Barack Obama tries to turn the page

"I'm tired of playing defense all the time," Barack Obama said this morning. "I want to play some offense."

It's a line he has used many times in speaking to labor groups. But it resonated a bit differently today.

Obama has spent the last few days back on his heels, absorbing furious punishment from the campaigns of Hillary Clinton and John McCain over his "bitter" remarks in San Francisco.

Today, Obama spoke to about 3,000 union members, gathered in Washington for the Building & Construction Trades Department's annual legislative meeting. Clinton appears before the group Wednesday.

Obama spent much of his speech focused on labor-friendly issues that elicited extended applause: opposing "right-to-work" laws, encouraging union organization and expressing skepticism about global trade deals.

But eventually he addressed the tempest of the moment, his statements regarding small-town America. In Obama's most recent equation, road-tested Monday night in Pennsylvania, "bitter" now means "angry," which when coupled with "hope" equals "Obama."

"I said people were bitter," Obama said. "People seemed to misunderstand. Yes, people are angry. If you've been filling up your gas tank, you're angry.

"You've got to feel some frustration. You've got to feel some anger," he said, "when you get the sense that the ...

American way of life for so many people is slipping away."

But, he said, that was "not a reason to give up hope."

In his most direct shot at Clinton, whom he never specifically mentioned, he said: "If anyone denies that people are frustrated and angry and, yes, sometimes bitter, then they are out of touch."

He reserved most of his criticism for McCain, whom he took to task for reversing his stand on repealing President Bush's tax cuts for wealthy Americans.

Obama was introduced by Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri, who made much of Obama's common touch, speaking well-worn lines about him turning down a job on Wall Street to become a community organizer in Chicago and about how he and his wife, Michelle, took years to repay student loans.

"He turned down the big money," McCaskill said. "He went to do what was right for our country."

In that vein, Obama told the crowd: "You can trust me. Politics didn't lead me to working people. Working people led me to politics."

After the speech, a group of painters and union members from Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee said that, in their view, Obama had made short work of the "bitter" controversy.

"I thought he handled that real well," said Robert Liphard.

"He's done it right," said Jarrell Miskenen. "He got right back on it."

Liphard added: "What I'd like to see is a combined ticket." He said who was first or second on that ticket didn't matter.

-- James Oliphant

James Oliphant of the Chicago Tribune's Washington bureau writes for the Swamp.

Comments

[Ann]

As far as I am concerned, I'm through with Hillary. She and Bill have shown their true colors. They are evil and ruthless. I'll vote for McCain if she takes/steals this election from Obama. I will shout it to the roof tops.
I'm bitter and angry!

[72WhiteGrandMother]

The"Guide" ad should also be on TV in Pensylvania and other states.
Hillary has been taking advantage of voters ignorance and must be stopped aggresively. Imagine what they are trying to make out of Obama's recent statement? I believe Obama should attack her also on her Bosnia lies and the contents of her tax returns. Let's finish this race now!
http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/guide_ad

[Robert Lewis]

A former Obama client, Ahmad Baravati, changed the name of his tax exempt organization IRAN EARTHQUAKE RELIEF FUND to American Care Society

www.webofdeception.com

[Robert]

Considering that Sen. Obama has received $1.18 million from subprime lenders and has taken more campaign contributions from the top ten issuers of subprime loans that attack rings hollow as just words. Sen. Obama has a record of talking about standing up to special interests and then caving to their demands. Hillary has a 35-year record of standing up to special interests and delivering results.

Obama has taken $1,180,103 from the top issuers of subprime loans:
Obama received $266,907 from Lehman.
Obama received $5395 from GMAC.
Obama received $150,850 from CS First Boston .
Obama received $11,250 from Countrywide.
Obama received $90,520 from Washington Mutual.
Obama received $161,850 from Citigroup.
Obama received $4600 from CBASS.
Obama received $170,050 from Morgan Stanley. [Cq.com]
Obama received $1150 from Centex. [Cq.com]
Obama received $351,900 from Goldman Sachs.

These Are MAJOR conflicts of interest regarding Obama''s purported "Small money sources"!

Obama has gotten all that ''Influence/Lobbiest'' money from sub-prime lenders and from other major corporations, which If even partly true, then Obama is "misrepresenting Where Contributions come from".
Something sure smells rotten here.
How is Obama gonna cover and hide from all this now?

[Tony]

No Wonder we are Bitter ......And this explains who is out of touch with Americans , its Clintons and the Republicans that keep making money
from these trade policies that forget the American People so what kind of Leadership is this, favoring Big Biz , letting them Import Tariff Free from a Country that manipulates its currency so we Americans cannot compete , but the Big Biz gets to make money off the Currency exchange of the Imports Who is B.S.ing Who here ?????? Bitter , Hell Yes we American Blue Collar working class people , PEOPLE yes You SUITS we are People too , not just Consumers that are used in statistics and analyzed for our Spending power , my God Bitter doesn't explain the Mindset well enough !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
US deep in debt and still digging
You're paying for the nation's debt addiction through both direct and indirect taxes. And unfortunately, Uncle Sam is going to need more money.

www.articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/JubaksJournal/USDeepInDebtAndStillDigging.aspx
Foreclosures continue to soar, worst is not over
Filings up 57 percent in March over ’07; ARM resets to crest in May and June

www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24115651

But the Middlemen of these Trade agreement , now they make net money from these deal in any form , as we see below ;

What a Story! Candidate Personally Receives Hundreds of Thousands From Foreign Sources, Private Interests
www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/what-a-story-candidate-pe_b_96052.html

Huge Kazakh deal follows financier's trip with Clinton, precedes donation .

www.nytimes.com/2008/01/31/us/politics/31donor.html?ex=1359435600&en=33a4d96a239655bf&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

www.archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/12/12/25043.shtml

[freedom_diva]

Hope to me is Hillary Clinton. Not a man who is so greedy that he would get into bed with the likes of Rezko.
Just weeks after winning the Democratic U.S. Senate primary in 2004, Barack Obama was the guest of developer Antoin "Tony" Rezko at a party for a controversial British billionaire whom Rezko was trying to lure into an investment, a witness testified Monday at Rezko's corruption trial.

Stuart Levine, the government's star witness, said Obama and his wife, Michelle, were among the guests at Rezko's home on April 3, 2004, for the party honoring Nadhmi Auchi, an Iraqi-born tycoon currently appealing a fraud conviction in France.

As he campaigns for president, Obama has acknowledged social and political ties to Rezko, as well as a real estate deal between the two that involved Obama's South Side home. But Obama has not disclosed his presence at the Auchi party, which Rezko threw as part of a campaign to persuade Auchi to pour money into a financially troubled 62-acre development in the South Loop.

NOW COME ON>>>> would he please stand up and quit hiding... he KNOWS that the party was for Auchi.. after all that is what he wanted to do... MAKE MONEY!!!!
Obama is just a greedy as the rest of them.

He is sick of being on the defence... well then get off DE fence and quit LYING!!!!

[andrew frost]

glad to see some understand that just because Obama says the things the others are scared of does not make him wrong.

[Christopher Brown]

Hillary is a snake. If she steals the election from Obama, I'll vote for Ralph Spoilsport Nader.

[Ken]

LOL....You guys just don't get it! Obama campaign set all of this up. Do you really think they didnt know the lady from the HUFFINGTON POST was recording in there. They new that it would be easy to cover up, plus lower his expectations in PA, plus make Hillary attack him, so he can attack back. Hillary and her dumb supporters took the bate and so did John The 100 McCain. I used to support Clinton until i saw how stupid her campaign is. John the 100 and Hillary fell for the Rev Wright crap. Don't you know that was going to come out anyways, what's the odds of that coming out in the longest space between two primarys. What's the odds of this "Bittergate" coming out over the weekend. You guys are idots if you think this wasnt a strategy. Now look at him, so his poll numbers are dropping in PA. BIG DEAL! he wasnt going to win there anyways. But, what he has successfully done is make Hillary out a "Republican Manchurian" candidate. He is fundrasing off of this now. Go to his website. He will come out of this untouched, minor blemish in the polls, with higher respect from the Superdelegates, because "he made it through another battle with the republicans." Thank God, im an independent if i were a republican i would be really scared because facing this guy. You are in some trouble. Why? He wins because both democrats and republicans underestimate his machivellian style, remember he is a Chicago politician. Good Luck. DEMS AND REPUB

[Peter Nanula]

What about Hillary and Bill's $109 million in the last 5 years? Think she is really in touch with the common folk of Pennsylvania? Nice job keeping that, and the Bosnia heroics, out of the headlines recently...

The nastier Hillary's up-against-the-wall tactics get, the more people hate her. The more you watch and listen to Barack, the more you like him.

Game over in early June. Even the super-delegates have had enough of this nonsense. We have a JFK in our midst, and everyone knows it.

[Adam]

Yeah. He also shook hand with someone who 10 years later had a parking ticket! That boy is bad!

Give me a break.

[IJ for Hillary]

The more I read or hear that Obama did not take wall street job and instead, joined community work in Southside Chicago, the more suspicious I am of his intent - was it a service minded plan or a grand scheme for a short-cut to get to the Top Job!

[BB]

The whole thing has been completely over-played. I read quite a poignant article about this lunacy over the remark, on the Huffington Post today and that made this grown, professional woman tearful, just remembering how mean-minded media can be.

The incident also demonstrated to the observing world, what a bigoted and unenlightened place America really is. After the Iraq invasion, I don't think that the world needs any more reminder of how undemocratic America can be. This insane media's effort to push Obama off stage will just put a finishing touch in the world opinion as a final proof of what they already believe. It really has been sad few days for American journalism.

[lex coleman]

Truth is the Heartland IS bitter...bitter over jobs going to Mexico, bitter that textitle mills have moved to bangladesh, bitter steel is being imported from China...

[dee]

I think that Barack is the real 'Bitter' person. He seems like an unhappy person and he needs mental help. He is practically cracking up now when he speaks.

If he can not take the pressure now, how can he take the pressure when he is president of the US!

[A Taylor]

Americans are a lot smarter than Hillalry and McCain realizes. To deny what is apparent is what I call being out of touch. As a working class ciitzen, I am bitter and angry because: I am tired of living from pay check to pay check and when I get a second job, IRS penalizes me for making more money.

American please read their nonesense rhetoric and also read above the lines and between the lines.

[Alma Ludivina]

Senator Obama has never said anithing wrong.

Senator Clinton was drooling to act like over-indulgent grandmother to protect her "whimpy" "hypersensitive" rural town workers from pennsylvania.

She was lurking for any opportunity to congratiate with the people that has been deprived of opportunity by Politician without scruples like the Clinton who made 109 million and still attempt an evasion of taxes with a "clinton fundation" accepting money indiscriminated including from China, and other sources we are unawhere.

Court is awaiting for her to finish the race. Too many privileges for someone. Court do not wait for a regular american. IRS do not wait for a regular american

Rural worker from pennsylvania are though americans who accept criticism, and want change.

Rural workers from pennsylvania do not need to be smothered by Mrs. Clinton.

She "gain" texas votes by placing a seed of fear in the mind of many latinos by placing Senator obama with kenia attire. Then she "loses texas" because delegates relized about the mind manipulation and choose Senator Obama.

She gain Iowa because She told Iowans that she was against free trade, then It happens that she was the one who spoke with canadians about NAFTA, her husband and manager were pro-trade.

How Iowans feel about, She laughed in their face and took their vote, and their state. Iowans were betrayed by someone with no scruples.

Now in pennsylvamia the same pattern, Mrs Clinton erratic behavior is unexcusable. She is not acting like a serious politician.

She is dragging Senator obama through mud and feces with her tactics. Male Dogs has a bone in the penis, and are unable to finish intercourse until that penis is deflated,

Unfortunally Senator obama is stock to his woman until the race heat is over

She is ill representing women, People must know that there is women outthere with integrity, with morals, with education, articulate, with intelligence, hard workers, with dignity, and assertive.

[BarryManilow]

Elect Clinton to allow her to complete what her husband's administration started long ago. Selling out Corporate America to the Sovereign Funds. They got rich doing it before, and they can't wait to get back in the game again. The Chinese government wants you to pick Clinton - don't be fooled by her recent ranting that she wouldn't attend the opening ceremony. That's just a front and China knows it.

[JimSeattle]

Obama is going to have his turn to make the big bucks if he wins or loses this election. The Clinton's earnings are going to look like chump change -- but that is all OK, because he is BHO

[onlytruth]

I am so done with Hill and Bill.

Billary needs to be Bushed. Bring in Monica and likes of hers. Remind voters " I did not have sex with that woman" and many more lies of the clintons.

Remind voters who Bill will be doing if he is back in the White house.

Enough.

[Ralph]

Why are these remarks called bitter? What they sound to be is Obama mocking people who foolishly still believe in God, the 2nd Amendment etc. Anyone not supporting Obama must have no reasonable basis for their opposition or views and are just clinging to those outmoded views as they are not bright or sophisticated enough to know how good Obama is. I guess we should just trust him completely.

[Dennis Francis]

Corporations do not give money directly. It is against the law.
That is why money is bundled. Mr. Obama has about 1million doners. No other candidate in history has ever done that.

Please state your sources when posting your "facts".

[KC]

"You can trust me" - anytime any politician tells you this get as far away from them as you can. How many times have you heard someone say "you can trust me" only to find out they lied?

[Katy]

Oh please - woe is Obama?? Poor picked on Obama?? He made a classic elitist liberal mistake - he said what he really thought about the poor working slob.

Then he tries to fix it by saying he's not rich - neither are a lot of other intellectual elitists - they just think they're smarter than everyone else - and Obama is trying to blame those who don't vote for him by telling them they're ignorant.

I always knew Obama was a con man - and each day he proves it.

[Bob]

I am a strong supporter of Senator Obama but I think Senator Obama should begin to show that he can play hard ball in the big league. Since these recent attacks from Hillary are the exact GOP tactics he will be faced with shoulds he becomes the nominee he needs to show PA and the world that he CAN effectively fight back at the GOP attach machine which is just starting to get warmed up.

Letting Hillary off the mat with the "Bosina gaft" was a misstake that has cost him. He needs to learn how to beat his opponants head against the floor when he's down and not be the "gentleman" and give his opponant a chance to get back up.

Until he learns how to effectively fight back against these kinds of attacks he will lose the confidence of his supporters the party leaders and most importantly the Super Delegates.

Senator Barack Obama please show us you have the guts to FIGHT back this is your chance, PA and the world wants you to.

The real question is can you deliver what it takes to "close the deal" that is the question everyone is now asking themself!