The Campaign Spot

Obama: Unemployed Pennsylvanians Cling to Guns, Religion, Anti-Immigrant, Anti-Trade Views (UPDATED)

Obama, at a fundraiser in San Francisco, describing voters in Pennsylvania:

“You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them,” Obama said. “And they fell through the Clinton Administration, and the Bush Administration, and each successive administration has said that somehow these communities are gonna regenerate and they have not. And it’s not surprising then they get bitter, they cling 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.”

Yeah, I hate it when someone who’s frustrated, and worried about their employment, say, starting January 20, 2009, decides to cling to anti-trade sentiment. You know, when they say that the U.S. should threaten to opt out of NAFTA.
You know, like the guy who goes in front of union members and denounces trade deals with South Korea, and NAFTA, and CAFTA, and the Colombia Free Trade Agreement…
UPDATE: The Huffington Post now has added audio of Obama saying this. Prepare the radio ads!
Boy, I’d hate for people to get bitter, and to cling to antipathy to people who aren’t like them because of, say, a religious leader… You know, somebody preaching hate from the pulpit or something like that. Good thing Barack Obama is always on top of circumstances like that, and would never stand for that…

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