'Bitter' flap regrettable Obama Tells Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Editorial Board

[RamboLiberal]

Sen. Barack Obama said yesterday that the flap over his characterization of small town voters as "bitter" represented a distraction not just from his campaign message but also from Democratic efforts to overcome stereotypes that Republicans have exploited for decades.

"What I do regret is that in one quick statement that wasn't phrased properly I detracted from what I think has to be a genuine effort on the part of Democrats to speak to constituencies we haven't always reached out to," Mr. Obama said during a wide-ranging interview with the Post-Gazette editorial board.

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"They then rely on those things that they can count on. They rely on faith, just like I rely on faith when times are rocky for me. They rely on traditions, like hunting that's been passed on through generation to generation to generation.

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"When people are angry and frustrated they are also subject to being divided, and politicians will exploit those instincts about so-called wedge issues," he added, contending that such tactics had been part of the Republican recipe for success in the post-Reagan era.

"Karl Rove explicitly targets those issues and made it an entire campaign strategy over two elections,'' he said, referring to President Bush's long-time political adviser.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08107/873741-457.stm

Video: http://www.post-gazette.com/multimedia/?videoID=100404

And they have endorsed him!

Barack Obama: Democrats deserve a nominee for change

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This editorial began by observing that one candidate is of the past and one of the future. The litany of criticisms heaped on Sen. Obama by the Clinton camp, simultaneously doing the work of the Republicans, is as illustrative as anything of which one is which. These are the cynical responses of the old politics to the new.

Sen. Obama has captured much of the nation's imagination for a reason. He offers real change, a vision of an America that can move past not only racial tensions but also the political partisanship that has so bedeviled it.

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To be sure, Sen. Clinton carries the aspirations of women in particular, but even in this she is something of a throwback, a woman whose identity and public position are indelibly linked to her husband, her own considerable talents notwithstanding. It does not help that the Clinton brand is seen by many in the country as suspect and shifty, bearing the grimy stamp of political calculation counting as much as principle.

Pennsylvania -- this encrusted, change-averse commonwealth where a state liquor monopoly holds on against all reason and where municipal fiefdoms shrink from sensible consolidation -- needs to take a strong look at the new face and the new hope in this race. Because political business-as-usual is more likely to bring the usual disappointment for the Democrats this fall, the Post-Gazette endorses the nomination of Barack Obama, who has brought an excitement and an electricity to American politics not seen since the days of John F. Kennedy.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08107/873625-192.stm

[anonymous171]

1. Yep. Good to see him addressing this.

:kick:

[JoFerret]

2. Love that passive voice.

I thought he said what he meant to say the first time. So did many of his supporters.

[Romulox]

3. Doesn't Barack understand that blue collar workers used to be the backbone of the Party???

"What I do regret is that in one quick statement that wasn't phrased properly I detracted from what I think has to be a genuine effort on the part of Democrats to speak to constituencies we haven't always reached out to," Mr. Obama said during a wide-ranging interview with the Post-Gazette editorial board." :wtf:

[kentuck]

4. I'm not so sure that Karl Rove isn't still working behind the scenes?

Does anyone know for sure?

[BlooInBloo]

5. Yes - because he is all-powerful and omniscient!

You can never PROVE that it isn't Rove - therefore EVERYTHING is Rove!!!!!

(thunder rolls)

DUers slay me.