  He has to get out in front of it.  Taking responsibility for failing to make is point clearly, and then re-stating, is just fine.  No downside at all and he help to limit the opportunity of bad guys, like Hillary, to make mischief.  Imagine if Hillary had immediately retracted her Tuzla comments and said that she had clearly confuse some things.  Tuzla wouldn't have cost her anything but a few snickers from the crowd that can't stand her anyway.

roidubouloi shows again why he is the King. Admitting that you made a mistake and misspoke, and then clarifying what you meant to say, is absolutely the way to go. He's also dead right about Hillary and Tuzla as well.

Most of the sniffers and whoopers in the press corps are not nearly as informed

as Senator Obama.  I live in southern Illinois, where coal and then "cheap labor" manufacturing have been replaced by nothing much.  He has been to the area more frequently than his predecessors Fitzgerald and Braun and knows the sense of alienation.  

I have had two factories close under me in the last 8 years, and I know for sure my propects are BLEAK.  Fizzy bologna won't get it done here, we need a real look at what needs to happen instead of a race to the bottom of the tax-incentive buyoff barrel.  

Give him credit for seeing it as it is - and proferring the offer to begin to think about what needs to be changed.

I think the world of Obama, but I'm afraid this is pretty bad, much worse than the Wright flap, which I always thought would blow over long before the PA primary.   This is not guilt by association, this is the candidate himself making the statements that small town voters are "bitter” because of economic loss, and that they have reacted to their plight with racism, and with bigotry, and by the way are gullible rubes who keep falling for the Republican's bait and switch. (What racism, BTW?  What is Obama referring to?) All in all, not the kind of statements you want your presidential candidate to be making in public, or anywhere else, for that matter..  

I also don't buy the silver lining that there is no video.  A  scratchy audio with sub-titles is almost as bad as a video.  If done right, (and you know the Repub ad people  will do it exactly right),.it can look clandestine and even somewhat sinister, like Obama was caught in a private conversation venting  against the country bumpkins that had failed to succumb to his charms.      

This will knock Obama back to a 15 or 16 point deficit in PA, kill any chance he had in Indiana, and reduce his lead in NC to single digits.

The "guns and faith" argument is one that Obama made at least as far back as 2004 on the Charlie Rose show (search "veracifier" on YouTube and look for "Obama on working class").

But it is a nuanced sociological argument about how the Republicans have been able to get working class citizens to vote against their economic interests. Obama's point? The Democrats have not offered them a viable economic alternative. Check the 2004 clip.

This is not at all the ham-handed statement as picked up and simplified by mass media -- but, sigh -- America is not a land of ideas -- certainly not during a presidential election when the Clinton campaign bases its strategy on distorting the message of their opponents.

Will we allow the Clintonista's once again to dumb-down the election campaign and play to superficial impressions to try to paint Obama now as an "elitist" and portray Hillary (the Wal Mart/NAFTA queen) as the fighting champion of working people?

What's the opposite of "bitter"--"pleased as punch" (to channel HHH for a moment)?

So, what are Clinton and McCain saying: that working-class Americans are just having a swell time? Obama points out--however, ineptly--the sad truth of working and middle-class America, and he's the bad guy?

If I'm advising him I tell him to take this and jam it back down their throats.

matthawk asks:  "Will we allow the Clintonista's once again to dumb-down the election campaign and play to superficial impressions to try to paint Obama now as an "elitist" and portray Hillary (the Wal Mart/NAFTA queen) as the fighting champion of working people?"

The Clintons got where they are by accurately estimating the middling intelligence of the average voter and tailoring their approach to appealing to it.  Pretty basic stuff, and a good illustration of why democracy is no sure fix.

Williamyard you are exactly right and that is precisely what he is doing... look at the Terra Haute speech on YouTube... he got a standing ovation and it is making the rounds of the blogsphere... when is the last time you saw a standing ovation to a political speech?  Also in the YouTube clip of Hillary making her Bittergate attack, there are two gals, who look at each other, roll their eyes and laugh and then hold up their union signs to cover their laughs... They are at the rally at all because their union boss must have insisted (which I hear is the case at a lot of Hillary's appearances... Besides the polls do not seem to be bearing you out and he is rapidly getting an awful lot of newspaper endorsements in PA...

So Naomi88... I think you are way too pessimistic on this one... he is awfully good at making lemonade out of any lemons he gets given...

Obama will handle this like he handled the Rev. Wright dust up. He'll merely simplify the comment and or answer any media. And then he'll move on.

jemerk --

Have the hard times you experienced made you dislike or distrust people "who don't look like you " or driven you to immigrant bashing? In other words, have they distorted and debased your moral values and turned you into a bigot? And, even if you, personally, haven't been debased in this way by hard times, would you say that such an abandonment of hope and the values of fair play, equality and moral decency is the "typical" stance or reaction to hard times of most others in your part of the world?

Many Americans, in many formerly industrialized parts of the country, have suffered greatly as a result of the huge transformation in the American economy over the last 30-40 plus years. Yet there are plenty of reasons to believe that the country has become MORE tolerant, not less so. And, furthermore, the reality is that working class people today most often live and work in much MORE diverse, in terms of race, ethnicity and class, environments than more affluent, privileged (and increasingly isolated from the rest of us in wealthy enclaves) Americans -- including the wealthy denizens of Silicon Valley who were undoubtedly among those Sen. Obama was pandering to with his remarks. What he said was a liberal cliche -- that Democrats have been using to comfort themselves for their losses for at least 40 years. His use of it -- a comforting truism that the privileged are happy to cling to in their gated communities -- indicates that he reality isn't very familiar with working class America.

HHH = Hubert H. Humphrey?  Wow, yard, you are truly a senior member of Talkback.

stgla, you bet I'm senior!  I'm so old, I just drove all the way from Denver, and the turn signal was on the whole way!

[rimshot]

[scattered applause]

Thank you. Why, I'm so old, my favorite Rolling Stones song is "You Can't Always Pee When You Want"

[ba-ding, ba-dang]

[light applause]

Thank you, thanks a lot. You know, I'm so old, the other day, I stopped to think, then forgot to start again!

[boom!]

[applause; some cheering]

Yer very kind, thank you so much. The other day I was out with two buddies, Sam and Dave. I said, "It's windy, ain't it?" Sam said, "No, it's Thursday." Dave said, "So am I. Let's find a bar!"

[drum roll...BOOM!]

[loud, enthusiastic applause!]

Oh, yer very kind. Thank you, thankyouverymuch...

William Yard:

Your "let's find a bar" joke is noteworthy for me because it is the oldest joke I can remember. I first heard it when I was four.  That was 27 years ago,  and I still tell it whenever someone says "it's windy out today."  I can't help it.  It's Pavlovian, a bell goes off in my head, and I just have to tell that joke.

Thanks for reminding me of my obsession!

"Besides the polls do not seem to be bearing you out and he is rapidly getting an awful lot of newspaper endorsements in PA...

So Naomi88... I think you are way too pessimistic on this one... he is awfully good at making lemonade out of any lemons he gets given.."

Annabella,

Obama may make one hell of a citrus cocktail, but he is now down 20 points in PA according to one poll, and this same poll had him tied in PA just last week.

americanresearchgroup.com/.../padem8-705.html