(CNN) — After two days of criticism over his remarks at a California fundraiser, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama hit back Sunday by mocking Clinton’s professions of outrage over the comments.
Speaking at a raucous union rally in the Harrisburg suburb of Steelton, the Illinois senator said Clinton knows better than to attack him as elitist and out of touch.
This is the same person who took money from financial folks on Wall Street and then voted for a bankruptcy bill that makes it harder for folks right here in Pennsylvania to get a fair shake, Obama said. Who do you think is out of touch?
The controversy has erupted less than two weeks before Pennsylvania’s presidential primary, the biggest contest remaining on the Democratic calendar.
Speaking to a closed fundraiser in San Francisco, California, last week, Obama said decades of lost jobs and unfulfilled promises from Washington have left some Pennsylvanians bitter and clinging to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.
Obama has spent the weekend telling reporters that the remarks were badly phrased, but accurate. Clinton, however, has pounded on the remarks, calling them elitist, out of touch and frankly, patronizing on Sunday.
You know, the Democratic Party, to be very blunt about it, has been viewed as a party that didn’t understand and respect the values and the way of life of so many of our fellow Americans, she said during a Compassion Forum hosted by CNN.
And I think it’s important that we make clear that we believe people are people of faith because it is part of their whole being; it is what gives them meaning in life, through good times and bad times.
Speaking at the same forum, at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania, Obama said what has left people bitter is the absence of any confidence that the government is listening to them. See reactions to the candidates’ statements at the forum
The campaign of the presumptive Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, has chimed in with similar attacks — which drew scorn from Obama at the United Steelworkers rally, held before the forum.
I expected this out of John McCain, Obama said. But I’ve got to say, I’m a little disappointed when I start hearing the exact same talking points coming out of my Democratic colleague Hillary Clinton. She knows better.
And he ridiculed Clinton’s expressions of support for gun rights in the wake of the controversy, saying, She’s talking like she’s Annie Oakley.
Hillary Clinton’s out there like she’s on the duck blind every Sunday, he said. She’s packing a six-shooter. C’mon, she knows better.
Obama said his earlier remarks were subject to be twisted, but added, It sounds like some politics being played.
Shame on her, he said at one point. Watch Obama react to Clinton’s statements in Steelton
Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said the New York senator and former first lady does know better — she knows better than to condescend and talk down to voters like Sen. Obama did.
Sen. Obama’s outburst won’t change the fact that he has embraced his characterization of the millions of Americans who live in small towns, Singer said.
Risk-filled journey
At Sunday’s forum, after a tumultuous campaign season where religion — both rumor and reality — has had a starring role, Clinton and Obama ventured onto terrain that has been dominated by Republican candidates.
It’s a risk-filled journey for both.
Clinton’s problem was crystallized in a March editorial in Christianity Today, titled Hating Hillary: Getting to the bottom of a cultural trend that has seeped into the church.
Obama’s campaign has been plagued by false rumors that he is a Muslim, and controversial remarks by his former minister, Jeremiah Wright.
So both have put their own faith front-and-center on the campaign trail.
Clinton has told interviewers that she has felt the presence of the Holy Spirit on many occasions, and that she believes the resurrection of Christ is a historical fact; Obama regularly mentions his faith in his stump speech, and has made religion a major element of his appeal in many states.
So far this year, Clinton has maintained an edge among Roman Catholics, many of them the Hispanic and working-class white voters who have been among the most loyal members of her base.
Thanks in large part to that support, many surveys had also given her a slight edge over Obama among white Democratic voters who attended church of any kind regularly.
But in exit polls, the category of regular church-goers — those who attend services once a month or more — were more likely to choose Obama. That category in many states was dominated by African-Americans, who have overwhelmingly backed the Illinois senator’s candidacy.
For years, the evangelical community has largely supported Republican presidential candidates.
Conservative Christian activists, drawn by the party’s stands on abortion, gay marriage and other social issues, have been among the GOP’s most reliable foot soldiers. Watch how faith is playing into the election
But this year, evangelical leaders have split over presumptive Republican nominee John McCain, who is struggling to mend fences with some evangelical luminaries like James Dobson who have expressed disappointment with his selection.
During the primary season, former Baptist minister Mike Huckabee appealed directly to evangelicals as one of their own — but in opinion polls conducted early in the primary season, those voters preferred either Democrat to the former Arkansas governor.
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