Senator Barack Obama
Barack Obama
April 6, 2008
"You go into some of 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 ... 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."
— Obama, speaking at a San Francisco fundraiser ahead of Pennsylvania's primary.
After having suggested that working-class Americans are bitter about their economic circumstances, Obama later said his remarks could have been phrased better, but stood by their premise.