Obama Takes on 'Bittergate'

I was among a handful of bloggers who was credentialed to cover the annual meeting of the Newspaper Association of America. So I had a ~~good~~ seat during Barack Obama's appearance before the Associated Press annual luncheon.

Obama wasted no time addressing the fallout from his comments that small town voters are "bitter" and "cling to guns or religion" because of economic uncertainty:

As I said yesterday, I regret some of the words I chose, partly because the way that these remarks have been interpreted have offended some people and partly because they have served as one more distraction from the critical debate that we must have in this election season.

Obama acknowledged what lies ahead if he's the Democratic nominee:

Now, Senator McCain and the Republicans in Washington are already looking ahead to the fall and have decided that they plan on using these comments to argue that I'm out of touch with what's going on in the lives of working Americans. I don't blame them for this -- that's the nature of our political culture, and if I had to carry the banner for eight years of George Bush's failures, I'd be looking for something else to talk about too.

Obama's gaffe is taking its toll. A new American Research Group survey of likely primary voters gives Hillary Clinton a 20-point lead over Obama. A week ago, they were tied. There is a racial divide in voters' preferences: Clinton leads among white voters 64-29 percent, and Obama leads among black voters 79-18 percent.

Meanwhile, Clinton is unloading on Obama in the Keystone State, where voters will go to the polls a week from today. She's running a new ad that touts her understanding of "the citizens of Pennsylvania."

Still, Obama gave Clinton props during the Q&A session. He rejected the notion that she should "step aside," saying:

Maybe I'm a contrarian but I actually think this has been good for the party because each state we've participated in, we've seen record registration, record turnout and people are engaged. That doesn't mean that I expect that I'll win all 50 states. What it does mean is that we're building a structure. That people are being trained as leaders and organizers in those states and it will serve Democrats well in November.

Obama added:

I'm absolutely confident that come August and the convention, Democrats are going to be unified. Once Democrats are unified, the appeal of our message to independents and disaffected Republicans is going to be powerful.